From over on Ubeaut forums

[kiwigeo]

Hi all

First let me explain that I have no business connection with Paint Central. I'm just a customer and musical instrument maker who's excited about some new possibilities!

I've been using Mirotone's Miralac clear nitro spray for the past few years for spraying the necks and bodies of my various ukes and mandos and lappies etc. I wandered into the local Mirotone office the other week and was told that they've changed the structure of their business. No more counter sales, you have to order through Sydney now. Bugger. I also use some pigmented acrylic spray for soilid colours, which I usually get from Crash Supplies who have a collection of paintchips to choose from. Expensive but good!

Now for the good news! It turns out that Brad, who was on the counter at Mirotone, now works at Paint Central here in Adelaide. They're a small start-up company run by a husband and wife team, with Brad as their man for all seasons! He's a good guy, knows his stuff on all timber coatings and is a whiz with tints and pigments. They're currently negotiating to get a complete system that will let them fill spray cans with acrylics and nitro in clear, tinted and pigmented! I've explained how hard it is for instrument makers to get acrylic and nitro finishes to suit our instruments and they're keen to help. At this stage they only have the clear sprays as stock items, but as they respond to customer enquiries they'll be adding to the range, and of course adding to their knowledgebase. As well as the rattlecans they're also distributors for the full range of Mirotone products, and they're happy to ship interstate. Their phone number is 08 8177 1868, email is sheena@paintcentral.net.au - no website yet.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm excited at the possibilities of true full-gloss nitro coatings for my instruments. I'm thinking a small range of tinted nitros and solid colours would save me a lot of time and effort in the workshop, so I thought I'd share the news here.

I hope this post is acceptable. As I mentioned before, I'm not associated with the company, but I'd like to see them grow into a regular supplier for those of us building musical instruments. It's not often that we get the chance to have our needs acknowledged and have some input to a product range.

[Stu]

Just to clarify that this is verbatim from Ubeaut and not Martin's writings.

Doesn't read how Martin would write anyhow. (No kiwi accent)
I'm guessing Sth. Aus. has an extremely limited amount of suppliers available for quality refinishing supplies and anything that can bring the top shelf products to the fore is a good thing.

The one thing that does irk me about mirotone suppliers (in my experience , Melbourne) is you can buy sanding sealer or clear coat but you've got to go to head office to get tinters mixed.
I'd tend to go for primary colours if they stocked them and mix them myself but still it is an antiquated and fractured ordering system . I walk into my local auto refinishers store which stocks a myriad of products and has great service but mention one of their stock products in Mirotone and I can get only clear. In fact whenever I ask about Nitro styled products I suddenly feel like I know more than any of the employees .

Sorry, felt like a brief rant and Martin's post was the conduit. Carry on regardless........



Cheers, Stu

[kiwigeo]

Sorry..should have made it clear the post was not mine. I dont use laquer/nitro but thought the post would be of interest to some..especially Sth Australians. The post was put up by Rob of Jupiter Creek Guitars