Dyeing a figured hard maple neck

[Tonar8352]

I never use water born dyes for that reason, I do not like using water on wood personally. Also the only reason I would sand is if I was doing two colors so the darker color would strike into the soft grain deeply and still show through after the surface is lightly sanded. This is just how I would do it, not that another way would not work well.

 

[docteurseb]

When I did a Tele top I used TransTint with water. The top wood around the F hole warped, but I was able to mostly fix that.
For a neck I'd be concerned using water, and was planning to use alcohol this time.

I never used them with alcohol though, I suspect it's harder to use as it would dry much quicker.
It's probably compatible though with the lacquer thinner/retarder Tonar suggested.

 

[dmraco]

When I did a Tele top I used TransTint with water. The top wood around the F hole warped, but I was able to mostly fix that.
For a neck I'd be concerned using water, and was planning to use alcohol this time.

I never used them with alcohol though, I suspect it's harder to use as it would dry much quicker.
It's probably compatible though with the lacquer thinner/retarder Tonar suggested.

Just to be clear, when I use water, the rag is not DRIPPING!  Just wet enough to carry the tint.  It is more of a rubbing than a soaking.  It is easier to work with because  it does not dry as fast as alcohol or thinner.  I have used water on almost every "sandback" with no issues.  But I use alcohol for the last coat before clear so you do not have to sand.  The StewMac and TransTint are liquid stains made to be used with either water of alcohol.

 

[Tonar8352]

Alcohol as in shellac solvent works great too. I have never had difficulty using it as a vehicle for dyes. The surface you are doing is not that large and the nice thing about solvent is if you feel like you went to dark with your dye you can take a clean rag soaked with solvent and wipe some of the color off. I am looking forward to seeing some pictures.

 

[docteurseb]

Thanks everyone.
The plan would be to do both a neck and body at the same time.
I need to decide on a color scheme first.
And maybe I'll change my mind and do a complete 360 on what my next build will be, this happens a lot!

 

[docteurseb]

Well, I gained a lot of appreciation for PRS finishes over the week-end.

I tried dyeing various pieces of soft flame maple to get something to look like PRS' aqua violet finish. It's a finish where you can distinctively see violet and blue colors.

I tried to do couple ways:
1) red first, sand back, blue
2) violet, shellac unwaxed sealer, sand back, blue

Neither gave very good color separation.
For #1, by the time there's enough blue to not see any remnants of red, the whole thing looks mostly blue.
For #2, the hope was that sealing would preserve the violet coat where it's absorbed the most and prevent the second layer from making it looks blue. In practice it's better than #1, but there's still very little color separation.

I might go with an easier color scheme

 

[Cagey]

Sometimes, you learn things by mistake. Success is mostly achieved after large amounts of failure. I think it was Edison who said he didn't have 1,000 failures, he found 1,000 things that didn't work  :laughing7:

You're already learning what doesn't work, so perseverance may pay in the end. Of course, I'm also reminded of another saying we had tacked on some bulletin board at a manufacturing company where I used to work "There comes a time in every project's life where it becomes necessary to shoot the engineer and get on with production"  :laughing7:

 

[docteurseb]

I took another stab at it last week and finally got decent color separation between the blue and purple colors.
I'm not sure why since I used the same steps as before  (dark red, sand, blue)...
The main difference is the veneer was much thicker and more figured. So this time it didn't twist like a pretzel making the sand back step more uniform.

The violet may be a little too bright but it's getting there.

Talking to one of the pro finishing shops there is a 'secret' preparation step to make hard maple absorb dyes properly. The finishing cost for a neck was fair enough (compared to just a gloss finish) that I'll let that shop do it. We'll see how that turns out.

I'll create a new "build in progress" thread once the body and neck are built (4-6 weeks ETA).

 

[BigSteve22]

I'm truly lov'n that color! Can't wait to see what the shop comes up with.... :icon_thumright:

 

[docteurseb]

To close the loop, I ended up having it professionally done. It was a little too daunting to ruin an expensive body or neck (or both) if the staining went wrong. The end result is:
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=29581.0