PDA

View Full Version : General Finishes pre-cat urethane for guitar finish?



Richard Link
09-26-2011, 3:00 PM
Oh Guitar gurus....

Two years ago, I promised my 13 year old daughter that dad would "build" her an electric guitar if she continued her lessons for that period. I am now in the process. Never having built a guitar before, I went ahead and bought one of the curly maple Stratocater kits from Grizzly. Fun project so far but I have a question about finish. She would ideally like the guitar to be blue and I'd like to keep the curly pattern of the wood popping.

My original plan was to spray with pre-cat general finishes sanding sealer and then either:

(1) Dye the guitar using transtints blue followed by multiple spray coats of clear finish; or

(1) spray the guitar with multiple coats of clear finish mixed with dye as a toner.

I had originally planned to use lacquer but would like to avoid the solvent issues. I then moved to considering a water-bourne lacquer such as the General Finishes product, which I have no experience with. I then came across the Enduro pre-cat urethane product.

Question: I recognize that a pre-cat urethane is going to cure hard, which is a good thing, but is it an appropriate finish for a guitar? Since the pre-cat product won't melt into the previous coats like a lacquer, am I going to get issues with layering or something using such a product on a guitar?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Richard