sunburst finish for dummies

[Mark McLean]

I got that semi-constructed 12-string from the deceased estate auction that we were discussing last week. As I suspected from the photos, it is plywood and pretty crappy. But for what I paid I am not complaining. I had wanted to do a bit of fiddling around with a 12-string, and with different configurations such as 9 or 8 or 7 strings, and I have been on the lookout for a pawn-shop beater but they are always nearly bent in half by the string tension. So this will be a good experimental subject.

Anyway, I need to complete building the thing first. There is no finish on it and the blonde plywood is not too pretty. I am thinking I might try a sunburst, and if I screw it up at least I haven't ruined a valuable guitar or something that I spent a hundred hours building from scratch. Stew-Mac sell aerosol tinted lacquer in the classic colours for a 3-tone burst - but they can't ship them out of the USA. What can you advise me about a similar product available in Australia? And and tips on using them? Or is an aerosol sunburst only for dummies?
Mark

[sebastiaan56]

Here is a hand rubbed tutorial by James Condino, he makes kick ass mandos,

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... x?id=30182

[Allen]

Stew Mac will ship the ColorTone tinters overseas. They've got them in all the colors you could hope for. They tint most anything such as Mirotone, Shellac, etc.

A little goes a very long way, so they will last for ages. I use a long bamboo skewer to dip into the stain, then stir it into some thinner. It disperses in the solvent very quickly and gives you an idea of what the color is going to be. Then mix it into your finish. Test on scrap and adjust color as necessary.

When doing bursts or shading, it's always best to use very thinned out product. You can always add another coat to get a darker, deeper effect, but you can never take it off without stripping back the finish. This way you will get the color you desire, without adding too much finish.

[graham mcdonald]

Any hardware shop will have a selection of wood stains in little bottles, with which I have done many sunbursts. Golden Oak is a good base yellow/amber colour and there are various red/brown tints up to the 'walnut' which is a dark brown good for 'round the binding. These are soluble in lacquer thinners and that sort of stuff and I have usually sprayed them on with a air brush diluted with thinners and a little nitro lacquer. It does rather depend on whether you are set up for spraying lacquer.

James Condino's tutorial is for water soluble stains rubbed directly onto the wood. It occurred to me that there is a wide range of water soluble stains available as dies for clothing, and these should be available from chemists or places like Lincraft that sell fabrics and craft things. The tricky thing about piutting the stain directly onto/into the wood is that is shows up any imperfections in the sanding process and that any endgrain (I'm thinking of carved mandolin soundboards here) will absorb more than the non-endgrain.

Just some thoughts

cheers

[sebastiaan56]

The tricky thing about piutting the stain directly onto/into the wood is that is shows up any imperfections in the sanding process and that any endgrain (I'm thinking of carved mandolin soundboards here) will absorb more than the non-endgrain.

From what I have been able to gather Graham, a sanding sealer deals with that problem. ie very dilute shellac. Spruce also has a tendency to blotch rather badly. Ive got a poorly finished F5 kit waiting to be stripped back so I can test these theories. The other big issue is non intentional staining on the binding, but that is why plastic binding was invented

[jeffhigh]

Looks like his process of waterbased stains rubbed in puts a LOT of water into the wood.
I dont really feel comfortable with that on thin guitar wood due to the swelling/cracking induced.
Any experience with this?

[Mark McLean]

Thanks for all of the tips. The tutorial makes the hand rubbed technique look fairly good. I have had a go at french polishing before so I feel a bit more comfortable with that than spraying.

However, I am going to have to keep that knowledge for another guitar. On closer inspection of this guitar kit I find that is is not plywood. The top, backs and sides are all high pressure laminate - ie Formica, just like your kitchen benches! I don't think it is going to take a stain too well.

I know Martin make some HPL guitars. Some have wood tops and some are all HPL. This one is braced with a X-brace made from 'real wood' (seems to be spruce), a rosewood bridgeplate, and the end blocks and kerfing look like mahogany. It came with a rosewood bridge that hasn't been glued yet. I wonder what to glue it with? Some info on the net suggests that Martin use CA to glue the bridge to these HPL tops, but there are reports of bridge failures. I'm thinking of a couple of hidden bolts through it as well, for good measure. And definitely a bolt on neck. What do you all think?

But I can spill beer on it and not worry.