Trans Blue on Mahogany?

[rockdude326]

Would this finish work, or would the red of the wood leak through a tremendous amount?  I'm kinda planning on a dark blue trans finish with a mahogany body, hoping to keep the carved top mahogany as well.  If it turns out a little more purplish/indigo that is fine by me.  What are your guys' thoughts/experience about this?

 

[-CB-]

go with an ash top

the grain of the ash will show thru

mahogany....why go transparent?  no grain to speak of!

 

[rockdude326]

Well, the reason I was wanting to go with a mahogany on mahogany is because of tonal reasons.  I want a guitar with a very warm sound, and it is to my understanding that the carved top squelches the tonal effects of the base wood in a hollowed out body.  But I guess I am being a bit nitpicky...if it's downright ugly to do a trans finish on mahogany maybe I should try the Swamp Ash idea out.  Well, in any case, thanks for yer input CB.  Much appreciated.

 

[tfcreative]

That's why they came up with tops.  You'll need something else besides Mahogany on the top, but it won't effect the tone that much.

 

[juanhonglo]

Rockdude, Check out the carvinmuseum.com They have just about every color you might want.

Try this one:  http://www.carvinmuseum.com/playersgallery/ct3.html

There is a cool trans blue and a trans red on mahogany down towards the bottom.

Juan

 

[jackthehack]

Wouldn't necessarily look bad in mahogany... Somebody else was asking about a blue burst, look at this demo Tonar did:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=1324.0

Now imagine that applied on a guitar like this Tele I bursted in cherry:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=1294.0

That would definitely work, I think. Mahogany varies a loot, would look best on a body that had the more "striped" grain pattern like on this Showcase Thinline:

http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_bodies.cfm?type=guitar&itemNumber=TT271&menuItem=3&subMenuItem=0&subMenuItem2=0&bodyWood_filter=10

 

[Kostas]

mahogany....why go transparent?  no grain to speak of!

Even woods with no grain look good in a transparent color. I like this mahogany tele from the gallery, the combination of transparent red + the tortoise pickuard rocks :icon_thumright:

 

[-CB-]

Well, the reason I was wanting to go with a mahogany on mahogany is because of tonal reasons.  I want a guitar with a very warm sound, and it is to my understanding that the carved top squelches the tonal effects of the base wood in a hollowed out body

Let me say this again - neck wood choice, and its profile effect tone the most besides your hands, and the pickups.  Down on the list is body wood... further down is the topwood.  A mahogany neck would suit you fine, goncalo even, on a a thinline type body, or hollow body (the W way).  Also pickups... a LOT of choices there.  Dont worry about the top wood effecting the tone, as your choice of strings will effect the tone to a far far greater degree.

 

[Tonar8352]

I think I would go with the following finishing schedule.
1. Stain the wood to the blue you want with aniline or MEK dye.
2. A wash coat of sealer.
3. Tint oil base paste filler to a dark blue with color in oil and fill the grain.
4. Seal it until level.
5. Tint the first coat of clear lacquer with to the final blue desired and shade the top.
6. 4 to 8 coats of gloss, wet sand and rub it out.

Any thing you can dream up you can pull of just by going for it and trying it out.  Use test boards and see what you can pull off.  

 

[Alfang]

What's the diference, advantage or disadvantage of using transparent paints  vs. dyes 
I am trying to do a yellow/black burst,  all my tests with yellow dye or paint looks good, when it goes onto the tiger striped maple. It's no longer the lemmon yellow that I am trying to get, it just looks amber. Which does look good, just not what my client wants.

 

[-CB-]

Dyes work better on figured wood.  Translucent finishes work well on grainy woods.

 

[Tonar8352]

I have found Hansa Yellow Color in Oil to give me the best yellow.  If you want lemon or Canary go with that.  It will mix with lacquer thinner to make a stain or you can make a shading lacquer with it.  It will not mix in shellac solvent.

 

[Alfang]

Tonar, that did it, I mixed my dye with some laquer thinner, the guitar is so yellow you can't even look at it now. The grain showed when the solution was applied, then as the laquer evaporated, the grain faded, I guess they will return with sanding sealer and clearcoats?

how long should I wait before I spray sanding sealer? a day? hours?

I should get some pics and start a thread of this project on how to do things 12 times, If I sand the top clean 1 more time, I'm sure I'll need to route some angle to the neck pocket to compensate for the lower bridge,
I'm gonna have to laminate to the backside of the body to cover the pups  :laughing7:

Finnishing with solid paint is one thing, and I get that.
But when I can finnish figured wood like Tonar, CB and Jack, and Others, I will be one happy camper, hell I'm ready to pitch a tent now

 

[Tonar8352]

The color will enhance as you put clears on top.  Put up some phots so we can see what your talking about.  I like to let them set over night before I start hitting them with finish.

 

[stubhead]

I think of a "mahogany finish" as being SG-colored, and a lot of mahogany furniture is colored that deep reddish brown. Mahogany the wood is much lighter.