some guy in california

We'll find out next weekend when I buff out the neck! some guy in california: Uh... thanks, I guess. I asked "Why isn't mineral spirits cleaning the lacquer". Someone already said "Cuz you need lacquer thinner". There's a principle at work here: the simplest answer is usually the best one. I'm glad Prostheta liked your chemical breakdown, but it was completely un-necessary and will be lost on the vast majority of the members of this board. I'll say this though: I DO appreciate your thorough understanding of the issue as well as your desire to convey said information. You know a helluva lot more about chemistry than I do. OK, "avenger", I usually consider information--and correct, detailed information--to be the equivalent of light in a dark room. I guess you prefer the dark. I'm a college administrator (department manager) and teacher; it's my nature to inform. Four years ago I took charge of my department, reorganized it, rewrote the syllabi, and built a complete program and wood, metal, machine, plastics, and paint shops, virtually from scratch, based upon 35 years of experience in industry building working prototypes of all sorts of complex items from medical devices to prototype show cars. It is now one of the highest-rated programs in the USA. One thing that I have constantly dealt for the last 25 years or so is the anti-intellectual mood in this country...a fear of knowledge, as if it could somehow burn or destroy us. To find this in a guitar forum is not a surprise but certainly a disappointment. Thanks for the welcome. It's been short but informative. Over and out.

I once knew a guy who could get gorgeous finishes on motorcycle parts by brushing on gloss enamel. He would let the stuff settle in the can, drain the oils off the top, and then heat the can in a double-boiler to about 150°F. He would use a very soft and wide natural-hair brush. The enamel would flow out and the finish was unbelievable... I don't recommend it for several reasons, the first of which is--it's enamel. Then there's the hazard of heating flammables. And, no, although it can be done with brushing lacquers (I'm told..), I've only seen it on lacquerware done the old way, not on any guitars.

I use Behling Vinyl Sealer under all my finishes.

Acetone is only one of the components in nitrocellulose lacquer thinner (the most commonly available from hardware stores and home centers). Acetone is less hazardous (well, slightly, anyway), and when you look at the formulary for nitro lacquer thinner, you'll understand why, s the other components are much more volatile, carcinogenic, and flammable: Methanol Acetone 000067-64-1 Isobutyl isobuyrate Methyl cyclohexane Toluene 000108-88-3 Cyclohexane 000110-82-7 Heptane 000142-82-5 I had a case of heptane liquid that I used for octane booster on an old V8 Maserati. It was a cardboard box with egg-crate separators, containing 48-8 ounce bottles of the stuff. The case was one year old and sealed and taped shut. The bottles were brown glass with bakelite caps. Each bottle's closure was taped with electrical tape around the joint for additional sealing. When I cut open the case and lifted the first bottle out to use it, I noticed it was only 2/3 full. I untaped it and unscrewed the closure, and went to get a funnel to pour it into a can filled with gas. When I got back about 2 minutes later, there was nothing in the bottle. THAT'S volatile! If you leave a can of nitro lacquer thinner open until it's mostly evaporated, you'll have acetone and toluene left, with only the merest traces of the other components. Toss it. There's also acrylic lacquer thinner, which is an entirely different formula, and which is not compatible with nitro. It's usually only available from pro body shop vendors. There are also universal thinners, which are used to clean spray guns.You can use these in nitro, but they will blush on any but the hottest and driest days. You can purchase a lacquer retarder (which you should use on cold and/or damp days to prevent blush, especially with brushed lacquers) at a pro paint supplier. Use it sparingly. Mineral spirits is not compatible with lacquer. Its formulary is: Naphtha 8030-30-6 Ligroine 8032-32-4 Stoddard solvent 8052-41-3 Heavy hydrotreated petroleum naphtha 64742-48-9 Medium aliphatic solvent petroleum naphtha 64742-88-7 Ligroine is a very flammable and volatile solvent, used here in small amounts. Stoddard solvent is generically known as "white gas". Naphtha is also known as lighter fluid. You can see that lacquer thinner and mineral spirits have nothing in common, at least for our purposes. Incidentally, did I mention that nitrocellulose is vastly overrated as a guitar finish; in terms of toxicity vs. durability, it is 50 years behind the times. Guitar manufacturers push it because we respond to nostalgia. Du Pont (supplier of nitro for Fender's first custom colors) replaced it with acrylic lacquer in...1959! Do-It-Yourself guitar people use it because it's available (from people like ReRanch) and easy to spray from spray cans. Spray cans, although they are easy to use to paint stuff once you get the hang of it, are the most toxic, wasteful, and environmentally-unsound way to spray paint. Landfills are full of these things, and each one is a bomb unless the pressure is relieved by puncturing (which my hazardous waste contractor does for me, thankfully). Once punctured, they must be sealed in a drum for disposal. In the last four years, I have virtually eliminated the use of spray cans in the university shop that I run, with savings of a couple of thousand dollars a year in waste disposal fees, not to mention the positive environmental impact.