Voodoo Finish

[ShreddyKrueger]

Does anyone know how to get the Les Paul VooDoo "JuJu" Finish? i saw a very highly magnified picture of it, and there is a little bit of red in the grain. Thanks to anyone who replys.

[a bicycle made of anarchy]

i've read about it on here somewhere, so do a search for it and something will turn up

[68 lost souls]

There are a few topics on this already try searching for them.

It is painted black before filling the grain then you rub in the red grain filler. Itm not sure it works on most wood as they have to have open pours.

Any one know if it can be done on 1/8" laminate?

EDIT its generaly done on swamp ash not alder

[skibum5545]

Does the 1/8" laminate have open grain? If so, yes. If the laminate magically transcends all properties of the wood it came from (or is already grainfilled, your choice) then no.

[68 lost souls]

Its gonna be a swamp ash laminate so I take it that will work. Not sure if I understand the transcending thing.

[Guitarfrenzy]

The Gibson Voodoo finish takes full advantage of Swamp Ash big pores. When we did the filler for the Making of a Strat.. pictorial, we used the opposite method that they used. What they do is skip the grain filling process. That in itself is the whole secret behind doing it. They spray the basecoat with black paint. Then they use red tinted grain filler. Then they sand it down until only the red shows in the pores, which also helps make the clear coats go on level. Then they use a clear coat, which they use a satin type finish for this model. They tell the full details at their Gibson website.

What we did on the Strat, since we wanted a transparent effect, was to grainfill with black epoxy to not only seal the grain, but give us a great depth in the finishing stages. It's a messy thing to do, but it's worth it.

Here is some pictures of the process.

Then when all the guitar if grain filled and sanded level. It's gonna be painted over like this scrap piece was for the blue burst effect.

[skibum5545]

Its gonna be a swamp ash laminate so I take it that will work. Not sure if I understand the transcending thing.

My point is, a swamp ash laminate 1/8" thick is just a 1/8" slice taken off a normal body blank thickness. If the top of a body blank works, it stands to reason that a laminate would also.

One possibility is just to go with a swamp ash or oak veneer. It wouldn't affect the tone at all, and rotary cut veneers often have very cool grain patterns.

[68 lost souls]

I was just worried because dont you need the black paint to soak deep into the grain and if you use a thin piece of wood there is nowhere for it to soak into.

[skibum5545]

No, you don't. The grain of an open-pored wood isn't actually that deep; 1/64 or 1/32 maybe, but certainly no deeper. The black coat needs to be complete coverage, but it doesn't necessarily need to be all that thick. Black dye might work as well, and now that I think about it, would give the whole thing a nice "earthy" look to it. As long as the red grainfiller catches in the grain after the black has been sprayed, then you're good to go.

Have you ever worked with oak plywood? The grain is very open, and even after multiple coats of finish (sprayed nitro or Waterlox wipe on, we used both on a project a little while back) the grain is still very defined when you rub your hand over it, an thus the grainfiller would work just fine.

Don't be too over-zealous with your black coats and everything should work fine.

[68 lost souls]

Ok a vineer sounds like a better way to go but whats the difference between a vineer and a laminate top. I know that a vineer is thinner generaly only about a milimeter or so. Would a 1/8" laminate effect the tonal properties of a mahogany body? The only vineer Ive ever worked with is that iron on stuff. Ive used it when making cd and hifi holders out of MDF. Any advice?

[skibum5545]

The 1/8" laminate probably wouldn't affect tone, but a veneer might be cheaper, and the rotary-cut aspect gives it really cool swirly grain patterns. You can get them non-paper-backed, too.

http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_group...id=240&catid=47

[ShreddyKrueger]

Would this process work on the Les Paul kit here: http://torresengineering.com/comlespaulty.html

[Southpa]

I've tried the Voodoo thing using blue/black combo on mahogany and it did not work. You need the very wide, loose grain structure like ash, to make the effect worthwhile.

[Guitarfrenzy]

I've tried the Voodoo thing using blue/black combo on mahogany and it did not work. You need the very wide, loose grain structure like ash, to make the effect worthwhile.

Listen to him on this one. Swamp Ash is the best wood for this effect.

[Ledzendrix1128]

what i dont understand about this method is... how do you go about sanding back the grainfiller without cutting into the actual black paint... i would think if it scratches the base coat you put down... it would ruin the color of it.. or show scratches even when you put down the nitro...ive never done this before... but im thinking about doing it on my next project, and i was just wondering if there was a step by step process. I was also wondering whats to stop someone from sanding through the base coat of paint. Thanks again.

- Louis

[Mattia]

what i dont understand about this method is... how do you go about sanding back the grainfiller without cutting into the actual black paint... i would think if it scratches the base coat you put down... it would ruin the color of it.. or show scratches even when you put down the nitro...ive never done this before... but im thinking about doing it on my next project, and i was just wondering if there was a step by step process.  I was also wondering whats to stop someone from sanding through the base coat of paint.  Thanks again.

- Louis

←

1) Stain the wood direct

2) Seal the stain in (vinyl sealer, or shellac, or a few coats of clear, whatever)

3) Apply grain filler

4) Sand off excess

5) Clearcoat

You might sand into the clear sealers, in theory, but those scratches will dissapear once you start spraying clears. The base colour, as I see it, isn't a base color coat, but a direct staining of the wood itself. Mostly, as with all colour work, you have to be careful how you sand. Oh, and test on scrap until you've got it down. Touching up the stain after the fact (assuming it's in a medium that doesn't dissolve in the grain filler) is doable, but I'd think a touch riskier (more likely to get splotches).

[Maiden69]

I will go against the veneer on this one folks! I think that a 1/8" veneer as suggested is too thin for this finish.

First you have to use a good alcohol soluble paint to go deep into the grain, because once you fill the grain there will be a LOT of sanding involved to get the grain filler out, unless you are good at it and can squeeze the most out of the top of the guitar.