Massive quilt top / ash Strat body

[docteurseb]

This one showed this morning:

It was ordered around 3 weeks ago when the laminate tops got updated with some pretty incredible quilt tops.

Not sure yet about which finish I'll do on this one. I have a few dyes experiment to do to figure that out.

 

[ragamuffin]

Wow that was fast! Killer top, can't wait to see what you'll do with it

 

[Rick]

That looks great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   that's going to be a cousin of mine purchased on the same day.

 

[Schneidas]

Congrats!!! Looks totally sweet!!!

 

[Michaelga]

That's a beautiful quilt! Is that a standard quilt or did you choose it?

Michael

 

[War_in_D]

Very nice!  That will turn out great, whatever you decide to do with it.

 

[rauchman]

Wow, that is gorgeous!

 

[DangerousR6]

Pretty durn cool, that is a nice top for sure...When done right, those big quilts can look deeeeeeeeeep... :kewlpics:

 

[stratamania]

Cool looking quilt  :icon_thumright:

 

[docteurseb]

Well I got more Fiebing leather dyes bottles to play with, these leather dyes are just incredible. They are so much more vivid than Keda and TransTint it's no contest.

I have a few candidates for this body after experimenting with those the past few days...

A very vivid pink which is a 1:4 ratio of the Red dye vs denatured alcohol.
If you apply too many layers like I did you end up with a neon pink that is unreal, and hurts eyes a bit.

Mind you, there wasn't even a clear coat on it. It had just been sealed with superglue which is more of a satin finish.
I had done pink with Keda before, but it never approached this color vibrancy.

Most likely I'm not going to do this one for this body as I'm trying to keep resale value in mind; however I might do a 'glow' pattern from dark red to pink (not as vivid of a pink though).

Aqua Violet and Northern Lights is something I had tried to do with TransTint and Keda in the past. I've had some decent success but it was always a bit unpredictable and also never too vivid looking.
It seems that having vivid/neon dyes colors is key, the underlying pink layer in particular:

So here's the Aqua Violet one:

different version with double sand back + blue stain:

and if I go for teal instead of blue it's very reminiscent of Northern lights:

That one has potential on a curly maple top, quilt could work if I could make the color gradation smoother:

 

[docteurseb]

That's a beautiful quilt! Is that a standard quilt or did you choose it?

Michael

Sadly that is no standard quilt. It was one of the highest grade quilt tops available from the laminate top choice section at a $295 up-charge.

 

[docteurseb]

Watermelon ?

Probably not putting that one either on this body but it's an interesting look...

 

[PhilHill]

That watermelon is kinda cool.......... :headbang:

 

[War_in_D]

Those practice pieces look killer.. any tips on how you're getting that definition between the colors?

 

[docteurseb]

Those practice pieces look killer.. any tips on how you're getting that definition between the colors?

First is the piece of wood. I subsequently tried the same purple/pink one on a different piece that looked very figured yet it came out much more pale and without as much contrast between the pink and purple.

Then the brand/type of dyes is critical for these specific color experiments.
I would have never been able to get that with Keda or TransTint; that's not to say they suck (they don't) but for crazy intense/vivid color schemes I never got those results; in fact I couldn't even believe I got the colors seen here so easily.
The purple / pink was using either the Fiebing's "Light blue" or "Navy Blue" diluted with alcohol, I forgot how much dilution but it was at least 1:4 or maybe even 1:7. Several layers to have a very saturated color, then water to raise grain, and **heavy** sandback. The final layer was a vivid pink using Fiebing's Red at a 1:4 dilution ratio. Fiebing was key here, the vividness of that pink is incredible and neon-like.

The watermelon one is trickier: pink, possibly wash the piece with alcohol to make the denser part of the curls whiter, raise grain with water, seal with superglue, very light sand back, following by a very diluted Fiebing's "Aqua Green".

 

[War_in_D]

Thanks for the info on that, much appreciated.  If you don't mind my asking, where are you getting thin figured wood for the cavity covers?  The person I got my top from has similar stuff, but they are all at least 1/4" thick and I don't have a way to get it down to a thickness that I could use for a cavity cover. 

 

[docteurseb]

Thanks for the info on that, much appreciated.  If you don't mind my asking, where are you getting thin figured wood for the cavity covers?  The person I got my top from has similar stuff, but they are all at least 1/4" thick and I don't have a way to get it down to a thickness that I could use for a cavity cover.

I don't get thin pieces for backplates either.
But if you have a router (and you probably do if you're going to make backplates) you can make a planer jig like this (see YouTube for more advanced ones):

Glue the piece from the sides with a simple glue stick gun, surface one side, flip, and then surface the other side until you get to the desired thickness. A chisel will be your friend to remove the piece/glue.


For a while I used the a small 1/2" flush trim/plunge router bit I had. It works for small pieces/quantities, but gets old quickly for backplates. I now use a spoil board surfacing bit.

A resawing blad will be nice for larger pieces (in my jig the MDF is only 3/4" high so I need thinner pieces than that).

It's not a super fast process I admit, but it saves you from having a dedicated surfacing tool/area.

And if someone asks: why don't you just use a planer (which I have) ?
Well that works beautifully for non figured woods, just not curly maple (lots of tear out).

 

[War_in_D]

Perfect!  Thanks for answering that.  I need to build a router jig like that to thickness body blanks anyway, so it looks like I'll be building two.. lol

 

[JaySwear2]

Those dye samples are unreal! I propose the name Tigerberry for the pink and purple defined one haha by far my favorite, but they're all pretty amazing.

 

[Ace Flibble]

I propose the name Tigerberry for the pink and purple

ESP does a finish in those exact shades of purple and pink called 'pinkberry'. It's simply 'pinkberry' when it's burst on maple tops and 'pinkberry fade metallic' over a silver base.

To that end.. I'd go for the strongest purple & pink, too. No point getting custom stuff made if you don't go all-in to show off!