Stains For Figured Top?

[rkruz]

I read the tutorial with keen interest for "Finishing a Figure top".

I want to be able to achieve a PRS Amber or burst Amber finish on guitar body as well as some hobby furniture projects.

Two stains are used a black or dark brown and im my case Id like amber I guess.

What are the stains used here and how do I obtain them? THey must be very dark as the stains I can get from home depot dont come close to achieve the darkness, especially on a light wood like maple?

And then how do I go about the "burst" part of the amber finish.?

The PRS finishes are so 3d and rich looking. I guess the use of the black stain is the key for that.

The PRS finishes can be found at the url below. Choose "Amber" or "Amber Sunburst" or "Dark Cherry" for good examples of what I would like to achieve. View "Natural" to see how lite colored the wood is to begin with.

http://prsguitars.com/showcase/current/custom.html.

(You need to enable popups to see the different colors.)

How do they do it.......these rich 3 dimensional look to their finishes.

It takes me a crazy number of coats of stain to get close to these darker colors on a light hard wood like maple.

Any insight appreciated

Great site, Thanks!

Edited October 3, 2006 by rkruz

[al heeley]

I got some solvent-based dark oak stain from a DIY shop and rub it in to well-sanded maple with fine gauge wire wool, after the wood is sealed and resanded. Then leave the stain to sink in and reapply once dry. It only takes 2 or 3 applications to get a very dark finish. Then it needs sanding off again and the next colour applied, but leaving the dark colour in the deepest grain. This will build up a 3-d effect. However, only when a good high gloss coating is added over the top does the maple figure really 'pop' out.

[Drak]

Well, what you're buying at Home Depot are probably wood STAINS.

What we typically use in the guitar field are ANILYNE DYES, and there is a large difference.

There are 3 basic types of these anilyne dyes:

1. WATER-based dyes, which dissolve in water.

2. ALCOHOL-based dyes which dissolve in several different types of alcohol-based products

3. METALLIC-based dyes, which dissolve in either water or alcohol

We typically get these from guitar oriented affiliations like StewMac or LMI, although there are other places to get them, but make sure what you're buying are anilyne dyes, not stains, a very important point.

Don't buy black, buy a dark brown (the darkest brown you can find) and amber to get your amber sunburst.

Then you'll have to figure out what sort of clearcoat product you'll want to use, and what methods you want to try to buff out your finish to a mirror smooth and shiny appearance.

[rkruz]

Well, what you're buying at Home Depot are probably wood STAINS.

What we typically use in the guitar field are ANILYNE DYES, and there is a large difference.

There are 3 basic types of these anilyne dyes:

1. WATER-based dyes, which dissolve in water.

2. ALCOHOL-based dyes which dissolve in several different types of alcohol-based products

3. METALLIC-based dyes, which dissolve in either water or alcohol

We typically get these from guitar oriented affiliations like StewMac or LMI, although there are other places to get them, but make sure what you're buying are anilyne dyes, not stains, a very important point.

Don't buy black, buy a dark brown (the darkest brown you can find) and amber to get your amber sunburst.

Then you'll have to figure out what sort of clearcoat product you'll want to use, and what methods you want to try to buff out your finish to a mirror smooth and shiny appearance.

Most excellent! thank you. I will scour this site for Analine dyes and google the references you gave.

THanks again