Official Luthiers Forum!

The nitro post got me to wondering: Has anyone had similar finish experiences with EM6000?

Thanks in advance.

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michael propsom
www.propsomguitars.com

I've had very good luck with my sweat and USL, the precursor to EM-6000. I just returned from a week of Bandura Camp where the temps were usually in the 80s with similar humidities - nothing was dry for a week. I wiped a lot of sweat off of my instruments and so far so good.

As with most things, YMMV - I've read about a guy here who had plain old water eat through his USL/EM6000

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

My two em 6000 finished guitars are holding up just fine (1+ years). Folks that have had problems generally seemed to have "prep" issues.

Mine has also held up well for over a year. I can see no effect after summer-time gigs outside in high temps and humidity (i.e. lots of sweat).

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I have one USL neck that was great for about 2 years but it's owned by a guy that gigs probably twice a week and its breaking down badly now and will need to be re-finished. The body's OK.
My own gigging guitar is 6 years old and has KTM9 on the neck and has broken down in a couple of places but is better than I expected. Other KTM9's I did were terrible within a couple of years. I think the bottom line is that if you are selling instruments water based stuff on the neck is a bad idea. If anyone has heard of guitars with any type of waterbased finish on the neck that are played a lot and are more than 4 or 5 years out with no damage I'd love to hear about it.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I was that guy.... Turned out the finish does not fully cure in the amount of time that they claim when used over schellac (they think it was the shellac). Either way, all 4 guitars that I did have lasted over a year, 2 of them are daily players. You just have to be careful when it is first sprayed. You can level it after 2 weeks, but don't let water get near it for at least a month and if you are going to wet sand use mineral spirits. I never had any issues with sweat softening it, just when a stray drop of condensation from a glass of water sat on it more than a few minutes when I was sanding it . I gig with mine once a week (by gig I mean play at church), no issues, but my necks are tru-oil. Hope that helps.

-John

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

I've had good luck with TruOil on necks previously, I like the way it feels. I also like the way the EM6000 feels. I was wondering if you also use TruOil on the headstock or do you spray it with the EM6000? If you do that then how do you handle the transition?

Sorry for the hijack just chasing a rabbit here

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I did 2 of them with EM-6000 on the face of the headstock, so the transition was at the corner of the face and the sides. It worked really well. I have done the transition "Carvin style" with KTM-9 where you just mask off the back of the neck from the nut to the heel and leave the line at the transition. I prefered the first method, seemed more fluid on the back of the neck, I have thought about trying to make the transition on the volute, but havn't figured out a good way. Honestly now though unless I am matching the color with the body I just use tru-oil on the headstock. It is far enough away from the body that you don't really notice that it isn't gloss, and the fingerboard is oiled anyway as well.

John

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

I think I'll try that on one of my next ones and see how it works. Thanks!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Well, nitro has its own set of issues... from shrinkage to crazing in wild temperature swings. A nice lemon oil wipe before and after should really extend EM6000 life.

If you want a no worry finish, prolly go to glass finishes used by Taylor... someone's name comes up all the time here that will do it for you. Seems worth the price tag considering all the crap you will have to buy to be able to DIY.

Mike