Need Clear Lacquer or Shellac Tips, anyone successful??

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2/5/2004 12:02 AM

Owen

Need Clear Lacquer or Shellac Tips, anyone successful?? I just got a new 5E3 cab with bare tweed. I know some members here have posted pics of their amps with clear lacquer or shellac and I really liked them.     Could anyone who has done this successfully (meaning no splotching or unevenness) please give me a surefire method for application (would spray lacquer or shellac work?) and drying time between coats. Also, what products and brushes. I'd really like to try spray cans if possible.     I know the clear finish will be more forgiving than a tinted one, but I just want to make sure I get it right this time. All advice would be helpful and much appreciated. Thanks!

 

2/5/2004 4:40 PM

Jeff Lynch

I understand your desire to get it right the first time. Mine came out beautiful, but there were some frightful moments leading up to it.     I used a 50/50 mix of Zinzer bullseye orange shellace and denatured alcohol as recommended by several posts here. A china bristle brush is recommended . . . buy a new one just for this project. Losing a bristle in the coat will make you so mad. I used a 2-1/2 angled brush. Take off all the hardware, even the feet/glides. Then put the screws from the feet back in halfway to use to hold the bottom off the floor. Do the bottom first, then put it right side up on the screws from the feet, and continue on the sides, and then the top.     Make sure you put a clear coat of sealer on the raw tweed if it did not come with one like bruce's newer cabinets do. This will seal the tweed fabric ends and prevent the shellac from soaking into the material and producing splotches.     My near disaster involved coating the cabinet while the humidity was high. If the humidity is over 60 or so, the shellac picks up moisture and turns white and splotchy! Not good. I rubbed off the whited coating and then sanded the whole thing with very light sandpaper to get rid of the corrupted coating. Then I waited for a dry day and did it all again. Excellent results with 3 coats. If I were to do it again I would only use 2 coats because that last coat made it pretty dark. I think two would be perfect, but it is subjective.     Dont let my near disaster scare you, the 50/50 zinzer mix is a good vintage method. Others have used spray cans and Honey Pine tinted minwax polyurethane with good results.     Put a good coat of johnson paste wax over the finished product for protection for the shellac.     Good luck, Jeff

 

2/12/2004 8:02 AM
Tom	What type of sealer is used to prevent the shellac producing the splotches on the seems?

 

2/5/2004 7:23 PM

Jimy

Re: Need Clear Lacquer or Shellac Tips, anyone successfu > Then put the screws from the feet back in halfway to use to hold   > the bottom off the floor. Do the bottom first, then put it right side   > up on the screws from the feet, and continue on the sides, and   > then the top.     That's a great tip, Jeff. I'll definitely use that next time.     I too had good success with a 50/50 mix of Bullseye (amber) shellac and denatured alchohol. No splotching except for a small area on the back panel. This resulted from my stupidity, though. I knocked the still wet panel off the bench and onto the floor. True to Murphey's Law, it landed face down. Damn!     A pretty good set of instructions can be found on the Marsh Amps web site:     http://www.marshamps.com/tweedcab.html

 

2/5/2004 6:48 PM
bnwitt	Next time you drop the toast jelly side down, get a brush with just denatured alcohol and wipe off the offending gunk and a little of the shellac layer to get back to a clean spot and then re-apply.

 

2/5/2004 11:57 PM
Jimy	Thanks. Another good tip. But, hope... Thanks. Another good tip. But, hopefully, there won't be a next time...

 

2/5/2004 9:27 PM

Owen

Anyone do clear, no tint finish?? Thanks for the replies and the tips.     However, I really want to try a clear lacquer or shellac finish, with no tint. I know I've seen pics of guys who did that. I'm sure it's as simple as getting some clear lacquer and brushing it on but I'd like to see what techniques were used.     I'm particularly interested if I could take a spray can of lacquer/shellac from Home Depot thereby avoiding the brush or mixture. Just wondering if anyone might give me an idea of what to expect from that technique.     I would imagine Fender did something similar in the old days.

 

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