Bryan Jeppson

Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum, and having read through some of the responses to this thread, I'm not quite sure how much detail I should go into, but I'll give this a shot and try to make it back here fairly regularly over the next few days to try and answer any questions that might come up. I'll also try and cover a couple different methods to accomodate people on a slightly lower budget who can't afford a spray finishing system. Since it looks like there are other tutorials here about finishing in general, I'll just gloss over that and cover how to bring out the figure, and ways to create a burst finish 1)"Popping" figured woods. Judging from the pics I've seen in the main thread you guys have on bursts, I'm guessing most of you are planning on using quilted or flame maple. There are different ways to make the figure really stand out. After sanding the body down to a 220 grit, I apply a black stain over the top. I usually use an alcohol based stain for this, but I've had equally good results with water-based. Let the stain soak in for about a half hour or more. The stain will penetrate deeper into the figured areas of the wood. Re-sand the top using 220 grit sandpaper until all but the figure has been sanded back to its natural color. This will leave you with blackish grey lines in the figure. Wear some kind of mask if you're using an orbital sander; otherwise you're breathing stain into your lungs. For best results, you should repeat this process, but now with a different color. Which color you use depends on whether or not you will be spraying your finish onto your guitar, or if instead you will be applying it by hand. I almost always spray nitro lacquer for my finishes, but I realize not everybody has the $$$ to spend for a decent spray system. If you have access to a spray system, believe it or not, the color stain I next apply is Behlen's Solar Lux Blood Red. It's a dark wine red color, which will look black underneath green or blue tinted lacquer. Again, you'll be sanding most of it off, except where it penetrates the grain. (You can get away with just the first black stain by the way. This second time around with the red just makes the final finish look more 3-D.) If you're going to be applying a finish by hand (i.e. Danish Oil), the second stain should be blue. Sanding it back off will be a little different this time. Don't sand the blue off near the edges. This area will become the edge of your burst where the green fades into blue. 2)Bursting Out Here's the big difference in the coloring process between hand and spray finishes. With spray finishes, you apply the lighter colors first, whereas by hand you apply the darker colors first, and then sand them back in the areas where you want the colors to blend into each other, so that you take out the "lap marks" - the lines or streaks left over from your brush or rag. By Hand (All coloring is done by staining the wood) For a "Carribean Burst," you want green fading into blue, so the entire top is stained blue (already done if you were trying to pop the figure) and then sanded back, leaving as much blue as you want around the edges. Then rub a green stain into the top. Be careful not to put too much of the green in at first, or it may end up being so dark that the figure in the wood doesn't stick out. It's easier to put more on than take it off. Rub the green on all the way out to the edges, and put it on heavier as you get farther out from the center. You should be putting it on pretty heavy over the areas that are still blue, to help make the fading out look as normal as possible. Finally, lightly sand the center area with 320 or 400 grit to take out most of the green where you want your yellow to be. Typically, this is the area right around where the pickup routs are. If you're planning on using a pickguard, you'll have to go a little farther out. Then rub a yellow stain over the entire body. Let the guitar body sit overnight so that the moisture from the stains escapes before applying any finish. Spraying (Only the yellow stain is applied directly to the wood. All the other colors come from tinting the lacquer) For spray finishes, once you've sanded back the black and dark red stains, rub a yellow stain over the entire top (the cheap stew-mac sunburst yellow powder works fine for this.) When you're done, if you've used figured maple, the top of your guitar should look like a bumble bee - yellow with black stripes. Let the guitar body sit overnight so that the moisture from the stains escapes before applying any finish. The next step is to start applying the green. You should thin the lacquer down for color coats. For nitro, I use about 1 part lacquer to 3 or 4 parts thinner. Add a few drops of Trans-tint Bright Green to the lacquer. It's really easy to accidentally add too much stain to the lacquer. This is especially true for the first coat of stain, since this is used where the yellow fades into the green. Test what you've got on scrap wood first. Spray first around the edges and slowly move towards the center with each successive pass. Hold the spray gun a good distance away to avoid any runs or drips. Don't go all the way to the center, since you want that to stay yellow. Again, this first coat will be a very light green. Let the first coat dry. Since the lacquer is considerably thinned, you can get away with only about 40 minutes or so between coats. Add a few more drops of green, and repeat the previous procedure, but this time don't go quite as far in towards the center as the last coat. Let it dry, and then add a few drops of blue into your mixture for the next coat. The last coat of tinted lacquer should be just blue. It should also be noticeably darker than the previous coats. Aim the spray just along the sides of the guitar. 3)After applying all the colors. Once you've got the coloring scheme the way you want it, just add multiple layers of clear coats on top, whether it's spraying lacquer or rubbing in oil.