Finish woes?

Take heart. My friend has 30 martin guitars in his workshop all with a failed finish. It happens to everyone! He also has a top of the line Martin guitar, one year old in for a neck reset and bridge replacement.... Now I don't feel bad about a warranty repair I currently have in my workshop my second in 10 years.

Pete,
I've visited the Martin factory three times. Your description of your facility tells the whole story. You have a workshop and Martin has a factory cranking out 1000's of instruments and no one person builds the whole instrument. Amazingly, the last time I was there I saw a robot machine that buffs finishes! Martins are far from the hand built instruments they used to be.

Yep - there is definitely an exponential thing going on there - the more you do the more likely mistakes are going to occur.

If you were in the guitar biz in the US, you'd know that you and we are totally at the mercy of what finish companies are putting out, of what the government is requiring of them to stay legal, etc. All of us from one-person shops on up to Fender, Martin, and Taylor have gone through finish supplier hell in the past 20 years. The finishes change every year. We all have to re-learn, deal with f-ups, deal with warranty work, etc. on a regular basis. The product names stay the same and the products change. The public gets used to dead flat finishes on plywood from Japan and China...that are .030" or more thick...and expects that of companies trying to keep film thickness down to .008" on real solid wood.

Then there is the miracle that there are still production guitar companies able to exist and thrive in the US. I, for one, am very happy to see costs of Asian instruments rising at a much faster rate than those made here. We have a chance at survival.

It's really easy to rag on Martin, Gibson, Fender, Guild, Larrivee, Taylor, etc. But those companies are full of real luthiers with passion who just happen to work in that realm between the major Asian factories and the boutique factories like Santa Cruz, Collings, Bourgeois, Kamaka, KoAloha, Kanilea, and yes my own.

I'd also like to point out that Chris Martin and Dick Boak from Martin have been two of the most supportive gents to the US luthier movement of the past 30 years. Believe it or not, they love and support what we do.

This wasn't a nananana at Martin Rick. I was just feeling a whole lot better about that bridge I have to replace and encouraging others to not feel so bad when the occassional piece dosesn't go right. I also forgot the 6 instruments 2 years ago with a crackle finish caused by new lacquer supplied by a so-called luthier's supplies here in the UK. Never again! 10 ltrs of Cardinal now in the workshop - this stuff is really good nitro that I have learnt to work with - you are right on that one Rick - you are constantly having to lerarn and re-learn gun and reduction settings with each batch of lacquer.

I would never rag on Martin. I was a CNC machinist at a major pump manufacturer for 36yrs and was just trying to point out the difference between a large factory and a "workshop".

Like Rick said, It has been a hell of a tough time for finishes. Especially the last few years with Mcfadden going out of business. Having to deal with Mohawk lacquer was a real low point in my whole carrer. Good news is now we have Cardinal.

How do you use it Eric? We have found that if you leave it too long it is a devil to polish out.

Pete Howlett said:

How do you use it Eric? We have found that if you leave it too long it is a devil to polish out.

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the Cardinal nitro, I use just like the Mcfadden. I did notice it cures a little harder a little faster. I will usually do my final sanding and polishing in about 7 days as aposed to 10-14 like I used to. I am polishing on a wheel. It also helps to hit the finish with a 2-4000 grit abralon pad before polishing.