Soft lacquer?

[Ry Charters]

I recently finished a couple of guitars with some old mcfadden's lacquer that was given to me.  As I understood it, old lacquer is fine to spray, it just might take a little more thinner than usual.  Anyways, all sanded, buffed, electronics installed....  I clamp my frets in with epoxy and when I removed the cauls (cork padded, I use them all the time) they had printed heavily onto the lacquer.  The guitars had been sitting for 6 weeks before buffing.  They cured in the wintertime and I'm wondering if 55 might have been a little too cool for them to dry properly.  I could repair the areas, but I'm worried that if they're put on a stand or hanger, they'll print again.  I'm thinking about sanding a bit of clear off, them spraying with butelcellusolve (spelling?) to reanimate the finish, drying them at closer to 75 and then more new nitro on top.  Any ideas why this happened and what the best fix is?

[William F.Eden]

Old Lacquer the rest you have figerd out your self . Bill."""""""""""

[Russell Vance]

Also sound like the lacquer coats were a bit thick for the temperature to allow gassing and curing between coats - which results in a semi-permanent soft finish. One of my old guitars which suffered my initial finishing attempts took many years to come good (but it's so compromised it now needs refinishing again).

But, in the piano industry which uses a lot of lacquer they sometimes gently heat the affected area with a hair dryer (actuallly a heat gun, but start with a dryer) and the lacquer will drag itself out and can be refinished. This is not a casual process and care must be taken to avoid smoke and flames!

Applying retarder will make the problem worse unless you have controlled drying at the correct temps (which you do) - it softens the existing and following coats even more than they are at the moment. My pref in this case is to sand/strip, refinish the necks without the retarder, shooting heavily thinned skinny lacquer coats a day or so apart.

[FRANK]

55 I AM SURPRISED IT DIDN'T BLUSH WHITE 55 DEGREES TO COLD LACQUER LIKES 80 DEGREES 70 IS CUT OFF FOR COLD WEATHER UNLESS YOU ARE IN A BIND THEN USING REDUCER TO SLOW DRY TIME, DID YOU THIN WITH THINNER? OR REDUCER? THEY ARE DIFFERENT MATERIALS. JUST TO MAKE SURE YOU DID NOT USE CANALIZED LACQUER IT TAKES A SECOND PART TO HARDEN . YOU KNOW I SAY START AGAIN I HAVE NOT SEEN THE GUITAR BUT WHEN SOMEONE ELSE TOLD ME TO START AGAIN I WAS GLAD WHEN I DID LISTEN BECAUSE EVERYTHING WORKS OUT IN THE END TRY IT AGAIN FRIEND

[Ry Charters]

Well, I sprayed thin coats (with thinner, no retarder) around an hour and a half apart, no more than three a day. I was pulling 70 degree air from the main part of the shop while spraying, but the Michigan winter was apparently too much for my radiant heater to counteract while the guitars were drying. Thought that letting them sit for a long time would be a safe bet. I'll bring another space heater in next time....
Both guitars have color on them and I really don't want to go down to bare wood. I'm hoping the retarder will allow the undercoats to "breathe" out and dry properly. I've used butelcellusolve before to bond old lacquer to new, and it seems to penetrate very well.

[FRANK]

INTERESTING LET US KNOW WHAT HAPPENS

[Ned Knepp]

Please, please, please, Paul, turn off the caps lock.