jowilmei

1 hour ago, Drak said:

So this is what I've got, since you allowed my mind to wander and choose whatever it wanted. These are two different treatments done to a Black Limba body. Depending on the piece, Black Limba can stand on its own, or sometimes it can use a little help to set it off. I see your piece as that, attractive, but could use some help, tho I would not cover it up with a solid black. Its attractive enough to keep it cleared and show it off.

One is a natural clearcoat with a black edgeburst, the other a beautiful green shader coat. Both are applied after the body has been clearcoated and sanded level, then the toners are shot over top of that, then more clear. Neither of these are done straight onto the wood, they are done over a cleared and sanded finish, then more clear to lock it in. If that body were mine, that is what I would do with it. You can clearly see the Black Limba wood in both examples, yet you can also see the added effects really helped set the piece off.

Its a nice way to keep the natural look of the wood, yet color it to taste.

You can dye straight onto the wood to augment both of these effects before you add them, but its really, really light.

Say, you were going to do a black edgeburst but wanted to dye the body to match it. I would use a Silver Gray dye mixed WAAY down, like 10%, 15% max. Like a super-diluted washcoat, nothing more. If you go too far, you ruin the effect, these are all very light and delicate treatments, nothing heavy-handed. In this way you are keeping the natural look of the wood itself. If you use a heavy-handed dye right onto the wood, you'll take away the natural look. Unless that's exactly what you're looking for in the first place, just straight-up dying the wood although with that piece, it would not be my first choice.

If you are prepared to do a faux binding job (I wouldn't, but I'm not you), then you are already prepared to do shader coats, as both require the body to be clearcoated first. The procedures share a lot of the same steps in the process is all I'm saying, so if you're prepared to do one, you can choose to do the other too as both require similar equipment and techniques.

That's what I got.

Natural Black Limba with black edgeburst:

 

Natural Black Limba with Green edgeburst/shader coat:

Thank you for so much good information. Those finishes look outrageous! I think with my low experience level, I will have to test out some of your ideas on a scrap piece I have with the same grain.

1 hour ago, mattharris75 said:

You could also just grainfill black for a cool look as well that combines black and natural, like the back of this bass I built:

I like that look, but im afraid the dark grain will overcome the subtle color variations in throughout the wood. 

1 minute ago, Bizman62 said:

I feel you, I've struggled with similar issues with my current build. So I ended up with a burst which left most of the patterns visible

Wow, that looks incredible! I guess I'll take some scraps I have and experiment with the natural-burst technique.

38 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Now that's a good start already, very nice wood!

I'm feeling that it might be a crime to cover up the interesting grain patterns, even though my original intention wasn't a natural finish.