Achieving a trans gray finish

[jowilmei]

Hello,

I am currently crafting a rather boring S style guitar out of a beautifully grained piece of spanish cedar. I would really like to achieve a sort of trans-gray finish like the one on the Suhr in the picture.

I do not have spray equipment, so I am looking to see if my idea sounds crazy. I want to try to tint Britetone or similar and apply that over an untinted britetone layer, followed by another britetone clear top coat. 

Is this, or something similar possible?

[Bizman62]

Tinting lacquer is a common method both on bare wood and clearcoat but I'm not sure if it would work as wipe-on. Then again, if you're not happy with the result you can always either wipe it off with thinner when still wet or sand back to the clear when dry. A level surface on the base is essential so you may have to apply the first clearcoat a couple of times, sanding in between and after.

Using very little dye will allow you to apply multiple layers. That will reduce blotches and still remain translucent.

Furniture restoring hobbyists use tinted coatings quite a lot as it's relatively easy way to improve the looks of a worn out item. I've used white tinted waxes on darkened pine with good results but they definitely have required at least two applications for a uniform surface. There's quite a lot of information available when searching for applying tinted lacquer.

And as mentioned, there's other tinted translucent products as well. Osmo waxes work well on guitars but they aren't as durable as lacquer.

 

[mistermikev]

had you considered preval?  those are these little kits you can buy at hardware store where you can mix your own spray.  comes w an aerosol can.  I mention because clearly the pictured guitar is using a tinted clear.  it's kind of opaque so the grain is muted.  The only way I know of to achieve that is w spray.

that said... if you don't care about grain being creamy/opaque like that... and just want the color... you could simply mix up some water based gray dye w a small amount of blue.  no reason you can't get that color... then clear over it... it's just not going to have that one aspect.

[Bizman62]

As an addition to my previous post: When refinishing our kitchen cabinet doors I found out that a foam roller gives a much more uniform surface compared to a brush.

 

[RaleighBG]

so take a sample piece of wood and give this a try :

Get some Transtint BLACK. fill a little mixing cup with about 4-5 oz of Lacquer thinner. Then add about 20-30 drops of Black transient to it. You want it BLACK BLACK BLACK. Stain the cedar till it looks like Ebony. Jet black. let it dry. 

get a sanding block with some 220 grit and sand it back till the natural cedar starts poking through again. Keep going a little further... The stain penetrates deeper into the grain so at some point you'll have it looking like just the grain is black. Now put your grey stain on. That will make that boring grey look amazing. if you really want to experiment, play with different colors for the pre stain. deep purples or reds. try stopping the initial sand back at different points. Stop before you think its ready on a test piece see what you get, Take it beyond where you initially think you should stop a time or two. Do a gradient sand.... like this PRS eagle grey finish :

[RVA]

I found this video helpful and quite entrancing 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

On 7/11/2022 at 2:20 PM, RaleighBG said:

Get some Transtint BLACK. fill a little mixing cup with about 4-5 oz of Lacquer thinner.

Why do you use laquer thinner over water or alcohol? Deeper penetration?

Edited July 14, 2022 by RVA

[RaleighBG]

Honestly, it's what I have most of.... I usually shoot Nitro Lacquer in a ApolloHVLP gun so I've got Lacquer thinner stacked to the ceiling  I started using it way back in the day and never tried anything different.