Making A Six String Multi Scale Guitar: 1K vs 2K Polyurethane Finish 

I used polyurethane on kitchen bench tops for as a business for 6 years bcs it’s awesome durability!! I used Strom respirator with 3M double filters & never had health issues!! The gloss was amazing once buffed!! I also used an extraction system you can buy off EBay or hardware shops under $200 to take fumes out the house. Polyurethane does have a shocking smell but won’t hurt you if using decent respirator!! I know fellow workers had asthma & no issues

isocyanates, in addition to the respiratory hazards are skin sensitizers. Similarly to something like Mercury, the body doesn't metabolize it so additional touch exposures compound and become worse. It's definitely worth the mention to always wear gloves when handling them, remove the gloves properly and dispose of them in a dedicated container then douse in a product such as Dynasolve to neutralize the isocyanate. Keep up the great work Chris 🤘

you are definitely the best on RU-vid love all your videos and your work thank you so much for sharhing. Love and peace from Australia

As always, i give a thumb up. Big Fan of your knowledge.

Good video Chris.

I’ve just bought 3M A2P2 filters for their 6000 series mask and the package explicitly says not to use them with products containing isocyanates. That being said I’ve read that those activated charcoal filters can block isocyanates but no data on how long and what concentration in the air, so it’s best to renew them often (they have a shelf life anyways). BTW isocyanates are odorless so you can’t know that you are being exposed to them whilst spraying.

That was incredibly educational, thanks Chris. Have you ever used Emtech EM6000 water based acrylic lacquer?

Thanks

For people doubting water based finishes: I asked Goding guitars what top coat they use, and they said water based 2K polyurethane (I have the email to prove it) These products are used for high traffick flooring so you can imagine its durability.

Thanks Chris. Informative as always. Halfway through the vid, I paused it and searched for 2k polyurethane here in the UK. As is fairly usual, it sent me off on a tangent on airless sprayers. I find it strange that I’ve only now just heard of these (I don’t recall this appearing for research into air compressor/ hvlp sprayers previously done). Have you had any experiences/ heard anything about airless spray systems?

Thank you Chris as always for these videos and your experimenting type brain, for now I think laquar is probably safest but I am thinking of trying maybe the deft clear brushing laquar or maybe doing shellac with resin and denatured alchohol with the resin that you can buy in the bag. Or maybe trying over laquar for the clear the urathane spray can you used since it is uv resistant or maybe I will test my rustoleum universal high gloss clear which says uv resistant I don't know yet. But while I love laquar I am not crazy about old school nitro laquar I am into acrylic type laquar. Which I think watco minwax and deft is because the deft seems uv resistant like the duplicolor perfect match cans are which is meant for cars. But I need to start thinking about options that my body can handle. Anyway my mij jackson style electronics cavity plate came today. So I am pleased because now I figured out how to get some plexi from Lowes and how to correct a precut Chinese electronics cavity cut out that was all wrong so I can then make a custum one and how to route that cavity out bigger so it will work for that guitar my other body because nothing for the for the electronics cavities were cut out so I am golden on that but I learned my lesson don't buy precut bodies from China even if the wood is good. So soon mdf time to make my own templates for shapes. And hopefully soon I will be able to purchase a Eddie van Halen blueprint sheet for his 5150 kramer build but it would help if I can actaully get the corect strat body type I have seen the so called Chinese knockoffs but I am not sure if they got every detail right. But I know basic strat body shape.

Bit of a side note question, Chris. Do you know if the ICBINL Grain Filler can be used as a finish on its own? When I compare the technical data sheets, the only difference I see is in the density (1.2 vs 1.15). I just seem to be able to get ther grain filler to lay out better than the top coat when brushing/wiping on. Thank you very much for your videos and channel.

Great info, tx! Is the Solares a final coat or more like the Z-poxy (filler, base coat)? Also, 2k is hard to buff isn't it - was that also a reason to stop using it?

Hi there. I've been using the uv curing fininish and have some issues with level sanding and buffing. The problem is, when you apply the last coat, then lavel sand it and sand it through that last coat, so you can see the fine line of the previous coat, and after buffing, this line is still visible. Did you have this kind of issue with solorez finish? Thanks

Thanks for sharing again. Curious if you've stumbled on Clean Armor yet? It's a UV cured finish that seems to not have any faults. I know is there such a thing. Curious if you've tried it or not. I build arch top guitars and haven't seen much info on using it for guitars

to be honest i would really love to know what hardware store products could be used in place of guitar specyfic products. because if you make guitars for someone as a production you do care more about long term benefits of chosing one product line over another, picking right tools and equipment for a once in a blue moon guitar builder a roll on floor or yaht urethane laquer might be enough or even pigmenting it to make paint nitro laquers are also friendly to homebangers sadly there is no describtions sometimes on things you buy like automotive spray paint and big box spray paint can be completly different thing (acrylic or oil paint even ) i somehow always mannaged to pick something that worked but it was trail and error, painting drying scratching and many acrylic products were simply not what i wanted, soft and gummy while model paints and automotive sprays were hard and sleek even though both being acrylic so there is a lot of variables so is there a home center way to paint a guitar to some acceptable level?

Thanks!