Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello Folks!!
Here is a subject that I believe has not been covered, or at least somehow has gone over my head.
Coloring wood. Wods such as H. Mahogany (Martin Mahogany 15 series).
Many others which I cannot remember unless I go thru all posts.
I would appreciate a guidance or some lessons.
Nothing too heavy but name of products available from the 3 big guys like Stewmac, Lmi, and etc.
Any assistance would be appreciated. I'm tired of going to Walmart and Home Depot.

Thanks,
walter

Hey Walter,

Can't help you much other than to mention that I have read C.F. Martin use to dye all their Brazilian Rosewood in order to maintain a uniform production run. Go figure...or unfigure as the case may be.

Cheers

Kim

I've been doing tests on the scraps of the orange-brown mahogany I'm
using for my guitar.

With Z Poxy it has a great reddish brown.

I tried orange shellac under Z Poxy thinking it would refract some light
and look deeper. Nope. It looks jaundiced    

I always use Mohawk stains to color my wood. They seem to work just fine but are not cheap. I like mahogany either way but recently I have been leaving my mahogany unstained and it looks good. One tip that I think is important when staining very figured wood is to use a non penetrating stain. If you use a deep penetrating stain on very figured woof, like maple, it can siphon through the grain and show up inside of the guitar.

Homeboy

as todd mentioned martin's color was the result of using a dark coloured filler, which is why they all looked very consistent colourwise, whether they were mahogany or rosewood.

Ive seen some aniline dyes used one some figured wood in some shopnotes magazine projects - looks really really nice some of those stains, especially on flame maple!
Would this be alright for acoustic guitars potentially?
Im already thinkin about s**b**sting something and I havent really gotten 1/2 way thru my first build!
dang HESH!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers
Charlie

Thanks Todd!
Cheers
Charliewood