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I have some beautiful fumed oak veneer I have had for several years. I was thinking about that for a guitar. I guess it was popular in the arts and crafts furniture and was done by exposing the wood to ammonia fumes. Has anyone ever tryed this? I think quartered white oak would be a cool wood for guitars and even better dark brown. I have noiced on the forum that light colored guitars are harder to sell than dark.

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While fuming was a popular way to produce a look that the Stickley's etc wanted, there are other, less toxic ways to produce that look. I'm not aware of any properties that fuming
introduced into the wood other than that aged look-(I always found it interesting that even in 1902-1918 the Arts and Crafts builders attempted to create an aged look in their furniture,so this is not a new phenomenon). I've found I can recreate that look using
stains and certain pore fillers without having to deal with ammonia. I've restored several
Stickley pieces and matched the White Oak quite well with these other techniques.
I'd start by trying pore fillers, I've had the best luck with walnut shade filler though other shades will also help. Pore fillers have enough stain in them to allow you to accomplish
a great deal with a very simple technique.

Best
Bruce

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Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

I have read that one widely used 'golden oak' stain was 'asphaltum', AKA roofing tar. Thin it out.

I fumed one oak guitar I made using blueprinter's ammonia. Nasty stuff, but it did a nice job. I still practically had to give the guitar away, though. Sigh.