Some questions about natural finishes

[WilliamAgain]

I have a Precision Guitar Kit '59 Les Paul (Limba body, plain maple cap, maple neck, ebony fretboard, ebony veneer). I have been hemming and hawing over how to finish it and have settled on simply doing a natural finish. I love how natural finish LPs age, but new natural finish LPs are simply too damn white. I would like to ever-so-slightly bring out that yellow tint that comes with age. I know that one could use a heat gun or simply leave it out in the sun for a decade, but sans that what are some methods to achieve this? For an example of what I would consider good look at the below link:

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/norlin-years/185167-question-about-natural-finishes.html#post3556549

That LP has an ever-so-slightly creamy/yellow tint to it which I like. Inversely if you look at this one, it is just to white for my taste:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Les-Paul-Studio-Raw-Power.aspx

The ideas that come to mind that might work are, 1) lightly use a coat or two of tinted nitro and follow up with the rest with standard nitro. Or, 2) use some highy-highly-highly watered down amber (or maybe brown?) dye and rub it in and then sand it back a bit and then use clear nitro. Would either of these cause any issue? Would either of these be viable? Any general advice on natural finishes is welcomed!

 

[dmraco]

Nitro with a few drops of amber in it should do it.  Maybe 1/3 of the recommended mix.  the color will build as you add coats.  Stop and switch to plain nitro when the color is what you want.

Nitro will also yellow over time....er...decades.

 

[WilliamAgain]

Thanks for the reply. I am not planning on using a mix, but merely a spray can (reranch) for clear coating as I do not have a spray gun. Could I still just do a quick coat of tinted clear mixed in between regular clear and get the same results?

 

[dmraco]

Thanks for the reply. I am not planning on using a mix, but merely a spray can (reranch) for clear coating as I do not have a spray gun. Could I still just do a quick coat of tinted clear mixed in between regular clear and get the same results?

theoretically yes.  Just spray VERY light dust coats.  I have used that and the color builds quick

 

[Cagey]

If you're that particular and you don't have a spray rig, I'd recommend looking up Tonar on this board (our local finishing guru) and asking if he'd be interested in doing it for you. It costs more than doing it yourself, but you'll get a professional finish that would embarrass Gibson. He can do amazing things and has proven it repeatedly. Otherwise, you're looking at a helluva lotta work with dramatically reduced chances for success using rattle cans.