Anyone here use Crystalac?

[vanstry]

I'm about to sand my guitar body back to bare wood for the second time.

First time I thought I'd try a new finish that a guitar builder liked a lot. Unfortunately it burned through with incredibly ease (maybe I wasn't supposed to level sand it?)

So sand back, restain and decided to try Crystalac, because all these builders are crowing about how great it is.

I used six coats (three a day, four hours apart) and let it cure for a week (a day a coat they say).
Well, I hand sand and I use a 5 inch round pad (soft) that's about a half inch thick to hold the paper. I started with 800 grit.
And the weirdest thing happened - it burned through ALL the way around the face and back, but not on the rounded edge, nope, about 1/8th of an inch before the edge. Like there was hardly any finish there (there was some orange peel there, so not like I could ignore it). The curve for the edge? That's fine. I level sanded it out of curiosity and it didn't burn through at all.

Glad I only bought a pint of this stuff! Hate to be throwing out a quart at the prices they charge.
So I guess I'm going back to General Finishes gloss. But honestly? I don't get it. It didn't burn through on the edge, it burned through just before the edge. I've never seen that before. Like all of the finish pulled away there.

Anyone seen that before?

 

[NedRyerson]

Out of curiosity, what was the first one? 

(wondering if I've used it or considered using it....)

 

[vanstry]

The first one was clear poly and mineral oil. You're supposed to wipe it on, give it four minutes and then wipe it off before it fully sets up, giving a thin smooth coat.
Then do that like 15 more times, giving it about an hour to dry after each coat.
That did not work as advertised.

 

[vanstry]

Well I sanded it back and restained it.

There are spots now along the side that are black. It just soaked up way too much stain. Either the Pre-Stain didn't do its job, or it's just cause it was stained once already. Not really sure what.

On the top cut out I really need to figure out someway to lighten that back up. If I can save that, then I can save one or two other smaller spots that matter and I can use the body. Otherwise I guess I'm done with it. If I paint it, I have to buy a new neck. Of course, no idea how to paint with waterbase over an oil stain. Unless I rattle can it outside, which will of course, look like crap.

Sorry I tried something new, should have stuck to what I know on this one.

 

[vanstry]

It's toast. None of the old wives tales on google to lighten stain work. Tried 'em all.

 

[Michaelga]

I've seen videos on Youtube by Chris Monk from Highline Guitars talk about it and I think he has some videos working with it.

Michael

 

[vanstry]

Yup, and that's why I decided to try it.

Big mistake. If you even look at this stuff the wrong way, it goes bad. And the instructions? What's on the label doesn't match the instructions on their website (where you find 2 different versions).

Can't store below 60 degrees or it ruins it. Can only spray between 65 and 75 degrees and under 50 percent humidity (doesn't say that on the label) can't dry at higher/lower temps either (I keep my shop at 78 to 80 and I live in Texas, sometimes the humidity gets a little above 50 percent out in my shop).

How long between coats? 1 to 2 hours or 3 to 4? They say both in different places.

Oh, and you have to let it cure a day per coat. Fine with 6 coats, but that's obviously not enough. The other stuff I used I could start level sanding the next day after 15 coats. Which I could put on 5 a day instead of just 3.

No, I followed all the rules, hell I wrote down exactly how Highline does it and followed it.

It failed miserably. Obviously there are a lot of special tricks with this stuff, in order to use it, that they don't tell you about unless you call them. And it's expensive! I think it as 50 bucks for a pint! (Out of which I sprayed 6 coats, so I got a lot left which I can't use).

So yeah, I need to buy a new body because you can't restain with oil stain or it looks like crap.

Maybe the product just doesn't work over oil stains even though they claim it does. It's obviously not any better than the General Finishes stuff. It's definitely a lot harder to use.