Hman32123 Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 Ok i have another spalted maple top question how does it look if its dyed what if it is slightly flammed or quilted and you do that thing where you dye it black and sand it then dye it somethin else so it looks real 3d like do any of those methods work on spalted maple and look good i try to find info or pics on it but i cant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyManAndy Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 This might be of interest: http://warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_bodi...amp;type=guitar CMA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batfink Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 Not that i have any experiance with spalted maple at all i'd say that dying it could be problematic due to the nature of the wood. Spalting occur's, as far as i gather, due to fungal ingress so the wood tends to not be very stable and it may be that if you dye it you run the risk of it coming out blotchey. If you want to colour it i'd use a tinted lacquer but even then test it on scrap FIRST. Drak, on this board, is the spalted king, perhaps he'll chime in with some confirmation. Jem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 Technically, if it's got soft/punky spots, it's rot, not spalt. Good spalt is hard to come by, but essentially solid, and some of the funkiest bits are very inconsistent in terms of density, hardness, etc. and I, for one, wouldn't want to try any sort of funky stain jobs. Spalt already has interesting colouration, figuring, etc. going on, and frankly, the best 3D look you can get with figured maple (spalted or not) is shellac or similar (epoxy is good too), nicely wetted. No need to mess with dyes, which increase contrast, can provide very interesting effects, but don't really make things more 3D. You can always shoot tinted clear over properly sealed spalt which can look very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sulzer Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 I agree with Mattia that epoxy (like System 3 Clear Coat) is good for brining out 3D on maple. I think it is also good at adding some strength, not needed on normal maple, but perhaps on some spalted stuff. Dye reduces 3D effects in general, but with care you can keep good 3D and increase the contrast. (I am not an expert on this, but I have been doing some fooling around on some pieces to figure out what to do on the real thing.) Mattia: That padauk that i mentioned the other day as not having turned dark is now darkening noticeably. It just took a few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 do any of those methods work on spalted maple and look good No, typically they don't work at all on a truly spalted piece. The most I ever do with real spalt is to burst the edges of the guitar after a clearcoat is built up. The word ~spalted~ can mean so many things (it's a long process from initial spalting to completely rotten wood) that really, it comes down to an individual piece of wood basis, there are no pat answers that you can apply to any piece of wood that may happen to be totally or partially spalted, it's all case by case. I have certainly dyed/sanded back some spalted pieces, but they were really lightly spalted, or hardly spalted, or partially spalted, or barely spalted, ...like, the piece had a little bit of spalt in it, but overall, the piece was not spalted (see what I mean?) which then yes, you can sometimes get away with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hman32123 Posted September 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 allright cool guys that really helped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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