Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey All-

Long time lurker, finally joined up!

I'm working on my second guitar now(made my first in Robbie O'Brien's class) and when I cut the binding channel, I got a lot of tearout on the top, along the front binding. I figured, rather than try to match pieces to glue in, I would try a sunburst. Has anyone done a sunburst on a french polished guitar? If so, what kind of paint would you use? and how did it come out? Any other tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Glad to finally be aboard here,

Clay

Clay,

Glad to see you made your way to the OLF. You can burst a guitar that has shellac on it the same way you would normally burst a guitar. You can even do a shellac burst. Geoff Burghardt, the mandolin teacher in the luthiere department at school, does this on his mandos and they are nice! Drop by my class sometime and we can talk.

As I am sure Robbie will tell you (and for the benefit of those who may read this and don't have him available), there are at least two ways to do a sunburst with french polish - stain the wood directly, typically using aniline dyes, or stain an undercoat of shellac before you put on the french polish. Any others??

Kevin Thomas
Quail Rock Guitars

A transluscent sunburst will not hide blow-outs very well, and transluscent is what you're going to get staining the wood. I'd send it out to a specialist for the save.

Nah, where is the fun in that?

Clay, I hate to steer you away from this site, but over on Mandolin Cafe there are several good threads on various ways to achieve subursts. Rubbed on the wood, sprayed over a sealer, water based dyes, alcohol based dyes, rubbing the colors with oil, sanding back dark coats to enhance figure, French polish over varnish... the options are endless.

Here's a picture of Gail Hester rubbing a French polish over a varnish on a(n?) A5 mandolin:



Here are some good Mandolin Cafe threads for you:
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=7;t=47276;hl=sunburst+&39and&39+stain


...and another one:
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=fb352c2eeffcdec2a045f162fb65c22e;act=ST;f=7;t=50190

I have never done a FP, but if you are not married to that method of applying the material you can always spray shellac, even over over a sunburst. If you rub the 'burst by hand and it ends up to light to hide your boo boo (once the clear coats go on what looked almost like an opaque hand rubbed burst may look much more transparent and light) you can always darken it by spraying additional dark coats around the perimeter before new clear coats.

Here's an old OLF thread where I explained how I sprayed a shellac 'burst on a mandolin.
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=7404&hilit=+Mandolin

Whatever you do, TEST ON SCRAP! Take your time to experiment with different methods and materials, and find out what look you like best. Then work on your technique on scraps (the scraps must be similar to your guitar's woods of course) until you have it down; take as long as you need for this step, it is very important. When you get ready for action, clean your work area, get good daylight, organize your materials and go for it!

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

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I always loved the classic mandolin sunburst. One day I’ll do it on a guitar.

_________________
Rich S

"The inconvenience of poor quality will linger long after the thrill of a bargain has been forgotten"

I do stained "Loar era" style bursts all the time on guitars, and I'm telling you, they will not hide a blow out as has been described. If time and results do not matter on this second guitar, then by all means use it as a learning tool. But nobody...and I mean nobody that I know has ever been able to do a great sunburst that would hide a blowout and not look over-done on their second guitar. Come on now...this is where expertise comes in as essential if the job is going to be done reasonably quickly and for a reasonable cost. Otherwise consider it a test bed and be prepared to shoot it, strip it, shoot it, strip it a half dozen times before it gets half way to being one quarter "right."

A sincere thanks to all. I'm excited to figure this problem out. Robbie, I'll definitely stop by your class.

But I have to give a special thanks to Rick, for his inspiring words of encouragement. Any doubts I may have had are silenced. As a beginer/hobbyist just trying to figure this stuff out, it was just the boost I needed.