dayvo Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 I need some help! I am building my first guitar, a copy of a Les Paul. Body and neck Brazilian Mahogany, capping is Lacewood. I want to stain the Lacewood and possibly the Mahogany with some water based Analine Dyes which I purchased from LMII. I have seen Lacewood stained bright green and also bright blue on some manufacturers sites (US Masters Guitar Works being one) and I wondered if anyone out there could explain to me how this is done. I have been experimenting with scrap pieces of Lacewood and the color comes out much darker. I appreciate that Lacewood is not tremendously light in color to start with, as compared to the likes of North American Maple. I live in Oz and I was hoping not to have to bleach the Lacewood as I'm not sure if there is anything available here to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 Staining lace wood is a bad idea but if you really want to do it, you'll have to bleach the wood first - What a shame though... I'd leave it natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 I built a kitchen last summer and used lacewood for the face frames. It stained about as easily as oak. I've used a lot of it and have never had much trouble with staining. If you're getting too dark a result you either need to thin down your stain, use a less heavy hand applying it, or both. The ground wood willl get dark but the rays, these are the "fish scales", should stay a lot lighter. You can also hit it with really fine sandpaper or Scothbrite and tanke some of the color back out of the rays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 PM Drak, He'll be glad to help you with the lacewood. He did a Blue Dyed Rhoads V a year or so ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted October 26, 2005 Report Share Posted October 26, 2005 I looked at the US Masters website. All the guitars they have listed are just dye wiped over lacewood, or dye added into the finish, hard to tell with their pics. If your dye is too dark, then dilute your dye down. You can also put the dye into your clearcoats, mix the dye into your lacquer, that's another way to do it. Just finish the lacewood in clear, and add the color to the additional topcoats. Edited to add...I'm sure you already know this, but you can't dye wood to be any lighter than it already is naturally, you can only go darker unless you bleach it first. I wouldn't be surprised if they are bleaching their wood first, because red wiped over lacewood will give you reddish brown, and their bodies look very red, so I'll take a guess that they are indeed bleaching -some- of them first. I could be wrong, you will need to experiment a little I think, to find the color you want. ESPECIALLY any blues or purples, I would really bet they're bleaching those, you don't wipe blue dye over a brown wood and expect to see a nice blue finish, it doesn't work like that. You can't overcome the color of the wood itself by dying alone, you can only add to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOJO Posted October 26, 2005 Report Share Posted October 26, 2005 everyone pretty much covered what i was going to say so here some nice red Stained lacewood porn for ya http://forums.birdsandmoons.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19569 http://www.musicianmatcher.com/LeonsGear/Thorn-o-caster/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dayvo Posted October 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2005 Thanks for the info, guys I really want a bright colour on this guitar so it looks like I'll have to find the right bleaching materials here in Oz Regards dayvo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwj Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 can lacewood be finished like a flame maple?? ie... stain dark.... sand back.... and then stain again???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dayvo Posted October 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 can lacewood be finished like a flame maple?? ie... stain dark.... sand back.... and then stain again???? ← Sorry mate, I'm still trying to suss things out myself You could experiment on a piece of scrap to see if you can get what your looking for, but bear in mind that lacewood and maple in their natural states dont look the same, colour or texture wise. dayvo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwj Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 actually i don't have any lacewood. it was just a thought I had. I thought that since its figured like maple it might finish the same way. i guess I will have to find some scrape lacewood and give it a shot. good luck on your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 can lacewood be finished like a flame maple?? ie... stain dark.... sand back.... and then stain again???? Yes it can, and that's the way I did mine. Red over black seemed to work best for me, no bleaching required. If you're going to do any shade of blue, then you will have to bleach it (my opinion/experience only) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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