Clear nitrocellulose (nitro) top coat lacquer for use on guitars and restoration pieces. Ours is the highest quality nitro, made here in the UK to our own spec. This is a true vintage finish making it ideal for vintage guitar builds, repair work and high-end handcrafted instruments.
Available in three sheen levels (gloss, satin, matt) and five pack sizes (handy 400ml aerosol, 60ml touchup pot for small spot repairs, 250ml bottle, 1 litre bottle and 5 litre tin for use in sprayguns and HVLP kits).
If using neat nitrocellulose lacquqer in a spray gun or HVLP kit it should be thinned beforehand using Anti-Bloom thinners. We recommend thinning no more than 30%. I.e., a ratio of 70:30 (lacquer:thinners). This is merely a guideline, though, not a firm rule - judgement is required as particular thinning ratios depend on a number of factors including equipment, temperature, weather, experience and desired results.
Please note these are guidelines only as we have absolutely no control over your specific spraying conditions.
Finish | Compatible? | Comments |
1K Lacquer | No | Nitrocellulose lacquer will not adhere to 1K. |
Acrylic Sanding Sealer | No | Typically causes bubbling and damage to the acrylic base coat. |
Bare Wood | No | For a natural finish first use Clear Cellulose Sanding Sealer, then finish with Clear Nitro Lacquer as a top coat. |
Cellulose Paint | Yes | For either vintage finishes or to achieve a Satin or Matt shine. Otherwise, Cellulose Paint is a top coat and can be polished directly. |
Cellulose Sanding Sealer | Yes | |
Metallic Cellulose Paint | Yes | Metallic paint must have a clear top coat, unlike solid colour cellulose paints which can be polished directly. |
Oil | No | It simply won't stick. If refinishing an oiled body put a lot of work into removing the old oil finish, if possible, otherwise a lacquered finish will never work. |
Polyurethane/2K Paint/Lacquer | No..ish | Not recommended as the nitro typically won't stick, and so will peel off easily. Try at your own risk. |
Pre-Cat Sanding Sealer | No | One of the most common causes of cracking is using over an incompatible base coat, such as Pre-Cat. |
Waterborne Paint | No | Similar effects to acrylic - bubbling and damage. |
Waterborne Sanding Sealer | Yes | Only dartfords, can't vouch for any other brand as formulations and characteristics vary massively. |
In its neat bottled form it has a light amber colour to it. However, when it dries it dries to a clear finish. Only over time does the dried finish then naturally age and discolour to a slight yellow tinge.
Our aerosol spray cans are sealed and ready to spray - simply shake for two minutes before use.
Our bottled lacquer, available in 250ml, 1 litre and 5 litre containers, is intended for use in spray guns and HVLP kits. It needs to be thinned before use using our Premium Anti-Bloom Cellulose Thinners. We recommend a thinning ratio of between 80:20 and 70:30 (lacquer:thinners). So, for example, to mix 100ml of ready-to-spray finish you would need approximately 70ml of lacquer and 30ml of thinners.
We recommend two aerosols, or 200ml of neat lacquer for an average Stratocaster-sized guitar body. This can vary depending on how you spray, the precise size and shape ofyour body, and what is underneath.
Our aerosol spray cans have a capacity of 400ml. This is made up of:
This compares favourably to aerosols from most other suppliers and manufacturers, who use a 1:1 ratio for the lacquer and thinners. I.e., you get less useful lacquer per can. Being a thicker mixture closer to that you would use in a spray gun ours also gives a finer more consistent spray that is less prone to drips.
Yes, our Clear Nitro can be tinted with a variety of products such as:
We also stock a wide range of pre-tinted lacquers which are ready to use.
Eventually, yes, it always cracks. The real question is how long it takes, and this is really difficult to say. If sprayed properly onto a well prepared base coat and kept at steady room temperature then it will be many years before the finish shows any signs of aging. a number of factors can reduce this time, some significantly. These include:
The most common scenarios where cracking occur are:
Cracking of the lacquer through poor adhesion or over thinning tends to be a crazing effect all over. Cracking to to wood expansion/contraction tends to be larger cracks focussed around drill holes.
Yes, eventually. It gradually turns from clear to yellow. The effect of this is that any colour(s) underneath will take on a yellow tinge, so blue paint will look more green, red finishes will look more orange etc.
This discolouration is commonly seen on vintage guitars. This effect is the result of two effects:
If an instant discoloured/aged look is desired then once this clear coat has been sprayed one of our Tinted Nitrocellulose Lacquers can be sprayed over the top. We recommend our Light Brown or Weakest Amber lacquers for this purpose.
We recommend the following process for hand polishing nitro finishes:
All of the materials detailed above are part of our Complete Polishing Kit.