I am painting guitars in my garage as a hobby. I have been using primarily nitrocellulose until recently getting into metal flake and urethane. I was hoping someone with more experience could help me with a new idea for a project. Have any of you folks with more experience ever used HOK (or any other brand) kandy koncentrate to color nitrocellulose lacquer? I would like to use the candy color mixed into nitro either as a base color or shot over a gold or silver base. I want to use organic green to get a color close to the old Cadillac green. Basically something darker than 7up green but lighter than hunter green. When shooting candy over gold or silver base, which is going to be darker? Any insight would be appreciated.
That won't mix with any of the lacquer products. In the 60's, we would by a metallic color we liked and have them mix it with out the metallic. Use what's left and mix with clear to create a candy color. Pick your base and have at it. That was the method for those us without access to a mixing bank full of toners.
Actually, the Candy Concentrates were originally made to be mixed into HOK's lacquer. When the Uros came out, they would also mix in with them. If they didn't change the formula, which I doubt they did, they should still be able to mix into both. I've used them for various projects in different formulas (basecoat, primer, clear) and with different chemistries (acrylic enamel, urethane, polyurethane), and haven't had any issues. Haven't worked with them in lacquer lately.
Yup all true candy concentrates will mix with any kind of paint, Lacquer, urethane etc it doesn't care, the beauty of the concentrate is that you can mix it as strong or weak as you like so you can either color quickly (think door jambs) or sneak u on the color if mixed weak. I am pretty sure that there is no UV protection with the concentrates but it should not be a problem if you use a UV clearcoat which I think all of them are these days. I used concentrates to make the candies that I fogged on the Car Craft dream rod, the Futurian and the Outlaw clone that I built. I made the candies a little weaker as I wanted to be able to sneak up on the color
I'm also fairly certain it tints anything. If you're concerned I recommend this method. Whatever solvent you're using put the concentrate in that, try a few oz 1st. Pour that into your lacquer and stir it up, if it doesn't gel and goop up you're ready. My question is are you just referring to your lacquer as nitro or is it really nitrocellulose? Most of the only commercially available lacquer other than over priced specialty resto stuff is garden variety acrylic. PPG remains a producer of lacquer and, imagine this, it's due to the musical instrument and furniture industry. To sum up, I believe you're good to go but just experiment with a 4-6 oz ready-to-spray test. You gotta promise to let us know BTW.
I talked to Jon Kosmoski at HOK when I was trying to figure out the colour of my truck and he assured me all the concentrates would work with any type of paint so as Mark said unless they have changed the formula they will work. Sent from my SM-G950W using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Fender still uses nitrocellulose on some of their instruments so it must be available from someone. I follow the painter in their custom shop on Instagram and everything he sprays is Nitro. I have always been temped to ask where they get it but they probably wouldn't say.
I purchase nitrocellulose from Sherwin-Williams. You have to go to the comercial stores, not just any old Sherwin-Williams. I have the numbers at home. Mohawk also makes a pre-cat nitro as well as an on cat, which is sold as piano lacquer I believe. Belhens stringed instrument lacquer is also the same as the piano lacquer, just with a different label. Lastly, Minwax sells brushing lacquer which is nitro. A lot of guitar guys prefer nitrocellulose because it will yellow and weather check with age or help. K13 is correct, jncolor has a great Instagram page showing him painting Fender and Gretsch guitars strictly with nitro. I recieved shipping confirmation from Tropical Glitz today, so I should have the candy by the end of the week. I will let you know once it shows up and I can run some test panels. I am optimistic it will work. Thanks guys, will report back.
Just wanted to report back that I was able to mix HOK Kandy Koncentrate with nitrocellulose with no problems. I used plum crazy on my telemaster build. This is a jazz master body with tele pickups and controls. Will post up pics once I finish final sanding and assembly.
Color me mistaken. I hadn't tried mixing pure toners before. Most of my cross mixing hasn't ended well.
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