Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm in the middle of repairing a broken headstock of an old Gibson J-45, with a tobacco burst.
My question:
What color Trans-Tint is the appropriate one for the dark brown of the Tobacco Burst color? I would like to match this as closely as I can.
Anyone know?

Thanks...

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Bump.

Somebody out there must know the answer!

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

dunno, but I will give you a bump.   

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Don

Why would you want to repair it.

Sorry couldn't resist

Bump

[QUOTE=RussellR] Don
Why would you want to repair it.
[/QUOTE]

LOL, that's a very good question...but this is for a customer, so I want to do a decent job of matching the color.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don,

I've seen maybe 20 J-45's of various ages with brown or red-ish sunbursts (I used to own one) and not a single one of those bursts were the same colors as another one. I don't know if Gibson used different colors or different brand dyes over the years or if sunlight (UV) bleached some of them out or what.

My guess is that, unfortunately, there's no definitive answer to your question. Mix & test, mix & test again. Good luck,

Skip

Don,
Gibson sunburst can be all over the place. What I've done in the past was use the Trans-tint vintage amber and tobacco brown. Some sunbursts had a hint of red to them so you might want to use some of the Trans tint.
Call or PM me and I'll tell you what to do.

Don,
After you mix up your tints. Definitely test it on some scrap ( you knew that already). It is very hard to try to match aged finishes...especially bursts because they are layers of color. I have found that often it is better not to try to match the repair to the burst but rather create a diamond like ( in the area of the break repair)or any geometric, shape, and spray the repair with a tint that matches but clearly doesn't intend to blend. A poor blend looks like a sloppy repair. Just my 2cents...Dave-SKG38647.5794212963

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Don,
What type repair is required for the sunburst when repairing a broken peghead? Is the back of the headstock sunbursted? Or is the sunburst repair on the body?

I have had good results with Mohawk Ultra Penetrating stains. I usually mix 2 or 3 colors to match the color I am working on. Someone above pointed out, no two are the same.

Do you have any pictures?

I have the assorment of TransTint (same stuff as StewMac's Colortone, so
far as I can see) and I just play around until I like the color. By then I have
no idea what the blend is.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

The headstock isn't bursted or anything, but the color of the guitar was a tobacco burst. I guess. For all practical purposes it's almost black. The big issue was that there were some gaps in the finish where the headstock was snapped off and glued back on. Actually, it was epoxied back on. I ended up mixing up a small amount of epoxy and adding some black TransTint, and just filled the gaps with it. It matched pretty well, and after I sand it back I'll give it a quick spray with a coat of lacquer to try to blend with the existing finish as much as possible. I'm not going too crazy, since it's for a friend of a friend. I'm not charging much, and they aren't expecting much considering the nature of the break. It was nasty.

Don Williams38648.6794791667

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."