How Do I Make The Grain Stand Out More?

[iskim86]

like this?

i'm assuming it's thin black coat -> white coat -> sand??

or black stain -> white coat -> sand?

???

[Batfink]

I would say at a guess it's just black and sand back - the 'white' is just the natural colour of the wood underneath where your catching the grain when sanding back.

Jem

[WezV]

I think its a white grainfill over a black finish. Obviously youneed to make sure you have a wood that will look good when you do this - like flatsawn swamp ash

[biliousfrog]

yeah it doesn't look like the usual dark colour & sand back as the deeper grain is lighter than the rest

[Maiden69]

I would say at a guess it's just black and sand back - the 'white' is just the natural colour of the wood underneath where your catching the grain when sanding back.

Jem

You need to do a little more research! if you do black and sand back the grain will be black!

That picture has been posted so many times and everyone post that it is white grain filled, sanded back to have the ash bare exept for the grain and stained black. But the more I look at the picture I think that this one bass is clear grain filled... it doesn't look white to me. Just fill the grain with clear water based filler, or epoxy if you want to sand a LOT!!! and stain the bare wood black.

[mattharris75]

Thegarehanman has a thread where he makes a child's guitar with a purple finish similar to this one. It's basically what has been said. One color of grainfiller with another color of stain. I was thinking of doing the same on an ash tele body in the not too distant future. It's a cool look. Search for that thread and there should be more info on his exact process.

[Daniel Sorbera]

Most guitars/basses that look like that are done like the gibson voodoo series. Spray black, than grainfill in another color (red, white, whatever)

But for that particular one I'd agree with maiden69. It looks like the "white" parts are the raw wood.

[Batfink]

I would say at a guess it's just black and sand back - the 'white' is just the natural colour of the wood underneath where your catching the grain when sanding back.

Jem

You need to do a little more research! if you do black and sand back the grain will be black!

I did say 'at a guess' because the resolution's so poor........it's defo doesn't look white filled - your clear filling sounds a reasonable analogy and quite a neat trick. Errr....just in case i missing something, the end grain, i found when i did a guitar out of ash, was harder to sand flat than the non end grain (if that makes any sense) so your statement would be back to front.

Jem

[thegarehanman]

matt, I didn't stain that guitar. I sprayed it with transparent purple. I wanted the nuances of the swamp ash to stand out, but I could have just as easily sprayed it with solid purple. Make sure that the color coat is very thin, so the grain doesn't get clogged up. Then I mix some pigment, in this case white, with epoxy, and thin the epoxy with lacquer thinner. I spread the filler across the grain and scrape the excess off while it's still wet. Use a rubber squeegee for this so you don't scratch the sprayed finish. Wait for the epoxy to tack up then wipe it down with a rag that's been moistened with lacquer thinner. Reapply the filler and remove excess with a moistened rag as needed. It took me about 3 passes to get it completely filled and colored.

I found that because the finish must be left thin enough to leave the grain mostly unfilled, that sanding the epoxy invariably leads to sanding through the finish, which means you need to sand everything off and start from scratch.

EDIT: Something just crossed my mind. Be careful with the step where you wipe off the excess grainfiller. I used lacquer thinner which is fine for me since I spray an automotive grade finish which, when dry, can not be melted by lacquer thinner. However, I've not tried this method with other finishes. I'm sure many finishes could be destroyed during this step.

Edited June 3, 2007 by thegarehanman

[mattharris75]

Well there you go guys, the exact process with no need to search. BTW Russ, that was a really cool little guitar. Made the little wheels spin in my head for a future project when I have a kid.

Edited May 25, 2007 by mattharris75

[Batfink]

I wouldn't have sussed that out in a million years

[Cherryburst]

thegarehanman, would you be so kind as to post a link to the thread with that purple guitar w the grain fill? (I'm having trouble finding it - Thanks)

[mattharris75]

Link to thread

[thegarehanman]

Well there you go guys, the exact process with no need to search. BTW Russ, that was a really cool little guitar. Made the little wheels spin in my head for a future project when I have a kid.

Thanks, matt. Building a mini guitar is a blast when you're trying new things because the small scale of everything makes each process go much faster. Getting the neck profile roughed out took only a few minutes. My only major concern was getting the neck stiff enough to stay straight despite 5/8" overal thickness and about 1" nut width, but with some graphite rods and a thin, single action truss rod, that ended up being no problem at all.

peace,

russ

[Cherryburst]

Thanks garehanman- Nice project!

But just to be clear, the grain filler goes on FIRST before the stain?

BTW, here's the Gibson Voodoo mentioned earlier:

http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/voodoo/fvoodoo05.jpg

[thegarehanman]

No, reread my earlier post a little more carefully. And it wasn't stained.

Another method involves grainfilling first(typically with black grainfiller) and then spray a transparent color coat over the whole guitar.