"Frosted Duco" Finish

A. I have been looking into the DuCo Frost finish for a LONG time. I'm not into guitars, as many of you obviously are, but am into antiques. The DuCo frost finish was used on many metal objects, and I really would like to find out what the "secret" of the finish is. Looking at the finishes popular at the time, it likely would have been a lacquer or shellac. As to the ingredient that provides the crystallization in the finish, that is unknown. With a lot of digging over the years, I've heard it was naphthalene (mothballs) and nitrocellulose lacquer. With a little experimentation I was able to produce crystals in the finish, but; The crystal structure looks incorrect compared to the real finish (the crystals tend to grow long and thick, not in a very fine pattern), and the crystals "break the surface" of the lacquer causing a rougher surface. I will continue to experiment with naphthalene and the medium it is dissolved in (various lacquers and shellacs). So far it seems to be 1/2 mothball mixed with 2 oz nitrocellulose lacquer sprayed onto a clean surface. Brushing does not yield as good a result as spraying the finish. The largest crystal tends to be 1" in size.

A. In the 1930's the National Guitar company painted some of their steel guitar bodies with a paint that formed large crystal patterns. These patterns were at random, the crystals would form a different pattern and this aspect could not be controlled. It's been referred to as a "duco finish" and was typically a grayish-light green color. Elderly Instruments has a "National Reso-phonic" guitar, it's a "delphi model single cone resonator guitar" with the "duco finish". You can visit their website to see the finish. Anyway I'm a fanatic about these guitars and no one knows what I'm talking about, they've never heard of this. I'm trying to find out if anyone knows about this and how it can be done. Is it possible for a novice to do this? Does it involve dealing with highly toxic chemicals? I know it has just been done on the guitar at Elderly Instruments so someone knows something about this. This is something I would like to learn how to do, if it doesn't involve deadly chemicals or overly expensive equipment. Please help if you can!

A. FYI there are two companies capable of producing the duco frost finish. National Resophonic has developed its own duco finish in silver and gold. Probably the best. Also Steve Olson of Elderly is painting guitars with a duco frost approx. cost $500. Elderly is handling the grey duco finish for National. Like I mentioned before they have developed their own duco finish independently from Elderly. It is a little more true to the original finish and is a custom order item. Olsons ducos are very nice too and very artsy looking. The duco finish I think is achieved by adding naptholine to the mix. Some people say moth balls. You would think that the finish used on Nationals budget Duolian guitar would be easy to achieve. However it was an artform that has been lost. The recent recreations are very close to the original. But they really haven't nailed it yet. Cary