Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all. I've been googling for a "mill gauge card," and for the life of me, can't find anything.

Does anyone have a link to one of these, or something else I can use to measure finish film thickness?

Thanks

Try local cabinetmakers supply shops.

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Couple choices here, I use the trycomb https://www.gardco.com/pages/filmthickness/wf/nordson.cfm
Searching for "Wet Film Thickness Gauge" on ebay throws up some too.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

When all done, if you used acetate or similar in the soundhole, applied finish will flake off easily & you can mic it.

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Dave
Milton, ON

I also do it this way and suggest this is much more accurate . I may be all wet on the accuracy thing but it works for me.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

You should be able to find a wet film gauge at any quality paint supply store. If you order your finish, ask for one the next time you place an order.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

You can have this, shoot me your address and I will throw it in an envelope.

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

The wet mill gauge cards are to set up your spray gun. Spray a test card and test the film thickness before spraying the instrument. I use EM6000 wb lacquer and find it critical to spray the correct thickness 3-4 mils. Too thin and it will not flow out too thick and the product can have a blue cast.

http://www.thefinishingstore.com/wet-mil-gauge/

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

John: Thanks for clearing that up for me. Quite obvious I did not understand the use of the wet mil gauge. Makes more sense now.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Thanks, guys! John hit he nail on the head. I'm interested in measuring the wet thickness of each coat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is also a way to measure the film thickness when dry - not on a flaked off pert, but it isn't cheap -
Like this one:
https://www.zoro.com/extech-coating-thi ... lsrc=aw.ds

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don: I may be wrong(Quite often I am) but I think that is eddy current and is generally used on metal sub-strate.

Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I use a micrometer (not a dial caliper) about a 1/2" in from the soundhole prior to spraying and then after every few coats once it's had a chance to dry for a while. I measure in the same spot everytime and I know exctly how much lacquer I've sprayed and what my average dry flim thickness per coat comes out to be.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I believe that you're probably right for this one, but there is something out there that is used by a well-known builder that I know that works on a guitar. Might be laser based instead or something else. I'm afraid I was guilty of just posting something too quickly without reading the product description closely enough.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."