Rothko & Frost - Nitro Paints, Dyes, Inlays, Pickguard Sheets etc (lots of pics)

SimonRF · July 2015

I remember the early days when all we did was clear nitro and pearl dots, but we've been developing our range of specialist guitar finishes and materials for a few years now and have plenty to offer whether you're doing your first project or are an experienced luthier.

Our current range of specialist professional guitar finishes and materials available on www.rothkoandfrost.com includes:

Cellulose Sanding Sealer Primer in clear, white and grey.

Tinted Nitrocellulose Lacquer in dozens of colours, these are see-through finishes so you still see the great. Ideal for sunbursts.

Strong Tinted Nitrocellulose Lacquer, which is nearly opaque so hides most of the grain. Intended for repairs and 60s style sunbursts with a solid edge.

Solid Colour Cellulose Paint, loads of vintage and modern colours available.

Metallic Cellulose Paint, again in many classic colours.

Clear Nitrocellulose Lacquer for necks and body top coats, available in gloss, satin and matt.

Nitro is available bottled for use in spray guns, and in aerosol spray cans.

Waterborne Sanding Sealer for use under our tinted and clear waterborne lacquers.

Waterborne Primer in white for use under our waterborne paints.

Tinted Waterborne Lacquer for sunburst and see-through colour finishes.

Waterborne Paint in a few popular vintage colours.

Clear Waterborne Lacquer for a top coat on necks and bodies - gloss, satin and matt available.

Waterborne comes bottled for application by spray (HVLP kit recommended) or the clear lacquers can be brushed on.

Pre-Cat Sanding Sealer specifically for use under pre-cat top coat.

Clear Pre-Cat Lacquer, a harder wearing alternative to nitro.

Pre-cat is available bottled for use in spray guns, and in aerosol spray cans.

Thixotropic Grain Filler, for use on open-pored woods under any of our finishes.

Water Based Grain Filler, which, like the thixo, can go under any of our finishes.

These come in tubs - the water based is easier to use but takes more coats, the thixo is a bit of a pain to use but builds up quickly.

Water Based Wood Dye for bringing out the grain pattern of figured maple.

Spirit Based Wood Dye for general staining and creating sunburst finishes.

Concentrated Tinter Dyes for making your own tinted lacquers. Can be used with nitro, pre-cat and waterborne (and much else besides), and are very very strong. Remarkably similar to the S*****c concentrated dyes but with nicer bottles and for less dosh.

Aniline Dye Powders which can be dissolved in alcohol thinners then mixed with solventborne lacquers to make tinted finishes. These are traditional anilines and so the colour fades when the finish is exposed to sunlight.

Standard Cellulose Thinners to be used with our cellulose paints and tinted lacquers.

Anti-Bloom Cellulose Thinners for using with clear nitro top coat, there's a bit of retarder in there which slows the drying time and helps to prevent blooming and other problems.

Not all thinners are created equal, and we believe ours to be the best available. The Anti-Bloom gives a great flow to nitro lacquer and helps it dry to a high gloss.

Lacquer and Paint Hand Polishing Kit is our complete kit for hand polishing your paint or lacquer finish to a high gloss, includes all the abrasives, cloths and liquid polishing compounds you need.

Continued next post...

SimonRF · July 2015

Shell and Recon Stone Blanks for cutting your own inlays.

Shell Laminate Veneer Sheets are thin sheets, 240 x 140mm, made from laminated feathers of real shell including mother of pearls and abalones. These can be laser or hand cut, and are thin enough to be buried under modern lacquers.

Flexible Laminated Shell Veneers are real shell with uniform microcracks across the surface on a cloth and adhesive backing, so they can be hand- or laser-cut, peeled and stuck on like normal stickers, and have the appearance of natural shell. They are flexible, so adhere well to curved or contoured surfaces.

Glow In The Dark Inlay Material in blanks for cutting your own, or in a selection of ready-cut shapes and sets.

Cellulose Nitrate Sheets, Binding & Purfling in a wide selection of patterns and colours including pearloids, tortoiseshell and ivoroids.

ABS Binding & Purfling strips in cream, ivory, white and black.. and occasionally some other colours too.

Cellulose Acetate Sheets which are great for making acoustic pickguards - they cut easily, polish well, and don't warp like old nitrate. Many shell, onyx and tortoiseshell patterns available.

All the above is available to purchase online at www.rothkoandfrost.com

Our most up-to-date colour charts can be downloaded from the following links:

dartfords (wood finishes)

Luthitec (guitar parts and materials)

Incudo Precision (inlay, bindings, marquetry)

Thanks for looking!

