Turquoise stain Mahogany Tele Body

[earlus]

Hi Guys,

I'm just after a little advice please on the Tele I'm finishing. It's a mahogany body and my idea was to do something that was kind of like a seafoam greenish stain with a clear over the top. Done with a dark filler so the grain is accented.

The stain is from crimson guitars.com and is their green water based "Stunning Shots" product.  I'm really happy with the color of the stain, but the problem is putting a finish on top of that. Everything I put on it turns the stain to dark green which looks fine if that's what you're after, but I'm after more of a turquoise type colour like the raw stain.

First I tried a white shellac which is the dark green pic. I have also tried a couple of different poly finishes, a beeswax finish and also a pva sealer,  but they all turn it dark green.

The pic on the scrap is the raw stain on the strip in the middle and two different poly's on the edge.. the timber is Tasmanian Oak which is a little lighter in color than the mahogany.

Is there any product that will not change the colour of the stain and will offer some kind of protection? I'm not bothered if it's satin, gloss or matt.

Or even any advice on a technique that I may doing wrong ..

Any advice is appreciated. 

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[Cagey]

Anything transparent is going to end up somewhat darker due to the Mahogany. Almost all woods do that - some much more than others. I don't know why, but I think it has to do with absorbing light, rather than reflecting it. Roasted Swamp Ash, for instance, changes dramatically when wetted, as does Walnut, Cherry, or Mahogany. For example, this is Mahogany that I've just wiped with a bit of naphtha, which is water-clear...

30 seconds later, that dark streak is gone as the naphtha evaporates. But, if it had been clear lacquer, it would have stayed that shade forever.

I suspect if you want to lighten it, you have to use a pigment rather than a dye to color the finish, as the pigment is made up of colored solids that will reflect light. Downside is, the solids are also opaque, so the more pigment you mix into the base the less you can see through it, which means you start losing the appearance of the underlying wood. At the same time, the more the wood is exposed, the more it's going to darken.

Have you ever seen Mahogany finished the way you're picturing it in your head? If I'm understanding the effect you're shooting for, I don't think I have, outside of what's often called a "Mary Kaye" finish...

...which is a translucent finish as opposed to transparent.

 

[stratamania]

That will probably keep happening. It might be worth considering sanding it back and going for an alternative.

I have not used any Wudtone products to date, although have been thinking about it. I was looking at their site the other day and perhaps the Surfer Girl finish may be closer to what you are after.

http://www.wudtone.com/product/finishing-kit-surfer-girl/

The top coats are available in different levels of matt to gloss.

 

[earlus]

Thanks for replies guys.

Cagey, I'd be happy with the translucent  finish as opposed to transparent if I could get somewhere in the ball park of that colour with the mahogany.

Stratamania, I'll check out the Wudtone products. I had a look at the Surfer Girl product and I'd be happy with that.

I even considered just leaving the stain and having no finish at all, but I felt guilty as it's a real nice piece of Honduran Mahogany. 

 

[Cagey]

It's gonna be tough. Mahogany is sorta red, and you wanna put green on it, and that combination makes brown.

If you're really married to that color, maybe the thing to do is get a plainer wood body such as Alder, and just shoot an opaque shade of it, or do a seafoam green version of a Mary Kay finish over Swamp Ash. Since the Mahogany is such a nice piece, strip the current experiment off and just clear coat it, or use a complementary transparent color such as red for the finish. Then, build a second guitar. Everybody needs multiple guitars. You don't have to complete both guitars now. Put one of the bodies in the closet and as time goes by you gradually collect up the remaining parts.

 

[rgand]

I'll chime in here with the Wudtone finish Stratamania posted a link to. My last guitar, which you see in my signature and avatar, is a Wudtone finish. They're easy to put on and I chose that because I don't have a good dust-free place to spray yet. The gloss finish isn't that really wet look of a gloss lacquer finish but it has a nice sheen to it and shows off the grain nicely. I will experiment with putting some kind of clear coat over it next time just to see how that works.

 

[Fat Pete]

If I ever do another Wudtone finish, I'll choose a colour that follows/adds to the wood's colour - meaning yellow, amber, brown, red etc., rather than something that 'fights'.

This is my attempt with their surfer girl that stratamania linked:

It looks ok, but it really didn't want to cover the wood's natural colour completely and I had to get more to complete the job. This was on ash, which is paler than mahogany, so I'd expect the issue to be increased - although that may be offset by mahogany's more consistent grain, so at least it's less likely to be patchy.

Take my comments with a pinch of salt though - I'm as good at finishing as I am at stegosaurus riding.

 

[rgand]

I like that guitar, Pete! It's like a single barrel shotgun with its own personality. The abbreviated pickguard is really cool. Beautiful!

Then, I like that color a lot! I may have to try the Surfer Girl if that is the result. I found that the Dairy Blonde didn't cover the way I liked, either, so I added about 20 drops of white India Ink to it to get the opacity I wanted.

 

[earlus]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'll go for another finish that is more suitable to the mahogany. 

Pete, Your strat looks killer.