lacquering tweed- with what? (in UK)

[The Captain]

thanks there, my brain can process that info. Sorry to reitterrate: does it make it go horribly 'orangey' though? ive seen a few horror pics on the web, of orig fenders too.

Btw. At the mo I'm 'sealing' the seams + corners with wood varnish (waterbased, milky/ then dries clear in 2hrs). This is recommended (fwiw by me!) as it takes 5 mins to do a cab for hardish corners + seams, ie no fraying is really the idea.

[Bruce Saunders]

I have no experience with the button polish on tweed I'm afraid. MWJB has used it with good effect though....and I trust his judgement. I'm planning to try it out on my next build. The Ronseal worked just fine for my harp case: here's before and after shots.

[distorto]

That case looks great. good job!

[The Captain]

Nice one Bruce. That looked good enough for me to go get some similar stuff as I could find (homebase satin quik dry/ antique pine). So Ive done one cab..

Colour looks extremely vintagey, almost too much really.. but the big pita was I was unabel to get any sort of even finish. it looks patchy, and it was as evenly applied as I could. any tips? (i must say I did just go for one even coat, straight onto the tweed.) 6/10 is my effort. i need 9/10 though..

[Bruce Saunders]

Lots of thin coats worked best for me. I started off with clear varnish, and having used water soluble varnish, I diluted it down for the first coat. It made it easier to get on before it started drying and avoided patchiness. the tweed feels quite rought after it's done, so rub it down with 3M synthetic wire wool- like a heavy duty scouring pad (you can actually use scouring pads to finish it off and get an even smoother finish later!) Don't use real wire wool because tiny fragments get left in the varnish and go rusty. I put on a second undiluted coat of clear, and when it was dry rubbed it down again.
After this the surface was much smoother but not much darker, so I used the antique pine finish on for 2 coats to darken the finish up. Rub down with the synthetic wirewool between coats. Because the tweed is sealed by the first 2-3 coats, the antique pine finish wont be absorbed unevenly, and you'll get a better finish.
Patience is the key, I left mine an hour between coats.
You may find if you haven't rubbed it down enough, that doing so improves the finish and makes patchiness less apparent. You can always go over with clear varnish so it doesn't get any darker.

[The Captain]

the thing is I cant be doing this massisvely lengthy process on every cab- i need a one coat, 20m job, at most.

does aanyone know what the pro cab places use? they simply cant be employing anyone to spend 1/2 a day finishing every cabinet: they MUST have a one-coat application.

[Bruce Saunders]

You can do a job well, or do it quick... but unless you put in some significant outlay, you'll find it hard to do both.

I'd imagine a professional company to have a compressor, airhose, and proper spray guns. They'd have a dedicated spray booth to keep dust off, appropriate respiratory protection and use either an automotive nitrocellulose or acrylic spray. They may even have an IR lamp to dry cabinets off. That's about the only way to get a finish that's good and consistent in a short time frame. Spray cans won't cut it.

[The Captain]

Right thanks Bruce. I'm going to forget this malarchy then. I just cant be arsed spending hrs on one cab, coated tweed to start with, just to get a shade darker. its bloomin ridiculous. and a waste of £15 too as well as days worth of time now. i call it sheer arsebanditry .

[WMThompson]

Tweed Finishing

I finish my tweeds with Deft clear lacquer then I burnish the entire thing with
carborundum polishing cloth then give it a few more coats and polish it one last time.
This makes the tweed have a nice smooth surface like the original amps.
The new Fender tweed is really rough-nothing like the original.
Even the color is not accurate-a sort of olive/brown and white.
Does anyone out there know whrer I can find true brown/white?
WT

[Chuck H]

Well, I can't say for sure, but the color may have something to do with the pre-finishing process I'm reading about here. I don't work with tweed so I'm surprised that it can't be obtained unfinished. If you could get it unfinished then it would be eminently possible to manipulate the color with the aging process I outlined or with small amounts of pigment in the finish coats.

Chuck

[al.p]

If you don't want to mess around with brushing tinted products to simulate age there is a trick you can do to "age" the finish almost instantly. But it is unpleasant. You just spray on three coats of lacquer or polyurethane (it's actually best to brush at least one coat of the polyurethane because it is thicker than lacquer and needs to be be brushed into the pores of the fabric)


Nicely explained Chuck.

I'd like to try this out on my champ project. I read somewhere that Fender used Nitro lacquer to spray guitars and amps back in the day. If I use nitro gloss, will this work?

Thanks.

[jbltwin1]

Not meaning to jump gears here but has anybody found a suitable substitute for the tinted amber clear on the back of Les Pauls"? I would like to refinish the back of mine from an early bout of being stupid in my life of not wearing a shirt over my belt buckle. It got beat up pretty bad. The wood underneath appears to be mahogony so it's dark but the back is amber colored. I'm assuming it's just tinted lacquer but wanted verification. I checked out Reranch but really didn't see it unless I'm blind and stupid(which HAS been hinted at!). Mike.

[Resonator Guy]

What year is your Les Paul? Gibson used different finishes ( lacquer , polyester , et al ) in different eras.

[jbltwin1]

1975 Les Paul

[Resonator Guy]

Well, I looked through my library and although writers get quite anally retentive about Fender finishes, I couldn't find anything about when Gibson stuff changed. Personally, I wouldn't attempt to refinish or touch up any guitar as that usually kills any chance of resale at a reasonable price.