Ilva Polyurethane Finishes and Solvents
The fastest drying and most durable gloss finish you've ever used! Go from spraying to sanding to buffing in days, not weeks. We're really excited about this incredible finish brought to us by master finisher Jeff Jewitt. Even better: we've worked with Ilva to finally offer this finish in convenient quart sizes—perfect for guitar shops.
Let's face it, finishing can be the hardest part of guitar building. Traditional nitrocellulose lacquer is beautiful but can be tricky. Nitro is fragile, dries slowly, and requires ideal temperature and humidity to look its best. Ilva Polyurethane solves all those problems—without changing you normal finishing process.
Builds fast, cures fast
Ilva by IC&S Polyurethane sprays just like nitro and with the same equipment. It's water clear and won't yellow over time. And there's no need for a sanding sealer product, poly topcoats are very high in solids so they build very fast on their own. The coats dry incredibly fast and hard.
The best part: it cures completely in a week OR less, not several weeks like nitro. And, you can skip the mess of wet sanding. It's also compatible with any sandpaper (we recommend lightning fast Eagle Abrasives). Once it's cured, you go from final sanding straight to buffing.
Showroom shine for life
It's resistant to temperature extremes, cold checking, and solvents, keeping a factory fresh look for years. It's also easy to clean and impervious to tape—no more worrying about scratches from installing hardware and final assembly.
Simple finish prep
No need to weigh anything, just mix the Ilva Finish and Hardener in a 1:1 ratio, and add IC&S Thinner to your needs. Once you fill the grain (we recommend SilverTip Epoxy Pore Filler) and sand the body—you're ready to spray.
Pro tip: on hot, humid days we recommend using the Slow Thinner to prevent blushing.
Please note: Ilva finishes are a complete system, you MUST use all three products (Finish, Hardener, and Thinner) together for the finish to cure correctly. It's not compatible with most lacquer finishing products like Naptha, Behkol Solvent, or Mixol Universal Tints. You can use ColorTone Liquid Stains (up to 5%) to add color to the finish.
Features:
- Dries fast—fully cured in 1 week or less
- Incredibly durable, resistant to temperature, solvents, and tape
- Water clear, won't yellow over time
- Easy 1:1 mixing and application
Get exactly how much you need
A 2 quart mix is enough for:
- 2 acoustic guitar bodies and necks
- 4 entire mandolins
- 4 to 6 solid guitar or bass bodies
- 6 to 10 electric guitar or bass necks
- 8 ukuleles
- 4 to 6 dulcimers
- 4 to 6 banjo rims and necks
Easy to apply
Here's a typical finishing schedule we use in our shops:
- Pore fill and seal, let dry thoroughly
- Spray 3 days, 3-4 coats per day
- At the beginning of each day, level sand with 400-grit before shooting new coats
- After the final coat, wait one week to complete the final level sand (take extra care not to sand through the top layer)
- Sand 800-grit through 3000-grit (Eagle Abrasives work great here)
- Machine buff starting with Coarse, then Medium, then Fine, then Extra Fine (we reccomend ColorTone Buffing Compounds)
Each can is 1 quart (946ml).