I'm working on restoring a ca 1895 player reed organ. The bottom apron has water damage and one panel is missing and will have to be made from scratch.
I wonder if anyone has a dye formula (I usually use TransTint dyes) that will get me close to the color of the rosewood on this organ? I have some "Bolivian Rosewood" (aka Santos Rosewood, Pau Ferro) veneer that is a tolerable match for grain, but the color is nowhere close.
Pictures of the organ parts are shown below, the first two are after stripping off the failed shellac finish, the third one shows an un-stripped piece where a piece of trim has fallen off. I believe that represents the unfinished original look of the wood. The fourth photo is the veneer I might use. (The pieces I need to replace are small and fairly out of sight so the appearance mismatch won't be bad as long as the color is close.) If there's a better veneer to use I'd be happy to acquire that as well, I'm assuming the original species is no longer available.
I'm terrible at matching colors so would appreciate any help to get me into the ballpark.
IMG_2167.jpg IMG_2168.jpg IMG_2169.jpg IMG_2171.jpg