Questions on staining swamp ash.

[WarTurtle]

I'm looking at staining a swamp ash guitar in a similar way to Gibson's Blueberry Burst. I was curious if the dark grain in swamp ash would cause too much of an issue with the color. Thank you in advance!

 

[Cagey]

If you're trying to duplicate the color, then due to its transparency you have to consider the underlying color. All the blueberry bursts I've seen from Gibson are on curly Maple, which is a lighter wood than Ash, never mind the grain. And, of course, being a transparent finish you're going to see the grain through it, which in Ash can be prominent.

 

[WarTurtle]

I'm not looking to duplicate it exactly, and I am interested in seeing the grain through it. My concern is whether or not the contrast between the light and dark grain in swamp ash would cause too much of an issue using stains.

 

[Tonar8352]

The Gibson finish is not stained but done using shading lacquers. I think that finish on ash could be done beautifully.

 

[Mr. Neutron]

A person put some Transtint dye in shellac, and put that on as an initial sealing coat. I think it would give a bit of a "see-through" blue effect. I think.....

I tried it on Roasted Swamp Ash, but it wasn't super visible on that dark wood. Seems like most anything I initially put on my RSA body turned that wood brown. Whether it was Tru Oil, black dye, or ebony stain, I got dark brown.  ???  But the blue shellac did turn the dark brown black.....

Made me sorta wish I'd gotten "regular" lighter colored Swamp Ash, and tried for a Translucent blue color with dark grain contrasts. Next time, maybe.....

 

[rgand]

Made me sorta wish I'd gotten "regular" lighter colored Swamp Ash, and tried for a Translucent blue color with dark grain contrasts. Next time, maybe.....

Ah, another project in the planning. :bananaguitar:

 

[bagman67]

A person put some Transtint dye in shellac, and put that on as an initial sealing coat. I think it would give a bit of a "see-through" blue effect. I think.....

I tried it on Roasted Swamp Ash, but it wasn't super visible on that dark wood. Seems like most anything I initially put on my RSA body turned that wood brown. Whether it was Tru Oil, black dye, or ebony stain, I got dark brown.  ???  But the blue shellac did turn the dark brown black.....

Made me sorta wish I'd gotten "regular" lighter colored Swamp Ash, and tried for a Translucent blue color with dark grain contrasts. Next time, maybe.....

My road to the correct color on a naturally darker, browner species (mahogany, in my case) took me through TransTint land, where I, too, was frustrated by the dye's tendency to show brown through no matter what.  Eventually I ended up making a stain using universal pigment (Mixol, in my case) in a vehicle of 50/50 lacquer thinner and lacquer retarder.  In short, if it keeps going brown on you, the much larger particle size of pigment will mask the wood's darkening tendencies in ways the much smaller dye particles will not.  You can use the pigment in a stain such as I have demonstrated, or in shellac or lacquer or poly.


Here is my objective, ganked from the Carvin website 6 or 7 years ago:

Transtint in lacquer:

I tried bleaching the wood and trying TransTint in lacquer again and got this:

Finally I opted for the pigment stain, and got this:

Ultimate result:

 

[rgand]

Ian, that Mixol is a good way to go. I've bookmarked their site for future needs. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Mr. Neutron]

That is Mahogany, Bagman???? That turned out REALLY, Really Nice!!! Great work, and great info on the coloring tricks you picked up.......

Man, I love the education a person can glean from this website!!!  :glasses9:  :headbang:

Ah, another project in the planning. :bananaguitar:

I love Warmoth's Hybrid Strat bodies. I guess I need to admit I have an addiction......  :laughing7:

I have a daughter getting married in 2 weeks. I still have more checks to write for that (expensive) affair. If I were to order a new guitar body project right now (I almost pulled the trigger on one yesterday.....), I'm afraid my wife would order a set of "Lorena Bobbit Signature Cutlery" in retaliation. 

For now, I'll hold off a few weeks on the next project, but sleep on my belly just to be safe......

 

[rgand]

Ah, another project in the planning. :bananaguitar:

I guess I need to admit I have an addiction......  :laughing7:

That's not uncommon around here. :icon_biggrin: