Official Luthiers Forum!

Just going to start getting the supplies for finishing my first guitar. I was going to order z-poxy and cardinal lacquer and thinner from lmii. I will be spraying threw an hvlp gun. Do I need a sealer to or is the z-poxy used as the pore filler And sealer. Also I seen on there website you should do a coat of unwaxed shellac between the z-poxy and top coat. So I'm a little confused on what steps I should take and products I will all need.

The z-poxy can be a sealer as well as a filler. Depends on how you use it. If you leave a thin coat covering all the wood it will act as a sealer. If you sand it back so it just fills the pores you will need the sealer that goes with the cardinal lacquer.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Should I do a coat of shellac between the z poxy and lacquer?

No shellac between zpoxy and cardinal for me. I do use their vinyl sealer over the zpoxy but when I did a test panel I really couldn't see much difference. I'm thinkling shellac would be a mistake.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I use all the Cardinal products -pore filler, sealer, nitro and thinner when necessary.

I spray sealer, pore fill, seal, then apply the nitro. I thin my sealer 50/50.

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"I've been had again"
Tim Benware
Creedmoor, NC

I'd check with Pacer (maker's of Zpoxy) before using shellac on or under Zpoxy there are reports of problems. On the other hand I have personally contacted them regarding nitro lacquer and it is fully compatible as the nitro will etch and chemically bond --- so there is really no need for shellac at all. Since the nitro vinyl sealers have the same solvents as the top coats I am sure they would work fine as a "tweener" -- but again really not necessary. Some feel the added flexibility in the vinyl sealer has long term benefits.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/