Newbie Needs Help With A Finish

[imgettingcloser]

Hello all,

I'm new here, and have found alot of great info, Thanks to everyone. Between this forum and guitar reranch I have most of finishing a guitar figured out. But the one thing i'm trying to figure out is this,

I want to finish my first build with a dark brown translucint back, just want to barley see the mahogany gain though it. I know I have to us a grain filler, but do I dye the mahogany then a coat of sealer then a clear filler then more sealer and finaly the nitro clear. Or do I seal the mahogany then use a grain filler that has brown in it then more sealer and then spray brown dye till it gets to the darkness I want, then the nitro. hope someone can help, I have look all over and have yet to find a direct answer.

Thanks

[mammoth guitars]

I always say...use some scrap pieces to test your finish ideas upon then proceed with the desired results.

[wardd]

imgettingcloser,

I'll give you my take even though I'm no great expert.

I'd think with a wood like mahogany that doesn't have a lot of wild figure you should get a good solid clear base coat then add layers of colored varnish over it.

That way the grain shines through the colored layers.

One theory I've seen and used with some success is to make the first coats with very little color then keep adding darker and darker coats.

Then some clear again to leave a layer to sand and polish.

My best suggestion is to experiment first with scrap pieces until you get the result you want.

Good Luck,

d ward

[imgettingcloser]

Thanks for the fast replies, I'm going to test it first on scrap, I think i'll just make it easy for my first finish and go with a soild brown like this But one thing if I want to leave the mahogany neck a natrual color should I just use a clear gain filler?

[johnsilver]

Imgettingcloser, I think you were on the right track in your first post. If you look at my current thread "An SG for my son" in the In Progress section, you will see some pics of how I approached a finish similar to what you were describing. No big insight on my part - the process came from Stewmac's finishing book. Might be good for you to get that - lot of info and recipes as well.

Basically, the process I used was:

1) sprayed a coat of vinyl sealer on the mahogany

2) applied a walnut brown pore filler (purchased from LMI). It filled the pores but also stained the mahogany a darker brown.

3) Let the filler dry for several days then sprayed another coat of vinyl sealer

At that point, it you were happy with the color, you could then begin to apply clear. If you still wanted it more brown, you could add Colortone dye to your clear to make a transparent brown and spray 1-2 coats of that before building up your clear.

[imgettingcloser]

Imgettingcloser, I think you were on the right track in your first post. If you look at my current thread "An SG for my son" in the In Progress section, you will see some pics of how I approached a finish similar to what you were describing. No big insight on my part - the process came from Stewmac's finishing book. Might be good for you to get that - lot of info and recipes as well.

Basically, the process I used was:

1) sprayed a coat of vinyl sealer on the mahogany

2) applied a walnut brown pore filler (purchased from LMI). It filled the pores but also stained the mahogany a darker brown.

3) Let the filler dry for several days then sprayed another coat of vinyl sealer

At that point, it you were happy with the color, you could then begin to apply clear. If you still wanted it more brown, you could add Colortone dye to your clear to make a transparent brown and spray 1-2 coats of that before building up your clear.

Thanks Silver,

I checked out your thread on the SG and got alot of great info from it. I think though i'm going to go with a trans black back. Let me also say your son is pretty lucky, that is one nice SG.

[johnsilver]

Thanks imgettingcloser. Trying to finish the SG this week.

I know you know you'll still need to seal and fill the mahogany before applying the trans black.

Good luck!