Colour Tone Finish Too Soft

[SwedishLuthier]

I just finished a guitar with StewMacs Colour Tone water based finish. It’s the third guitar I finish from the same can.

Now my question. The finish on this third guitar doesn’t get near as hard as the other two! Could it be that the colour tone has gone old? I cannot find any info on shelf storage time on the original label, that I actually still got. Anyone had similar problems?

I have asked the same thing to StewMac, but I will most likely not get an answer until next week…

BTW its a mahogany body with maple top and mahogany neck.

[Daniel Sorbera]

What were the other bodies made of? Whats the humidity and temperature diffrences from one body to the next? Did you use any color coats, sealer, or grain fillers underneath any of the finishes? Did these differ from body to body?

all these things effet dry time. How long have you hade the finish? Are we talking months, weeks, years?

Edited October 28, 2005 by Godin SD

[SwedishLuthier]

GTR1 had mahogany body, maple top and maple neck. I used Stew Mac water based grain filler on that

GTR2 (or bas) had a beech body, colour coats on theh body and head, oil finish maple neck and no grain filler.

No sealer on any. Spraying conditions were the same. Gtr2 were done three months ago, and perfectly fine, hard finish.

I have let the finish set for almost two weeks before buffing. Curing time for the finish is 150 hours according to the instructions, so that should be OK.

The can is quite old. I've had it or almost two years (a lot of other things (lice life itself) that have been distracting me from the important thing (like building guitars)). GTR1 was finished like 1.5 years ago. The age of the lacquer is my main concern. I guess I’ll have to wait to see what Stew Mac says about that.

Edited October 29, 2005 by SwedishLuthier

[Daniel Sorbera]

The stuffs cheap. I wouldn't be using two year old stuff. Just get yourself some new product. It will only set you back a little bit. It's not like 2 part polys that cost $200 a gallon.

[SwedishLuthier]

Yeah,you can call me cheap. Thats my middle name.

The thing is that there are no maximum storin time for opened cans in the product description. Nevermind, I guess that this can's out the window after this project.

[ryanb]

Sounds to me like the coats were just to heavy. I haven't used that particular product, but I thought these ridiculously long curing times were the classic result of too heavy coats with those water-base finishes (or not waiting the right amount of time between coats). It may take many months to fully cure, if it ever does.