# KTM 9 Water Based Lacquer



## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

Has anyone used KTM 9 Water Based Lacquer?..I have always used French Polish but was never happy with the way it was easily scratched or damaged with sweat...I bought a can of this stuff to give it a try..I am using an old French Polished guitar to try it on....I just lightly sanded the surface and started to apply KTM9....(May be a mistake...Don't really know if it will stick or not)...Seems to go on nicely using a foam roller and using a foam brush to take out the bubbles..6 coats.Sanded it back with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper...Looks good so far...Waiting for some very fine sand papers to arrive before I can finish sanding...
Does anyone use a guitar with this finish? If so how is it holding up to scratches and sweat?...Any info would be a big help ..Thanks,Larry


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## n.milburn (Apr 5, 2011)

Larry, I'm not sure why you would sand the finish. I'd think about using alcohol to rub off the present shellac (French polish). But, there are many ways to skin a cat. I would think you'd want to remove most of the shellac in order to avoid having too thick a finish on the instrument. I am considering using the KTM 9 product on a present instrument, but unfortunately don't have much information to share, other than the fact that it is apparently able to adhere well to shellac (if used as a seal-coat).

There is a Canadian product that seems pretty similar. Saman waterbased varnish. A quick websearch will lead you to their website. The high gloss version would be the one to look for. I'm going to be testing some wood with this in the very near future, so I'll try to remember to post results.

Cheers!

Ned.


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## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

Hi Ned...Thanks for the reply..I lightly sanded with 1000 wet dry sandpaper..Just to get rid of any surface grit...I did use alcohol to clean afterwards...My guitars are bolt on necks ...I removed the neck and completely sanded it back to bare wood...The body still has the Shellac undercoating...This stuff seems to cover very nicely...Going to let it cure for about a Month before I give it a final leveling and buffing...I will post the results....Larry


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

Shellac is generally a good base for various top coats - it sticks to lots and lots sticks to it. I have no experience with the KTM product, but use shellac under Target water based EM6000 successfully.


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## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

I 've been looking at Stu-Macs "Target Emtech-7000 HBC"....Just might give this one a try also...Did you buy the EM 6000 here in Canada?


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

You can buy Target products in Canada from woodessence.com


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## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

Thanks for the link...I ordered some from them...Jeff E-mailed me back..He said this stuff could possibly be brushed on but spraying is the best option...Worth a try both ways..


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