I'm going to be doing my first finish soon. Flame Maple top on a White Walnut back. I am wanting to color only the top and apply a clear finish to the back. Is it simply a matter of taping the top or is there other prep work involved? What dyes are preferred? I've been looking at either MEK or Trans Tint dyes. Oh, and what is a good choice for grain filler? Any advice, suggestions, pics are appreciated! Thanks!
clean line finish
- Thread starter shanejw
- Start date
I think you're supposed to apply some lacquer to the back first, then the dye. That way you can sand back the dye. I recently tried a clean line exactly as you describe but I ended up giving up and sending it to Tonar, which is looking like a very good decision.
If I would have spent much money on this project I would be sending it off to be done in a hearbeat. I got lucky and won a nice piece of wood on ebay for 5 bucks. A freind of mine is also an amateur builder and runs a water jet machine to jet out his bodies, so there won't be much spent on this body at all money wise. It's just something I wanted to try, so if I mess up the clean line too much, I'll sand it back, do a black burst over and do the back black and see what results I get.
dmraco
Master Member
- Messages
- 4,655
I have struggled with this too. Shooting lacquer like tfary said works but you have to mask the other areas too...and I have found dry wood can still SUCK the dye under the lacquer.
My last attempt (very successful) I masked the area in question and made sure the rag I was applying the dye with was barely wet. I always worked out from the middle. If I needed to apply extra application to even out the finish it was never a problem. Using a soaked rag will alway be an issue.
If you do get a little seepage, it will be small and can be carefully sanded out.
This finiish was in an LPS. Strats and contours are a little more difficult but can be done...
My last attempt (very successful) I masked the area in question and made sure the rag I was applying the dye with was barely wet. I always worked out from the middle. If I needed to apply extra application to even out the finish it was never a problem. Using a soaked rag will alway be an issue.
If you do get a little seepage, it will be small and can be carefully sanded out.
This finiish was in an LPS. Strats and contours are a little more difficult but can be done...
You may think this sounds kind of dorky, but I was always fond of the Ibanez Talmans of the mid 90's. I'm always looking for them on ebay but can't ever really see anything I would want to buy used so I'm going to try to make one from scratch (mostly). A freind of mine has a Talman that has been in its case for ten years or better so I'll be doing most of my measuring off of that one, but changing a few things to make it a little more "mine". I haven't decided if I'm going to have Warmoth or Doug Darling from Soul Mate Guitars make the neck for me. Thanks for all the info, I'm just trying to prepare as much as possible ahead of time.
