"ebonizing" Maple

[Sobot]

I've heard the term ebonizing which is to make another type of wood look like ebony. I was planning on making a new body for my guitar and putting the rest of the stuff I have on my newly built guitar, on the new one (the better one). I am planning on whitewashing the body in a way, so it still looks like wood, but it's white. But I need to know if this will work.

I have an ebony neck, and I need to know if the back and headstock (maple) will "ebonize" with the black stain to match the fingerboard. Does anyone know if it will work?

Does anyone think I'm nuts or stupid?

Thanks.

Edited September 23, 2005 by Sobot

[Maiden69]

not with the black stain, it will be black, but not as nice as ebony. Try the stuff that stew mac sells to ebonize fretboards (even ebony needs a bit of help sometimes)

[thegarehanman]

Is it out of the question to just put an ebony veneer on the headstock? that would give you better results in the long run. If you're going to have to refinish it one way or another, you might as well go w/ the ebony. Unless it's not an angled headstock, that could make veneering it a bit tricky.

[Ledzendrix1128]

I just tried to use black stain on mahogany... not bad results... but ive read somewhere that the maple for necks tends to be so hard that some times it is VERY hard to get the wood to take the stain. So in my opinion i wouldnt stain maple black... it is going to take a lot of work to get it to work right most likely... and when its all done there will probably be subtlties wrong with it that you'll want to spend more time fixing. Id go with thegarhanman's idea of just a headstock veneer. The maple on the back shouldnt be a huge problem... ive heard of entire necks being made out of ebony though... warmoth sells them... i dont know if youve made the neck already or not... another option is just to laquer the neck black... but staining that hard maple i dont think would give you the results that your picturing in your head

[Sobot]

Ok, thanks guys... I guess it's not a good idea... it won't affect it much. I was just wondering because I wanted to make it extra-unique... whatever. I have a non-angled headstock, so it'd be tricky for the veneer aswell.

Thanks again

[Mattia]

Eh? Maple's quite lovely to stain, thankyouverymuch. See all those stained maple tops floating around. Test on scrap.

Leather dye will make things very, very black, very very quickly. For the record, Gibsons tend to have either a black fibre (non-wood) headplate, or ebonized Holly veneer.

[Ledzendrix1128]

yes a maple top is... but the maple used for necks... doesnt it tend to be a harder species... i mean im probably not understanding something... im in no way disagreeing with anyone... but i always thought the "hard" maple used in necks didnt take to stain very well.

[SwedishLuthier]

Ive stained a thinline Tele once. And I meal the COMPLETE guitar, body top, back, neck AND maple fretboard. Looks a litle bit odd, but nice at the same time. NO problem to stain the maple neck or fretboard. It picked up the stain in pretty much the same way as the birds eye maple top. Just test your stain on scrap to see what shade it will produce.

Peter

[Maiden69]

As I posted above, it will take the stain, but not as black as ebony. Here is a pic of my Jackson neck that I stained black with Stew Macs colortone black stain.

It looks nice and even, but as soon as I started clearing, I don't know why but it turned a bit lighter, it looks good, but still looks like black stained maple, not like ebony. With the black anyline it will be very black and once you clear it will look like black wood, not liek stained wood. After I did this neck I tried the (Kiwi brand) leather dye on a piece of scrap and cleared it with nitro and it stayed black.

[themortarman]

The maple used in necks tends to take stain a little different it can turn out blotchy. If you ask places like Warmoth or USACG (which is not up and running again on finishing) they will not stain a hard Maple neck for this very reason it is difficult to be consistent it can be done. though. They are tinting the clear finishes.