Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm going to start the finishing process on my herringbone dred in a few weeks. I have an adi top and would really like to get that look martin has on their Golden Era guitars. I'm sure there are other models as well like the 000 Eric Clapton, but these are all I've seen and I'd like to get that same amber look. Not too dark but golden liek the above.
I plan to shelac either tru-oil or Behlens rock hard. Not sure yet.
I could use some advice.
Thanks

I use KMT9. I just mix a little water based amber dye in it and spray away. It comes out nice. Just use a little though.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

There are a number of amber tints out there for lacquers, but I still prefer a
base coat of an amber or garnet shellac. I will pad on the shellac as a sealer
coat until I get what I feel is the right shade, then build the finish top coats
either with a lacquer or super blonde / platina shellac. The amber tints often
seem to give a little more artificial amber tone, and the shellac has always
seemed a little more natural to me.

I believe Frank Ford just keeps a few jars of lacquer up on his roof in Palo
Alto and lets the UV rays do the work. Still that probably takes a little more
time than you want to wait.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I'm with David. Amber or darker shellac.

You might want to stay on the conservative side of tinting (edit: like Todds'
above), cuz when the guitar ages, the wood will turn amber, and there will
be both the coloring from the wood and also from the finish. I've seen a few
guitars that looked a bit strange after they aged.

burbank39090.9204513889

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I don't mean to hijack, but Todd, did you use Z-poxy on the top?

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Apply lacquer, wait 20 years.

Mike

Rockhard Varnish over shellac sealer, looks fifty years old as soon as you buff it out.

                       Paul

I ordered a compliment of dyes from the Target supplier here in Canada. One of my students had an old tele body and wanted the birdseye neck he had made to look old - we used the orange shellac mostly with a couple drops of burnt umber in it to get a colour, that when compared to a couple old guitars, one a late 60s D12-20, the other a very old parlour, the colour looked very good compared to those tops. The vintage amber from stew mac migh be some combo of these I dont know, I have the amber from Target (I know they make the SM dyes, but cant reatila those specific tints under the target name, you get the base colours form them, and SM wont ship that stuff to Canada) and its not as vintage looking as I would liek it to be. Its good for warming something up, but no match for the tint I mixed up.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Are the Targets mettalic ... I thought they were more a water base type stuff. I tried to tint CA a couple weeks back, with Target black ... about an once worth of CA, couple drops - the next morning the thing was like a rock ... oh well, worth the try !!!

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

You mentioned shellac as one method you're considering. I use garnet shellac on my guitars to "warm up" the look. It provides a bit of a reddish tint as well.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

To get the aged toner look I have always used a little light walnut stain in my lacquer and seems to work great.

Homeboy

Todd, I just LOVE that guitar...

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"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."

Me too!

Me three!

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Canada

Me also.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars