Help with Guitar Finish

[John Serna]

Hey all,

Using only hand rubbed shellac and water dye, how would you attain this finish?

1. What stain or water dye would you use to match the color?
2. Would you mix the stain into the shellac, seal with shellac and apply stain over that, etc?

Thank you!

Strat.jpg

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Fender did not do it either of those ways.

[John Serna]

Fender did not do it either of those ways.

I know. I'm asking how to best approximate that look with what I have.
The guitar in the photo was painted at some point, then stripped, and then who knows what...someone did that at home.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I do not mix color with varnish, lacquer, or shellac unless I am trying to do a sunburst. When working with bare wood I start with plain old wood stain (Minwax Oil based). When I need deep vintage hues I add artists oil colors and Japan dryer to the stain. When the color is right you can varnish, polly, shellac or lacquer. Dan Erlewine is good at colored lacquer and is very free with his techniques. In this video the finishing starts 9:32 minutes in. I have stoped using shellack for final coats as my clients have proven it to be lacking in durability.

[roger wiegand]

Transtint dye to match the color you like then french polish with a light shellac to get the sheen you want. I prefer to use the transtint with alcohol rather than water, but either works. The scratches and "distress" are probably best achieved through heavy use of the instrument.

[John Serna]

Transtint dye to match the color you like then french polish with a light shellac to get the sheen you want. I prefer to use the transtint with alcohol rather than water, but either works. The scratches and "distress" are probably best achieved through heavy use of the instrument.

Excellent, thanks. I used walnut transfast, and it turned out a reddish brown rather than brown. That's why I came in to ask the question, because I thought that should have worked.

So I had to sand it back and redo (I used general finish light brown). I just applied it last night after making this thread, and I have to say it's very nice now. Very close to the image.

[John TenEyck]

If you use Transtint then you can't apply over it by hand or it will lift it back up and make a muddy mess. You should use TransFast dye which is soluble only in water. Then you can apply the shellac by hand w/o worry.

John

[roger wiegand]

Probably a better idea, you do pick some of the dye (1% maybe?) back up on your rubbing pad when laying down the first pass or two. I'd hardly describe it as a muddy mess though.

If you use Transtint then you can't apply over it by hand or it will lift it back up and make a muddy mess. You should use TransFast dye which is soluble only in water. Then you can apply the shellac by hand w/o worry.

John

[Stan Calow]

I suggest you visit the Acoustic Guitar Forum, where there is a subset of luthiers and knowledgeable repair folks who know a lot about instrument finishing. Its worth knowing about if you're into guitars anyway.

[Jim Becker]

The TDPRI has a very good finishing forum in the "DIY Channel" that's guitar specific. I've found that to be very helpful. I will note that I do use Transtint in clears to do shading and bursts, but for something like in your photo, I'd likely dye the wood directly after working things out fully on scrap.