Official Luthiers Forum!

So I've just received Stewmac's new catalogue and was quite surprised to see that they've stopped selling the Colortone Watrbase Laquer and have this new product called 'General finishes high performance clear waterbase lacquer'.

I've just done a very quick search through the 'General Finishes' website and can't see any mention of their products on 'musical instruments' at all.

Does anyone have any experience on this finish and why Stewmac would stop selling all other waterbase lacquer??

I'm in the UK and have been using EM6000 very successfully. Target will not ship to the UK and I have had real problems trying to get it. I used the Colortone from Stewmac on a recent electric project and thought I might try it on my acoustics but now they've stopped selling it and I'm back to square one

I would love to know what makes this product better than all the others. Any ideas?

Thanks

Mat

I was just researching this product last week. I believe it is a cross-linked poly. The specs look similar to GF's professional Enduro and floor products.

The GF HP is also available locally at W**dcr4ft (in the USA) for a bit less than stewmac, btw.

Based on others' recommendations, I'm avoiding polyurethane for guitars. Because poly doesn't burn in like shellac or nitro, it's very difficult (IMO) to repair seamlessly.

Interested in others thoughts...

Glenn

Matthew, I am in the same boat. Have been using Target products for years. Firstly Target Coatings abandoned their international customers, then Stew Mac abandoned Target products. I complained to Stew Mac, but got a "sorry for the inconvenience" reply. "Inconvenience" is a somewhat of an understatement!! After a lot of wasted time stuffing around with other products that were mostly useless for my purpose, I discovered shipito.com, and eventually managed to get a can of Target delivered on my doorstep. shipito.com will order it for you from Target Coatings, and it is delivered to their warehouse in the USA. They will then forward it on to you, and their international freight rates are very reasonable. It is not a very user friendly web site, but it does work. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. My last can of colourtone was about to run out.

I've never had a problem with Stewmac and their service has always been fantastic but WHY aren't they talking to luthiers about this?? Changing their brand of finish is going to have a massive effect and they must realise this.

Peter, that's really useful info about 'shipito', many thanks for that.

Looks familiar https://generalfinishes.com/retail-products/water-base-top-coats-sanding-sealers/high-performance-polyurethane-topcoat#.VVMStflViko, but first I've heard of it for guitars.
General finishes has had this on their website for some time regarding musical instrument finishing http://homesteadfinishingproducts.com/products-we-offer/finishes/enduro-waterbourne-finishes/ First item on page.
Personally, I've successfully used their Enduro-Var for a guitar, and Laurent Blondel uses (or used) it for his "Essentials" range.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I liked SM's water base better than any of the others I've tried over the years but I still never got good results with it and gave up on it. Maybe it got less then stellar reviews I don't know?

The General Finishes is what John Greven currently uses.

Maybe it's time for Royal-Lac...

I found KTM-SV to be good. No body sweat issues like KTM 9...