I have a 1940's Gretsch rack tom in Black lacquer. I recently discovered the drum has been painted over the original finish - which is blue....and may be a lacquer as well. I don't know if it's Dupont Colour = Duco - at this point.
I removed a little of the black paint under the diamond plate tom holder - trouble is some of the blue came with it. I used Acetone so I'm thinking the blue is a lacquer. Probably no way to remove just the black I'm thinking.
Thoughts?
I thought Duco stood for "dual color"
Ran across this just for information...
Duco History
DuPont's Duco paint was a nitrocellulose lacquer that first brought color to automobiles when General Motors first used it in 1923. Using Duco lacquer revolutionized the automotive finish business by reducing finish time from two weeks to two days. It was thick and quick drying, which pleased carmakers, but frustrating for consumers who couldn't apply it like the oil-based paints they were used to.
Duco was DuPont's most successful coating. In 1920 they produced a durable lacquer that dried quickly—a boon to the emerging mass production industries. Marketed as Duco beginning in 1922, it was the standard finish on all General Motors cars within four years.
The following is from DuPont's Duco web page (no longer available):
Duco, a durable, quick-drying finish invented by DuPont, helped make the 1920s revolution in consumer goods mass production possible, becoming the standard finish on automobiles, hardware, appliances and toys. General Motors introduced Duco finish on its Oakland models in 1923 and it more than fulfilled expectations, reducing finish time from two weeks to two days and drastically cutting rejection rates.
DuPont began producing nitrocellulose-based pyroxylin lacquers after acquiring the International Smokeless Powder and Solvents Company in 1905. The purchase of the Arlington Company ten years later [in 1915] deepened the company’s involvement. Although they were quick drying and widely used on brass fixtures, conventional lacquers were too brittle for more demanding uses. By the 1920s, however, the automotive industry had become a huge potential market. Although mass production [of automoboiles] had vastly increased output, because conventional paints took up to two weeks to dry, finishing remained a bottleneck. In 1920 chemists working with film at DuPont's Redpath Laboratory in Parlin, New Jersey, produced a thick pyroxylin lacquer which was quick drying but durable and that could be colored. DuPont marketed it under the name Viscolac® in 1921. Assisted by General Motors engineers, DuPont refined the product further and renamed it Duco. The success of Duco led to further experimentation with finishes and late in the 1920s, DuPont developed Dulux, an even more effective alkyd finish. Duco retained a niche market, however, and DuPont continued to produce it at Parlin until the late 1960s.
I stripped the black lacquer off the drum tonight. There is blue.....and white....almost a plastic white it looks like?? I wonder if this is the same white wrapped 'plastic' that Gretsch later used under the Cadillac Green drums of 54-58? I have one (a 9x13 tom) and when I look with a magnifying glass I can clearly see white under the Cadillac Green finish.
When I put the gel stripper on the black painted shell tonight it bubbled up and came off easily with a putty knife........like peanut butter. The blue paint under the black is coming off not too bad. The white ....almost feels like a plasticy substance......is a little more difficult to remove. I put some Acetone (whicked, just WHICKED cleaner = bad for your health) on the shell and the white stuff seems to be melting. That's why I think it's a plastic base wrap..........don't know for sure though.
Be careful with acetone, it's as flammable as gasoline. And as you said, inhaling the fumes is dangerous: brain damage etc. As the label says: use only in a well-ventilated area.
Sometimes, if an enamel paint was put over a lacquer finish (something we see a lot with vintage drums that have been ruined), the enamel can be removed without spoiling the lacquer underneath - but it's rare.
Over at the Rogers Owners Forum, someone acquired a later Rogers kit that had been painted black. I don't think they suspected there was anything good under the black paint, but they soon realized the drums were originally in the Tobacco Sunburst finish. They were able to remove all of the black paint (a big job) and the original finish was in good shape. Apparently the original lacquer used by Rogers at that time was tough stuff, and it allowed the restoration. A rare occurrence...
Funny that Dupont marketed the paint as being "durable", but it have proven that it was anything but durable. Most duco sets I have seen over the years are peeling badly.