Metallic Cellulose Paint colour chart below:

Gagaryn · July 2015

I want a dark cola jazzmaster now!

SimonRF · July 2015

Gagaryn said:

I want a dark cola jazzmaster now!

@Gagaryn it looks even better in person, a really subtle metallic sparkle running through the deep cola red.

SimonRF · July 2015

Nitrocellulose Lacquer charts in action. Tinted colours are see-through but have a colour to them. Strong and Solid colours are very nearly opaque - not as solid as a cellulose paint, but ideal for covering up breaks and repairs or for the outer rings of sunbursts.

SimonRF · August 2015

Early this year we (very quietly) released a Waterborne Lacquer for guitar finishing. It's sprayable and brushable, gives a thin finish like nitro but is pretty hard wearing and polishes well.

We received some photos this morning from David Snowdon (check out his website www.davidsnowdon.co.uk) who has just finished his latest build in our clear gloss waterborne.

He sprayed it using an Earlex HV1900 HVLP kit, and polished it up with our polishing kit (wet/dry paper, then our RF3, RF5 and RF7 liquid compounds). The neck has been 'satinised' with pumice.

SimonRF · August 2015

We now offer a range of highly Concentrated Liquid Tinter Dyes. These can be added to finishes to make your own custom colours and tints. They're tested and compatible with nitrocellulose, alcohol solvents (for making custom dyes), pre-cat, and waterborne lacquers. Colours can be intermixed, and we've focussed on offering guitar-relevant colours rather than just a selection of browns.

Deijavoo · August 2015

Holy shizzle! I'm quickly changing my mind about that oil finished Jazzmaster. Pelham blue with black plate and nickel pups.....hhmmm...

SimonRF · August 2015

Deijavoo said:

Holy shizzle! I'm quickly changing my mind about that oil finished Jazzmaster. Pelham blue with black plate and nickel pups.....hhmmm...

Pelham and black - very lush!

Updated chart with latest colours.

TTony · August 2015

I've always wondered about spraying some self-builds, but with (a) no prior experience and (b) nothing like a home spray booth, I've always been put off (and used other products instead).

Might be useful / interesting (and boost your sales by at least one new customer) to do some reasonably "for dummies" explanations of how to do it. YT Vids too? Perhaps even set up some day courses for interested peope to come along to, see it in action, do a bit themselves, pick up a starter kit (etc).

?

SteveRobinson · August 2015

I have videos of spraying technique using aerosols (including metallics) on my web site.

SimonRF · August 2015

TTony said:

I've always wondered about spraying some self-builds, but with (a) no prior experience and (b) nothing like a home spray booth, I've always been put off (and used other products instead).

Might be useful / interesting (and boost your sales by at least one new customer) to do some reasonably "for dummies" explanations of how to do it. YT Vids too? Perhaps even set up some day courses for interested peope to come along to, see it in action, do a bit themselves, pick up a starter kit (etc).

?

Agreed! We've been doing some guides recently (written) through the process for various finishes that we'll be sending out with kits. Got to finish off the decal videos, then spraying will be next. We also now do some great waterborne lacquer which can be applied by brush. We've developed it specifically for instruments, can be sprayed or brushed on, and works great over any of our lightfast dyes. Used with the waterborne grain filler as well it's something that you really can do on the kitchen table - for those who don't fancy spraying!

Deijavoo · August 2015

Even better! Awesome. Now, how the hell do I throw a guitar together again...?

SimonRF · August 2015

Deijavoo said:

Even better! Awesome. Now, how the hell do I throw a guitar together again...?

Coming soon: "How to build a guitar In 742 easy steps!"

Moss · August 2015

Deijavoo said:

Holy shizzle! I'm quickly changing my mind about that oil finished Jazzmaster. Pelham blue with black plate and nickel pups.....hhmmm...

*Cough* Ocean Turquoise *Cough*

SimonRF · August 2015

JPEGs and monitors aren't great for accurately portraying colours, but as a rough guide here's our colour chart for Cellulose Paints. All available bottled or in aerosol spray cans.

SimonRF · August 2015

Our Spirit Lightfast Wood Dyes are lightfast (minimal fading when exposed to UV), suitable for both hard and softwoods, and offer excellent clarity and colour strength. Apply by brush, sponge, cloth or spray. Or dip, if you have a large guitar shaped bath.

SimonRF · August 2015

Sunburst Kits now available with everything you need to go from bare wood to a high gloss sunburst nitro finish. Here's a chart of the available combinations:

Everything in the kit can also be purchased separately, so if you want to make a sunburst not shown you can piece together your own kit of items. Our ready-made kit is a handy guideline for what you need.

Sunburst Kits

hobbio · August 2015

@RothkoAndFrost do you reckon the two different Pelham Blues would work as a burst?

