dupont sonic blue prices?

[fish22]

I went to my local Oriellys since they are 1 of 2 companies locally that can mix dupont colors.
They priced me a quart of 2295 sonic blue, and he told me it was $113ish.
So I asked about a pint. He told me $70ish. I was kind of blown away...
There is a local body shop that carries dupont. So I called them and they said they don't carry lacquer based finishes....
I called Orielly's and and they said they had Acrylic for about $18 a pint.
I said "Acrylic lacquer, right?" He said "I dont show that being lacquer based..."
So, what do I do? Do those prices seem crazy?
Seems like I remember Ron Kirn saying it should be ~$15 in an older thread...


I have a gallon of nitro and some white and blue tint but I don't think Ill be able to tint it to be a good sonic....

[Buckocaster51]

I would think that O'Reilly "acrylic" would work as a base coat just fine.

Yes, those prices are high, but that is the automotive refinishing world. It's not 1955 anymore.

[Mike Simpson]

If you want nitro... order a can from reranch and spray it in into some clear in your spray gun cup. Or just spray the color coat with the reranch spray can.

[fish22]

Originally Posted by Mike Simpson

If you want nitro... order a can from reranch and spray it in into some clear in your spray gun cup. Or just spray the color coat with the reranch spray can.

I'm scared of the shipping times and other issues people sometimes have with Reranch...
I feel like if they sold their colors in pints and quarts they'd make an even greater killing then they already do...

[fish22]

Oriellys has Duplicolor by the quart, which is lacquer for $25.
I asked if he could squirt the dupont colors into that to tint a white duplicolor and he said he has never done it and wasnt sure if it would work.

[Mike Simpson]

Originally Posted by fish22

I'm scared of the shipping times and other issues people sometimes have with Reranch...
I feel like if they sold their colors in pints and quarts they'd make an even greater killing then they already do...

I have ordered from reranch two times, never had any issues. I agree on the quarts, I would buy more fom them if they had quarts available.

[Shepherd]

Last time I bought Dupont Chromabase about two years ago it was $22 for a pint. But it was worth, the stuff sprays like glass.

[Ronkirn]

ya may wanna make note.. Leo used Acrylic Lacquers as a color coat and Nitrocellulose as a clear coat… not all the time, but often enough to establish it as SOP…. The Acrylics were often Dupont Lucite, and the Nitro was often Dupont Duco… with other paint manufacturer's products being used when supply dictated..

Today. Duplicolor is owned and operated by Sherwin Williams…. Who happened to supply Leo on occasion…. The Duplicolors are acrylic lacquier…. so squirt that rascal with your favorite Duplicolor, clear coat it with one of the several good quality nitros… and love it…. but….

remember…..

the dead wood still will not be breathing….. Oh yeah to keep the finish completely authentic… at least as authentic as modern regulation's choking grip on vintage formulations will permit…. do not forget the sealer coat of a good quality coat of plastic… Fullerplast will work fine….


Ron Kirn

[fish22]

Ron, I'm not a "wood can breathe" person. This is actually a kids guitar I'm refinishing as a favor. Its covered in Polyester anyway... He is set on nitro and buys into the whole idea that nitro is the greatest guitar finish ever.
Actually on my lunch break, I went by oriellys and got an idea.
I could get white Duplicolor, and get one of their duplicolor paint pens and tint the white to somthing close to sonic. THEN give him the nitro clear coat he desires lol.

[Ronkirn]

if i was doing it for a youngster….. spray it with Duplicolor…. clear coat it with Deft Satin…. you're through with it…..

rk

[kddean66]

I purchased Ice Blue Metallic from O'reilly's a couple of years ago. As you pointed out, it was very expensive. I was also a little disappointed by the color. Even though they used the Dupont code, it was a very different color than what we've come to think of as IBM on Fender Guitars - it was more silver and less blue.

Recently, I mixed my own Sonic Blue for a project I was working on using the Dupont Dupli-Color that is readily available at local auto stores. Once I got the mix right I was very happy with the results. YMMV.

http://www.duplicolor.com/

[fish22]

Hey Kddean66, I see you are about 1.5 hours north of me!

So, can you tell me which Duplicolor material(s) and what process you used?
got a pic of the end result?

