who knows about mixing their own laquer colors?

[blakejcan]

Finally gave in and bought a spray gun setup instead of using aerosols in a can. I want to mix up some clear laquer with stewmac dyes but the directions say I need to either use white laquer or make my own white laquer using white pigment.

Can I just skip the white pigment or white laquer and dump some red in clear?

[ICTGoober]

Always follow the directions, or have a local finish supplier mix for you.

What kind of spray rig did you buy, Blake?

[Securb]

Putting red tint in clear will give you a Candy Apply Red finish. Very nice if that is what you desire. It looks extra nice over a silver metallic base.

[GuitarDoc]

Finally gave in and bought a spray gun setup instead of using aerosols in a can. I want to mix up some clear laquer with stewmac dyes but the directions say I need to either use white laquer or make my own white laquer using white pigment.

Can I just skip the white pigment or white laquer and dump some red in clear?

Absolutely.

Mixing with white lacquer will give you pale solid colors (not very attractive imo). Mixing the dye into clear lacquer gives you deep, rich, transparent colors. This is what I do all the time with my custom guitars. The more dye you add the deeper and richer the color (or the more coats of the transparent lacquer you add, the richer the color). This is how "burst" finishes are done.

"Candy Apple" colors are traditionally achieved by layering many (6-14) coats of light transparent colors over a silver or gold base coat creating a "thick" color coat for the light to shine through and reflect off of the base coat. This is what creates that unique "candy" effect.

[GuitarDoc]

Finally gave in and bought a spray gun setup instead of using aerosols in a can. I want to mix up some clear laquer with stewmac dyes but the directions say I need to either use white laquer or make my own white laquer using white pigment.

Can I just skip the white pigment or white laquer and dump some red in clear?

By the way, make sure you are using the dyes not the pigments.

These are what I've been using for nearly 20 years with perfect results...

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/supplies/finishing-supplies/colors-and-tints-and-stains/colortone-liquid-stains/

[blakejcan]

thanks! Ya I got the colortone dyes. They don't sell the pigments anymore it looks like.


For Fiesta Red I could just buy some white laquer and mix it in if needed. Thanks all!