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What is your preferred method for staining Mohagany to match EIR?

See photo below for a representation of what I'm after.

Does it affect volume or tone?

Do most Luthiers just not worry about it?

Thanks,

-j

Maybe someone somewhere has done this, but I've never heard of anyone trying to make mahogany look like EIR. Why do you want to try to do that?

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I'm not trying to fool anyone, I just like the idea of the whole back the same color. You may not have heard of it but there's a photo showing someone has done it. I like it and it's purely a matter of personal taste.

-j

When spraying nitro I colour the lacquer using NGR (non grain raising) stains when matching the colour of the back and sides. The stain in the photo would probably be Dark walnut. The stain doesn't affect volume or tone. The thing that would affect volume and tone the most is the thickness and amount of finish applied to the guitar, I think most builders try to use finishes that do not affect tone to a great degree.

Cal

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

Yea, there are lots of things I haven't heard of. My point was just that it seems like an unusual thing to do and I was just curious why you want to do it. Do you like the darker color of rosewood but prefer the sound of mahogany, for example?

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I like that look. Pretty nice.

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My back and ribs are EIR and my neck is Mohagany. I just prefer the whole back to be a uniform color and darkening Mohagany is much easier than making EIR lighter. I like both wood's natural color but I lean a bit toward liking rosewood more. I feel like a giant jumble of colors is distracting so I want to minimize them as much as possible.

Now I'm wondering how I can make a Mohagany stain?

Now it makes sense. Sorry, I didn't understand that you were wanting to match the color of a mahogany neck to EIR back and sides. That wasn't clear from the original post, at least to me. Someone here is bound to have your answer.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Minwax makes an oil based stain color called "Jacobean", which I have used on mahogany necks, that is near identical to the color of the neck in your picture. I like dark necks to match dark back and sides as well.

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No worries, I may not be the best Writer so it may have been unclear.

I'd love to see a photo of this stain in action.

I use Behlens Solar-lux dye satin to match mahogany to EIR. I use a blend of Hickory, black & med red mahogany to get a good match.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Have you already started work on the neck? If not, you could always use another wood such as Peruvian walnut. I've found pieces that greatly resemble the tones in EIR. I think it would look nice. I, too, like the stained look in the example above. Good luck!

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sweat the small stuff.

That looks fantastic! Thanks for allowing me to see this stain in action. What is the base of the stain, oil, water? Did you thin it? If so to what viscosity?

-j

I have started the neck and I like the idea of trying the Peruvian but I've already got this neck in my hands and don't wanna wait any longer. There's been so much waiting on parts and tools I'm at the point where I'm just sick of it. Also, the piece of Mohagany I have is spectacular! Kind of nervous using it on a first guitar but I made a practice neck and it turned out great so it shouldn't be a problem.

I did make some stain from scratch using rosewood. I'm gonna give it a shot. I'm experimenting with the raw, squared wood, I assume this is the best way, no? Then "attempts" can be planed off during the thicknessing stage and I'll know what works. I can try all the suggestions here in the process.

-j

Solar-lux is a dye stain in a type of glycol base. I did not thin it with anything but they have a reducer for it to lessen color intensity when needed. if just using as a stain you can cut it with DA for the same effect. Being glycol based means that it is compatible as a dye additive for both solvent and water borne finishes which is another reason i like it.

Sometimes when trying to stain to a darker color with modern oil or WB stains the pigment tends to lay more on the wood instead of penetrating and can cause adhesion problems.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Practice your stains and finishing experiments on scrap wood, not the actual neck. Also, home made stains are usually not very long lasting. Buy a can, especially if you are getting anxious to get this one done.

Mohawk's Ultra penetrating stain is a dye stain that can be used directly on the wood and/or mixed with many different finish materials (as a toner - nitro, shellac, and some waterbournes - test for compatibility) It can be thinned with most solvents (including water) to adjust the strength.

Pretty much every mistake I've made building a guitar has been the result of impatience. Now that I think about it, that may be true in other areas of my life as well. :-)

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George :-)

I took advice from Laurent Brondel and used a two step process. After filling the pores and sanding back to bare wood, I used Stew-Mac's ColorTone stain #5032 (Red Mahogany) dissolved in alcohol to a medium red color. On top of that I wiped MinWax #224 (Special Walnut). I tried the Minwax's Jacobean, but it was a bit too dark for this particular piece of EIR. I think it's important to practice on scrap mahogany to best match the piece of EIR at hand.

I use LMI's aniline dyes, brown, red and black. After staining, I do a wash coat of shellac before filling with dark walnut. Keeps the pores a bit more crisp, keeping the color of the filler in the pores.

Mostly I don't worry about it, unless the customer wants a match.

This is my first build, 2005. It's a bit too red, but I was happy with it at the time.



Pat

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