Met a local Luther *LINK*
Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL
>One of the members of our turning club mentioned to me today that he knew of a Luther in town that also used Lacquer on his guitars, banjos, etc. He is only about a mile from me, in a back street.
I went over at lunch time and met him. Small shop, Skinny Old Guy with long gray/white hair and beard. In the front his wife has a stained glass business, and the back 2/3s is his office and shop. A real mess, stuff everywhere. A Grizzly cabinet saw, an old Delta 14" BS and a Craftsman 10" BS like mine, a Grizzly DC like mine, a Rigid Drill Press, a cheap OSS like mine, a Proformax 16/32 sander that he say he might sell (!!!!) says it take too long to thin wood with it, but he like using it for bone inlays. Now he has a huge drum sander - about 36" capacity he uses on guitar bodies. All sorts of guitar forms lying around, scrap wood and guitars in various stages of construction lying around.
Best part about the trip - the Lacquer that he uses. He uses a Gloss Guitar Rubbing Lacquer from The Lawrence-McFadden Co. in Philadelphia.
He was jitter bug sanding a guitar that he had sprayed the night before (he uses HPLV) with 320 grit to do the first leveling, and the stuff was absolutely dry. White power dry. Says he used to use another name brand (the name is escaping me right now), and he says that even though he has to have this stuff shipped and pay the hazardous materials charges, he would use this stuff if they gave him the other stuff free. Says that he does not use the vinyl sealer under it. He sands to 200 grit and then buffs with a grinder type buffer using a rouge.
If you look at the Mcfadden customer list under musical instruments, it is kind of a Who's Who of Guitar makers.
At the suggestion of Sam Simpson, I have recently started using Behlen's Stinged Instrument Lacquer. I love it. It builds quickly, and dries relativly quickly (compaired to Deft). But at the two places that I can buy it buy the gallon, it is $33 a gallon. The Mcfaddens is $24 a gallon. I use about a quart per bowl (give or take depending on the wood).
Anybody have any knowledge of the product??
Thanks