Guitar Body

[Jim Smith]

At Dekley, we used polyurethane to finish the wooden guitars, and never had any fading or bleeding problems. I never did any woodworking or finishing, so I can't help with any ideas.

For solid colors, they just put on some rubber gloves and daubed the leather dye on with a rag. There were some sunburst guitars too, and that was done by airbrushing different colors of leather dye to get the effect they wanted. Some of the custom guitars even had stuff like mountains or deserts and cactus airbrushed on the front the same way.

[Bill Ford]

I went to a shoe repair shop and told the clerk that I wanted the brightest red dye available, didn't mix anything, used straight out of the bottle. Was not that expensive,around $5 I think for 4oz bottle.

Bill

[Bill Ford]

Great info Bill.
Did you use alcohol or oil base type? I am sure a 4 oz bottle goes a long way. You can mix alc based with denatured alc and get the exact shade you want. And likely varsol (paint thinner)with oil base to get the same
Here is a contact for a supplier in ON. : http://www.brubachersharness.ca/index1.html
and Fiebing's home page in Milwaukee, WI, USA: http://www.fiebing.com/Home.aspx

I shall get me a couple of bottles and start experimenting.

Sorry Bent, I thought I had discussed this procedure with you already, you shoulda said you didn't know, and threw in a guess.

I have an "I made it myself" vise mounted sheet metal brake that I will post shortly. This is not a prototype, it's the final jig/tool. Good for small pieces.

Bill

[mac639]

Interesting discussion on the dye. I've been using the leather dye for years. I can see about 10 bottles on my shelf right now. It's pretty potent stuff. I've tried mixing some colours to make others with some success. I love the mahogany, and the black is really useful. It sinks into most woods well, but on hard maple, it usually takes a couple of coats. Just wipe it on with a rag, or on small pieces, I have a wide artist's brush that I use, then wipe quickly to take off the excess. Somebody mentioned airbrushing the stuff...I've never tried that but probably it would work to get a sunburst effect if you're smart and carefull. After that stuff dries overnight I usually use semigloss polyurethane for a finish. Beats getting high on lacquer smell in my small shop. I put about 4-5 coats on, usually again with a rag, sometimes with a cheapie foam brush, never with a regular brush. Sanding in between coats a little, then after about a week or so, give it a real going over with auto polishing compound, then a good auto polish with the cleaner in it. I do the same procedure on the pieces of furniture that I make.

Wishing all you folks a Happy and Healthy 2010

Mac

[Bent]

Bill, you did tell me all that quite a while ago. What I wasn't aware of, is that it is available in oil base as well, and that was my question this time. Great info for sure, both for me and all the others.

I ended up ordering 2 bottles today. One dark red, the other lighter red. Alcohol based. Cheap.. Under $5 a bottle and like you say it goes a looong way!

[Allan]

Bill, did you use any kind of wood sealer before the dye? I use sanding sealer as a matter of course. I was wondering if it would affect the way the sealer takes to the wood.
I can experiment with this if I need to but I thought I would ask you first anyhow.

Regards, Allan.....

[Bill Ford]

Allan,
I just applied the dye, wipe the excess off, let it set overnite to dry and sprayed the lacquer, rubbing the lacquer between coats with 0000 steel wool. Maple is so dense that more than one application of dye will not give a much darker coverage, if any.

Bill

[Allan]

Thanks for that Bill. I have almost completed a lap steel for my son-in-law. I made it from a really nicely grained piece of poplar. The problem with poplar is that it tends to suck up finish at the endgrain. I will go get some of that dye and try it with the sealer I generally use and see what happens on some of the bandsaw off cuts from the same chunk of wood.

Thanks again, Allan.....

[Bent]

Well, as promised, I got me a couple of bottles of the Fiebing leather dye.
There were 2 reds available: Red and Dark Red. I see on Bill's bottle it says Red. Here are the results from my experiments today
Dark Red turned out a bit too much purplish/with pink However, mixed with some Red, you can get some amazing shades of red.
Read the labels I wrote and judge for yourself.

I think the biggest difference is in the wood itself. Look at "Red full strength" on the Hard maple vs the Birdseye. This is because when sanded, the birdseye burnished more and took on a hard outer surface that wasn't penetrated so easily by the stain.
The dyes mixed well with denatured alcohol

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[Eldon]

Awsome, thanks for the testing and photos Bent. I ordered some blue leather dye last week. I'll post a pic with white birch and a few other woods If I can find them in my shop for the aluminum shavings when it comes in.