Twoods196 Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Hello All Im new here and very glad to see such a large community supporting guitar building/reparing. I have a Epiphone Les Paul that was knocked over and the neck broke in half. We followed some online instructions and fixed it and now you cant even tell the break was there. Are problem now is getting it back to the Red Mahogany it was. We went ahead and sanded the whole neck back down to bare wood. I thought I could just Stain it with Red Mahogany stain but apparently not. After sanding through the last layer i noticed the wood got pitted like and fairly rough. So I figured I would try the stain like that...I have applied about 4 coats and its still no where near the darkness it needs to be and is still rough. Could someone please tell me what steps they would take to get it back looking original. Just so you know its a 52 Les Paul Goldtop-Reissue. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 A few pics of the bare neck and surrounding finished areas would help us help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twoods196 Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 A few pics of the bare neck and surrounding finished areas would help us help you. Ok, Im at work now but will take some pics when I get home. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 I wouldn't be using a stain in the first place, since common stains typically contain a sealer amongst other non-useful things when all you want out of it is color. I've tried a few minwax sealer stains and they're definitely not what you need to be using for guitar finishing. What I would recommend using is a water soluble powder dye or something similar that you can mix yourself and test until you get the color right. It's very simple to do and will save you a lot of time from testing multiple products you will never use again. Or just tint the laquer / poly coat when spraying the finish, that's usually the best route to take! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twoods196 Posted January 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2008 I wouldn't be using a stain in the first place, since common stains typically contain a sealer amongst other non-useful things when all you want out of it is color. I've tried a few minwax sealer stains and they're definitely not what you need to be using for guitar finishing. What I would recommend using is a water soluble powder dye or something similar that you can mix yourself and test until you get the color right. It's very simple to do and will save you a lot of time from testing multiple products you will never use again. Or just tint the laquer / poly coat when spraying the finish, that's usually the best route to take! I dyed the wood today and it still has the grain pits in it...what should iuse to get rid of them? Thansks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 genreally speaking before you sprayed anything you should have filled the grain...gibson likes black grain filler under the dark red finishes see gibson 61 sg reissue (i have one of those bad boys) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 To the best of my kowledge, Gibson has never used black grain filler under their red finishes, they use a dark red-brown filler. To match an Epi colour coat I'd be looking to spray tinted clear, and build up colour slowly. You want the grain totally filled and smooth before you start this. Also, be aware in advance that it won't match perfectly - colour matching of finishes is one of the toughest parts of finish repair, which is a tough skill overall. I'd have left it battle scarred and functional, but it's a bit late for that now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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