Dye Question

[BGlegal1]

This is my first post. I have learned a lot from reading this forum and I am amazed at the amount of skill and talent of the folks that post here. It's also pretty cool that everyone is so willing to share their expertise. Now, my problem: My son and I are ready to finish our first build. The body is ash and he (it'll be his guitar) has opted for a tranlucent black finish. On a scrap, I filled the grain with Bartley dark filler, sanded, and dyed with water-dissolved transtint black. There are small, but noticeable areas in the grain that look like they have no stain or filler i.e. the natural ash color. When I noticed this I flooded the areas with dye thinking maybe it just hadn't penetrated, but the light spots are still there. I'm a little baffled. If the filler didn't get all the way into the grain, seems to me the dye would. Any ideas? Need to figure this out before we go any further.

[Maiden69]

If you search the forum you will find a lot of answers to your question. Ash is hard to stain, normaly you would add the tint to your clear and spray a few coats to the tone of your liking and after that cover with many coats of clear.

[Southpa]

Pretty much all of the "blonde" Fender strats and teles are natural ash, no color coats. Its not worth the effort/expense considering the grain is so variable, ie. tight areas interspersed with extremely porous areas, not to mention the extreme depth of grain compared to other woods. I notice the Bartley filler you used is oil based and you used a water soluble dye. I'm assuming the dye didn't "take" in the tighter grained spots. Maybe an alcohol soluble dye would work better, but I can't say. I've had no problems coloring tight grained wood like maple with water soluble dyes so I can't really see why it won't soak into those little spots on your ash guitar. Maybe sanding a little more with a coarser grit (I dunno , 180?) will open things up enough to receive your dye. If that works then don't touch the wood with sandpaper again, you'll break thru the dye. Just apply the clearcoat.

Just to add, make sure you prepare your dye properly. Lots of pigments have particles in suspension that provide the color. If they aren't dissolved enough they will just rub off when wiped with a rag. Use hot water when mixing and let it sit for a good 15 min. to half an hour, then stir and apply with a rag. In most cases it takes more than one application to get the desired results.

Edited February 27, 2007 by Southpa