Acoustic Guitar Construction

The bad reviews were generally for spraying latex paint. Which is too bad, because my new model was going to be finished in latex. :-)

To me that indicates that viscosity is an issue. You'll just have to try it and give us a report. What's involved if you want to spray a different color or product type?

deadedith wrote:The reason I ask is, I use Tru-Oil as a wipe-on finish and very happy to do so, and a small 2 oz bottle for $5 does the whole guitar. If the preval sprays up to 16 oz of product, and does it well, then that's enough for 8 guitars except I'm sloppy so maybe 6 guitars + $30, which ain't bad. I've written Birchwood-Casey to inquire how much TO is in their 11 oz spray can.

Can't really use direct math here to figure out the economics. I've tried it, and never got it close enough to "what the numbers say should happen".

By its very nature, spraying in any form is atomizing the material on its way to the surface. You've got "overspray" losses to be considered.
In addition, many aerosol systems work by using the gas-off of the product itself as a part of the propellent mechanism. I don't know if that's the case with this particulat aerosol unit or not.
I don't know enough about it to fully explain exactly how it works, but that is how it was explained to me by a supplier whenever I questioned the reasoning behind the higher yield whenever I sprayed with an HVLP instead of using their aerosols. I'm sure that yield is gonna depend upon the material being delivered, and in the case of TO, yield % is gonna vary from lacquer, etc.

From a standpoint of upfront material cost, spraying is usually gonna be more expensive than hand application. The real savings is in the time spent applying it (labor cost).

Time is not an issue for me, and the monetary output is so low on this that it may be worth a try. If it's a waste of $10, well so be it. :-)
As they say in New York - I don't know from aerosols!

Somehow the first time I posted this it disappeared.

I have 2 cans and 4 bottle I got off ebay a while back for $7 a set and free shipping (one can and 2 bottles x 2 = $14). I have used them on small jobs and repairs with Mohawk Nitro both undiluted and tinted. Worked good for me. I use my compressor setup for big jobs.

deadedith wrote:Time is not an issue for me, and the monetary output is so low on this that it may be worth a try. If it's a waste of $10, well so be it. :-)
As they say in New York - I don't know from aerosols!

Even if it doesn't work out for your application, $10 dollars is certainly worth it to find that out.
I can see why some of the reviews concerning latex products were not good. Those products are tougher to atomize. If the delivery system is not up to it (powerful enough), people resort to over-thinning the product. Excessive thinning will definitely cause its own sort of problems.

I've been meaning to get one of these if just for little touch up jobs.
I think it might be great for that.

Kevin