Target Coatings EM6000 Waterborne Lacquer

[mkat]

Nice one. I'm looking for an alternative to nitro, so will eventually try the Stew Mac brand if it's EM6000 once the AUD performs a little better...what a shocker.

[Dennis Leahy]

So what do you assume he is inferring by that "(wink/nudge)". Is he saying that colortone is em6000 or is that just my take.

Jim

Hi Jim, Eben Atwater (Luthier Community) spoke with Target last year, and they confirmed (quietly) that StewMac's Colortone was re-labeled Target Ultima. So, I take this the same as you're reading between the lines, and it sounds as if they are confirming that StuMac Colortone is now re-labeled EM6000.

Dennis

[Pete Brown]

This is the question I asked Stew-Mac:
Can you please confirm for me which of Target's water-based lacquers you currently sell under the ColorTone brand name - is it Target USL, or the newer Emtech(EM)6000?

Their reply reads:
The Colortone Products that Target Coatings manufactures are manufactured exclusively for Stewmac and are not available from Target Coatings.

I'll leave it you all to draw your own conclusions!

Cheers
Pete

[kiwigeo]

They obviously think us Antipodeans are a bit slow.

[Stu]

I caught up with Ray Carlton of Carlton guitars who uses the Stew-mac
water-based lacquer on his builds and was impressed with how some of
his builds have held up over time.
Not quite the same gloss levels as nitro but seemed to be fairly hard wearing and minimal sinkback also.
What I have trouble believing is the 'true' amount of burn in you get with it
between coats.

Stu

[MetcalfGuitars]

I caught up with Ray Carlton of Carlton guitars who uses the Stew-mac
water-based lacquer on his builds and was impressed with how some of
his builds have held up over time.
Not quite the same gloss levels as nitro but seemed to be fairly hard wearing and minimal sinkback also.
What I have trouble believing is the 'true' amount of burn in you get with it
between coats.

Stu

Stu, I've been using Ultima, and now EMTECH6000 for some time now,,,,well, over 50 guitars finished with it in the last few years. Both do offer amazingly complete burn in. No witness lines are evident, no peeling of layers as long as you take reasonable steps to prepare as directed.

Regarding gloss, the Emtech6000 offers gloss and feel very typical of nitro. Too bad it's costly to acquire in Australia. I think it's a great, environmentally friendly alternative to Nitro.

Regards......

[Pete Brown]

After a trail of unanswered emails and PM's, I finally managed to squeeze a response from Target Coatings regarding the Colortone lacquer sold by Stewart-MacDonald. Here's Jeff Weiss' long-awaited response:

Target Coatings, like many companies, does manufacture products for Stewart MacDonald Guitar Supply under a private label agreement. The water-based ColorTone line of lacquers, varnishes, sealers and grain fillers are indeed produced by Target Coatings based on our in-house product design and manufacturing process, with the EM6000 being an example. However, we do make specific, proprietary adjustments to these formulas per the request of StewMac to meet their unique requirements based on the industry they serve. I can state with great confidence that the products Target Coatings manufacture for StewMac meet our highest quality control and product design standards.

To address your PM regarding lower freight costs to Australia, Canada and the EU; StewMac does offer a more competitive rate on parcel shipments when compared to orders from the Target Coatings FinishingZone.com e-commerce site. Our freight rate system offers highly competitive rates for shipments within the United States but is not yet tuned to be so for international orders. Therefore, I advise international clients to take full advantage of the excellent service and freight costs that Stewart MacDonald can offer to you.

I can't imagine what the "adjustments" he refers to might be, but it sounds close enough to Target's EM6000 for me. The big plus is that shipping ex Stew-Mac on a quart tin is around US$26.

Cheers
Pete

[slowlearner]

Resurrecting a thread from the dead...

Did anyone end up finding a locally available water based lacquer that works well?

[christian]

Hi,

I can't say I've tried it, but I remember the Mirotone rep telling me about their new water based lacquer.
see link below on http://www.mirotone.com/Mirotec-WB-Wate ... fault.aspx

Cheers,

Christian.

[Mark McLean]

I have used a US based shipping agent to repackage and forward goods. The one that I used is Shipito.com but there are a number of others in the same business. They provide a delivery address in the US that the vendor sends the goods to. They then offer you a variety of options for reshipping it to Australia/NZ, which will be a lot cheaper than the ones offered by the original vendor. They will repackage the goods, discard bulky wrappings, and consolidate multiple packages into one. You can track packages arriving and being dispatched online. I have used it for clothes, books and electrical goods - but not solvents and chemicals. It would be prudent to check their rules about such goods. However, it seems a good option - I have been very happy with them.
Mark

[charangohabsburg]

Thank you Mark, for this very useful hint!

It may also serve to order things some sellers don't want to ship outside the US.

[n~dl]

So have many of you got your hands dirty with the EM6000 yet and have impressions on it? Like a lotta folks I'd love an eco-friendly alternative to nitro (and hey, anything that sands better). I've only had a little experience with waterborne finishes and wasn't very happy with it. Witness lines were tough to avoid when final sanding and I didn't really care for how it flowed on, though I suppose that is something I could simply adjust to.

And just a heads up, USPS have been raising their rates. Some of their international prices have nearly doubled. There was a crazy congressional mandate around 2006 or so that forced them to pay 75 years of future-retiree benefits almost entirely at once, and they've been making cuts and upping rates to keep their heads above water.

[Nick]

And just a heads up, USPS have been raising their rates. Some of their international prices have nearly doubled. There was a crazy congressional mandate around 2006 or so that forced them to pay 75 years of future-retiree benefits almost entirely at once, and they've been making cuts and upping rates to keep their heads above water.

Ah so that's what it was all about! I'd heard that the government were looking to save money and were removing alot of the subsidies, basically told US Post to stand on their own two feet.

[n~dl]

It's really strange! No other agency or corporation in America is required to pre-fund their future retirement benefits like that, let alone for 75 years, for employees who haven't even been born yet. USPS would have made something like a $100 million profit last year without the mandate, but instead they're a couple billion in the red.

(I think there are a lot of people who would like to see the USPS compete privately, for profit; my little conspiracy theory is that the mandate was passed to manufacture a financial crisis and set things in place for dismantling unions and privatizing the whole works. GOP: "See? Look at the free market making strides where Big Gub'ment failed!")