SimonRF · August 2015

@hobbio definitely, there's enough of a difference between them that this would work really nicely. Never seen it done before!

hobbio · August 2015

Me either. I think that's the plan then

SimonRF · August 2015

@hobbio Awesome, thanks.. please can I put in an early request for pictures?

XWulfhere · August 2015

@TTony I've just used @RothkoAndFrost spray cans to do my Jazz Bass and P90 strats and with no prior experience I've got good results just by following their online guides. I haven't wet sanded the neck on the P90 strat yet, but I did on the Jazz bass neck and it's come up wondefully and glossy. I just did it all in my garage. You don't have to commit to a proper spray booth or anything.

hobbio · August 2015

SimonRF said:

@hobbio Awesome, thanks.. please can I put in an early request for pictures?

Absolutely, I've got quite a lot to do with it before it's ready for paint though

TTony · August 2015

Wulfhere said:

@TTony I've just used @RothkoAndFrost spray cans to do my Jazz Bass and P90 strats and with no prior experience I've got good results just by following their online guides. I haven't wet sanded the neck on the P90 strat yet, but I did on the Jazz bass neck and it's come up wondefully and glossy. I just did it all in my garage. You don't have to commit to a proper spray booth or anything.

Thanks @Wulhere - I guess I'll take the plunge sometime, just need to get the time to do some more guitar buildery.

SimonRF · August 2015

Filler charts done.

Thixotropic Grain Filler is smelly, dries very hard, and only takes one or two applications. Messy and a little awkward to apply but gives great results. It is particularly splendid when using a contrasting colour on a light wood such as ash, whether that's red, blue, or even just a dark brown. This brings out the pattern of the grain, and you can then go over it all with your choice of dye or tinted lacquer.

The Waterborne Grain Filler is much easier to handle, far less pungent and nicer to live with but takes a little more work to build up.

Both varieties can be dyed over with our spirit lightfast dyes, and coated with our nitro, waterborne, pre-cat and 1k lacquers.

SimonRF · August 2015

Water Based Wood Dye chart below. This water wood dye is intended for use on softwoods such as pine. The black water dye can be used on figured woods such as flame and quilted maple to enhance the grain depth/effect. Put it on the bare wood, it'll penetrate deep in, then sand it back, then go over with a Spirit Lightfast Dye or tinted lacquer.

SimonRF · August 2015

Our clear Waterborne Lacquer is suitable for hand application as well as spraying. It is suitable for use over our Grain Fillers and wood dyes, so if you start with a Swamp Ash body you can go Waterborne Grain Filler > Lightfast Dye > Waterborne Sealer > Waterborne Top Coat > Polish without having to spray anything, without the fumes of nitro and end up with a glorious see-through coloured swamp ash finish. The whole process would take a few days, and the result is a thin, shiny, hard wearing and stable finish. Here's how the waterborne lacquer polishes up:

ThePrettyDamned · August 2015

Wulfhere;739020" said:
@TTony I've just used @RothkoAndFrost spray cans to do my Jazz Bass and P90 strats and with no prior experience I've got good results just by following their online guides. I haven't wet sanded the neck on the P90 strat yet, but I did on the Jazz bass neck and it's come up wondefully and glossy. I just did it all in my garage. You don't have to commit to a proper spray booth or anything.

My next finish is going to be a rothko and frost canned job, so that's reassuring

ThePrettyDamned · August 2015

SimonRF;740978" said:
Our clear Waterborne Lacquer is suitable for hand application as well as spraying. It is suitable for use over our Grain Fillers and wood dyes, so if you start with a Swamp Ash body you can go Waterborne Grain Filler > Lightfast Dye > Waterborne Sealer > Waterborne Top Coat > Polish without having to spray anything, without the fumes of nitro and end up with a glorious see-through coloured swamp ash finish. The whole process would take a few days, and the result is a thin, shiny, hard wearing and stable finish. Here's how the waterborne lacquer polishes up:

Oh my god, or this.

Will there be videos showing the process? I'll have a look at your site now!

ThePrettyDamned · August 2015

Okay, just looked. A couple of dyes and waterborne lacquer can all be hand rubbed on, so...

I could get a swamp ash or pine (I love my pine strat) body, sand back to 400 grit, grain fill, sand back again, dye, and lacquer coat a burst finish?

If it gives a harder finish than wudtone, this could be my method of choice. Wudtone ages great though.

I also saw solid waterborne lacquer - can that be hand rubbed, or is it spray only?

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Rothko & Frost - Nitro Paints, Dyes, Inlays, Pickguard Sheets etc (lots of pics)

Comments