A new finish question

[bases-loaded@juno.com]

Rob-

Sounds like it COULD be an acrylic lacquer.  Tougher than the
nitrocellulose type.  I would discourage the use of polyurethane in this
instance, because what you will be looking for is a good "mechanical
bond", and polys are not too good at that.  Lacquers, however, ARE.  You
could first shoot a coat of lacquer vinyl sealer to fill some of the
imperfections, followed by a COMPATIBLE (make sure!)lacquer top coat. 
Just make sure you have cleaned, sanded (wet w/240), and rubbed the old
finish well (I like the maroon pads for this), and wiped well with naptha
RIGHT before shooting.

Good luck!

Mark Potter
bases-loaded@juno.com

On Tue, 05 Oct 1999 22:17:26 -0500 Robert Goodale <rrg@nevada.edu>
writes:
> Howdy all,
> 
> I have a 20 year old Kawai UST-7 that I am interested in selling.
> Before I do, however, I would like to pretty it up.  It has multiple
> small scratches and other various marks which I will fill in/rub 
> out,
> etc, (former school piano).  The original finish does not appear to 
> be
> lacquer nor polyester.  I am suspecting some sort of polyurethane
> hybrid.  It is somewhat harder than lacquer but not as hard as poly.
> (Don, perhaps you could take a guess at what this is?)
> 
> I thought it might be a worth while experiment to put a coat of
> polyurethane on it followed by sanding and then rubbing down with
> rotten stone to a satin finish.  I have never done anything like 
> this
> on a piano before but it seems like it might work here.   Another
> reason I thought this could be good is because the thick filling
> properties of polyeurthane would probably fill and/or hide many of 
> the
> blemishes.  This is of course assuming that the present finish,
> whatever it may be, will accept a fresh urathane finish on top.
> Obviously the only way to test this is to apply a coat to a small 
> spot
> somewhere.
> 
> Does anyone have an opinion on this or has used polyurethane on a
> piano before?  Note:  This is a used studio piano that I want to 
> make
> look pretty in a hurry.  I DO NOT want to strip down and refinish 
> it!
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Rob Goodale, RPT
> Las Vegas, NV
>