There is no comparison. General Finishes is a soft finish and has a blue haze to it. Give this one an honest try, you won't be sorry.
Brite-Tone: new waterborne finish
- Thread starter Guerra Cues
- Start date
There is no comparison. General Finishes is a soft finish and has a blue haze to it. Give this one an honest try, you won't be sorry.
Anyone else test this finish?
Joey,
I have 2 cues hanging for 45 days already with this finish and after sanding with 3M and buffing with Meguiars all looks good. I was advised by a major guitar builder that they use dry sand using Klingspor sandpaper and Menzerna on a buffing wheel. Meguiars works well too. I am going to try Menzerna Superfine compound and buff it by hand.
All the guitar makers using the finish do not wetsand, they dry sand with 1000 and 1200 and then 2000. In terms of hardness the finish is super hard. Still fine tunning it but I am close.
That's 2 cues Tony. And you're the only vouching for it . And the first cue was muddy from the get go. Sorry, not enough
I can tell you when I used Enduro by Gen Finish, I wet sanded it then went with pistachio and ivory menzerna. It did not turn muddy . But, they did turn milky after a months. Your 45 days hanging test is not a great barometer .
We know auto clears are made for cars that bake and get rained/snowed on for years.
This one needs more people coming forward if they've used it .
I suspect it does not stick to phenolic, stabilized woods and metals all that well.
And it is not designed to be sprayed on epoxy base coat . Or UV .
Fair statement Joey. However the finish itself has been around for 35 years. Major guitar manufacturers use it and as you know guitars are played almost every day and they do get beat up quit a bit. So before I picked this up the mindset is doing the same process as polyurethane.
So there is a learning curve and I am not worried about durability and longevity of the finish.
On the first cue I finished I used a pad that had 3M compound on it and that could have been part of the problem.
The finish sticks to phenolic, no problem. I am vouching because it works, and it's hard. I am not the only cuemaker using it, there are other cuemakers experimenting with it.
There is a learning curve like anything else and this finish has no smell whatsoever. I am 90% close to the correct formula.
Finding the right finish that is going to represent your cues is a painful, unforgiving task. It doesn't matter what products work for others. What matters is, will it work for you. I went thru it and so didn't every Cue maker I know. Define it's flaws and work from there. Then you'll know.
Well said, Mike.
Like Eric stated, well said Mike. I am not there 100% yet but I am very close, just the piece of mind of not having toxic fumes and smells in my shop is an amazing feeling. Rockbridge guitars uses their finish on all their guitars, look at this video where Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora shows off his guitar finished with Brite-Tone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5vVIJibiGE
I did not watch the video. I don't really care about the finish. You, as a Cue maker, I happen to care about.
Close is good. Try not to ship cues til your sure. Especially if your already late on orders. Nothing pisses people off more than to get thier order late and have to ship it back for flaws. It's a lose lose situation in the long run. People know what your bouncing back from and where your trying to go.
Stay positive and try to go forward everyday.
amen to that!!!
Thanks Mike! Amen to that as well!
Many moons ago when I was first starting a well meaning cue maker gave me some advice and told me it would make sealing the cue quick and easy. Since he had been around a while and I was new I just took it for face value and tried it. Sure enough I had the cue sealed and perfectly flat in a matter of minutes. Shot the clear coat, buffed it and sent the cue on it's way. Got a call a few days later that there was a problem with the finish lifting. Got the cue back and sure enough I could peal all the clear coat off with no effort. It had absolutely no adhesion whatsoever.
My first though is that I was duped but after a few questions I found out he was shooting lacquer and I was shooting urethane.
After that I learned to thoroughly test any new technique or product before incorporating/using in my cues.
My first though is that I was duped but after a few questions I found out he was shooting lacquer and I was shooting urethane.
After that I learned to thoroughly test any new technique or product before incorporating/using in my cues.
You learned well Padawan. The sneaky you made a couple years back has one of the best finishes of all the cues I own, and it has nicely survived the transition from hot muggy Florida to dry cold Saskatchewan. People comment on the finish. The only one that might be better is the Blackcreek (thanks Travis). Others are nice but do not compare (I have only a small sample of cuemakers in my sneaky collection, certainly there are many others who have top notch finishes).
I guess my real point is that a cues finish is one of the most noticeable attributes, be it good or bad (I have both and wish my desire for a cuemakers work was not stronger than my desire to have several cues re-finished
). It is a skill / technique worth the time and effort to get right in my opinion as a customer.Another good thread, thanks to all who have participated.
Dave
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Spot on!
I've spent quite a bit of time and money on clear coat products, buffing compounds, spray guns etc. and I'm still learning.
You could have saved a ton if you asked me about Iwata LPH-80 and PPG Shopline.:grin-square:
I ended up with a SATA minijet. Iwata, Sata, Devilbiss, they all seem to make high quality sprayguns. I'm using a 2K Mipa clear atm, PPG and Chromax is crazy expensive over here!