basswood dyed?

[Syntheticocean]

Does anyone have any examples of basswood dyed?

 

[Cagey]

Does anyone have any examples of basswood dyed?

Have to get a court order for an exhumation. Or, check any landfill. Basswood died a long time ago <grin>

Actually, basswood is supposed to be one of the easier woods to dye. It's pretty light and porous, so it sucks the stuff up like a boozehound at a new year's party. I've never done it, but I think I might want to spray it to get it even because of that. Since it acts like a sponge, rubbing a dye on is likely to produce uneven results. But, I'm just guessing. Better to wait for someone with experience with that wood to chime in.

 

[bagman67]

I don't have any practical experience dying basswood, but it would be worthwhile to explore this -

Why are you interested in dying it?  Basswood is, in general, a very plain pinkish-white wood with no interesting figure to the grain.  I have never seen it without a solid color applied, in fact, in a guitar application.  If you want to put a transparent color on it (perhaps as the backside to a figured top), you would probably be at least as well served by tinting lacquer and shooting it on with a Preval (or a real spraygun, but if memory serves, you don't have one).

Bagman

 

[Syntheticocean]

Well my reasoning for doing it is because a few years ago my father bought a guitar kit and he wants me to dye it. He liked how mine came out so he wants me to dye this. I tried to explain to him that the woods were different  but he still wants to try it. I tried dying the pickup cavity while he was standing there and the wood seems waterproof, so I  sanded to make sure there wasn't any sanding sealer.  No luck. The wood is basically waterproof. I might just lie to him and say I tried, but it didn't work, because it really seems like it won't. The shit is like a chunk of plastic. I hate basswood. Hate. Not a strong enough word.

 

[Mor Paul]

Do a tint instead.

 

[Syntheticocean]

I tried telling him that may be his only option, or just paint it with a solid color, but old men  are stubborn.

 

[bagman67]

Well, there's your argument in favor of tinted lacquer, then.  If he wants a tint that he can see the (practically non-existent basswood) grain through, there it is - the stuff won't absorb the dye.

Or just do what he asked for, and tell him all the while that there's a better way.  Some cranky ol' coots can't be dissuaded.  Right, Cagey?

(ducking and running now)

 

[Cagey]

I'm too lazy to pull up the scene in Pulp Fiction where Butch Coolidge (the boxer, Bruce Willis) and Vince Vega (the enforcer, John Travolta) are at the bar waiting individually for an audience with Marcellus Wallace (the mobster, Ving Rames) and the bartender says "My name's Paul, and this is between y'all", so no picture for you. But... <grin>

 

[jlegnor]

I used to have a Joe Satriani guitar that was basswood with a transparent red finish.  If I remember right, it looked like it had maybe a black grain filler applied before the trans red was shot on.  But I'm sure those where picked for their grain for the purpous of doing a transparent color.  I can tell you they weren't dyed though.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

You might want to scrub the wood down with naptha first.  It should strip a lot of the oils off and allow the dyes to apply evenly, if the wood will allow it.  I washed my Korina tele body about 6 times before starting on it.  The paper towel kept turning an oily yellow color, so I kept washing.  I have not worked with basswood, but it is worth a try.
Patrick

 

[bagman67]

+1 on the naptha wash.  I washed my mahogany tele a few times with naptha before applying the green tint.