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Hello again, I've been busy building my electric guitar and since it's a bit.......hmmm......abnormal, I've ran into a problem the forum might be able to help with.

I need to figure out how to lighten the wood in certain places. I've tried oxalic acid and 2-part hydrogen peroxide and both did a get job of "cleaning" it but neither did a great job of "whitening" the wood. I want this to be 100% wood with no paint whatsoever. So this means that I need to truly bleach the wood and not just clean it.

I've tried the oxalic acid and hydrogen peroxide in vary strengths with the same "cleaning" results. So any ideas?

I'll try to attach a pic of it so you can see the progress.

Thanks,
Joe

You could use diluted laundry bleach but be careful since the fumes of bleach are bad for you and cause you to pass out. Another things is that i never found a wood bleacher including bleach that is permanent. Over time the original color comes back. The thing is the bleach job only effects the surface and sometimes the color is more then skin deep.

Not much experience with guitar building . . . yet, but I have built a lot of furniture and have good knowledge of wood and how it works. That said, I've never had great luck lightening the color of wood. Most of the bleaching agents out there act only on the surface, and eventually the true color will begin to bleed back through.

You might try some of the tints that are out there and add them to a topcoat. You could use and airbrush on the areas you want lighter.