[kddean66]

Sure. I bought a can of Blue and a can of White along with clear for the final coats. I mixed the Blue and White until I felt the color was a good match for Sonic Blue. The stuff is pre-thinned so there was no need to use thinner. I then used the Preval spraying system and applied 3 coats of the color paint. I then sanded smooth (400, 600, 800, 1500 grit) and then applied 3 coats of clear. Sand again and viola! I don't have any pics or I would post for you, but it turned out really nice.

Here's the Preval website: http://www.preval.com/

Originally Posted by fish22

Hey Kddean66, I see you are about 1.5 hours north of me!

So, can you tell me which Duplicolor material(s) and what process you used?

[Guitarnut]

Another route is to go with all nitro and use pigments from StewMac. You can mix any number of opaque colors in clear and the bottles they sell go a long way. It's a good route if you plan on painting more guitars in the future.

ColorTone Pigments

[fish22]

I have white and blue colotone pigments.

The only problem with that, (IMHO) is that I'd need a ton of white to make it pretty concentrated. I think if I use white lacquer and tint it to sonic, I can shoot less color coats.

Maybe Im wrong.
I shot a paint gun full of thinned 1:1 nitro with stewmac white last night and it wasn't very concentrated. '

I think I will get the Duplicolor acrylic white, and add some stewmac blue and see what happens!

Thanks for the replys everyone

[Guitarnut]

Originally Posted by fish22

I have white and blue colotone pigments.

The only problem with that, (IMHO) is that I'd need a ton of white to make it pretty concentrated. I think if I use white lacquer and tint it to sonic, I can shoot less color coats.

Maybe Im wrong.
I shot a paint gun full of thinned 1:1 nitro with stewmac white last night and it wasn't very concentrated. '

I think I will get the Duplicolor acrylic white, and add some stewmac blue and see what happens!

Thanks for the replys everyone

Are you sure you needed to thin the nitro? Many don't require it and a 1:1 ratio of such would be very thin.

Also, you might want to call StewMac and see if the pigments are okay in acrylic lacquer...I don't remember seeing a recommendation for acrylics.

Either way, best of luck with the project and the learning experience.

[fish22]

Yeah, it was pretty thin, I'm still trying to figure out what ratios work, or if I even need thinning at all...
I have a friend that builds custom cars for people ( one recently is Jeremy Shockey) and he told me always to go 1:1. of course he isn't shooting nitro...

I did that with McFaddens and it seemed really nice.
Now im on Lenmar Nitro and it seems a lot thinner.
Last night was my first test sprays with the lenmar...
Ive been thinking about whether or not to thin it that much...

I talked to stewmac a few days before and I want to say they told me that their lacquer tints were compatible with all lacquers...
He also told me their colortone stains were compatible with lacquers as well.

Thanks for the kind words and info. Im still learning, but loving every second of it.

[Radspin]

Ron, if I use Deft Satin, and I'm careful, can I get away with not having to buff it etc? I have a Grosh ElectraJet Standard in what they call their "suede" finish (they don't offer this anymore) and I love the look of it. Also, it seems like a lazier...er, less labor-intensive approach! I'm wondering if, being a novice refinisher, my chances of getting a better-looking satin finish are better than trying to do a gloss finish and not quite succeeding.

Not a lot at stake...I'm talking about refinishing a garage sale Peavey Raptor with an ugly stock sunburst finish.

[Ronkirn]

sure can/// and the nice thing about Deft Satin is is sands very easy the next day… so you can load it up, let it dry over night block sand it the next day and mist a finish coat…. it'll look great…and it only took a couple of days… no pesky waiting for lacquer to cure…

To get that suede effect, hold the can about 18 inched from the surface and give it two quick mist coats…. if you don;t like it , sand again and try something else.. that Deft Satin is as forgiving as can be..

rk

[fish22]

So here is what i came up with. Duplicolor white acrylic with stewmac blue pigment.
Also, my friend decide last minute he wanted a really bold daphne....
I achieved a great sonic blue that id love to squirt on one of my own guitasr, but while mixing he kept demanding "more blue" and "brighter!" the result was not my favorite, but he was thrilled. It was encouraging that I could achieve a sonic blue that i thought was perfect with about 8 drops of stewmac blue for future projects.
Anyway.... iPhone pics arent super accurate
Before:



I lost count of how many blue drops. probably over twenty with 3-4 drops of yellow to give it a little green.
My dream sonic was 8 drops of blue. easy. :-)