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I’ve done a few sunburst finishes in the past on some electrics using Kenda aniline dye mixed with water and hand rubbing. This method produced pretty good results, but I was wondering if any of you guys would mind sharing your bursts and technique you achieved. Any unique methods, color combos, or anything? I plan to do a burst of some sort on my next build but I’m look for something to maybe spark an idea on what color / scheme I want to try. Thanks for your time in advance

Hello John!
I struggled with rubbed-on bursts with carved tops given the uneven (blotchy) absorption of the dye.
I have had good results with spraying bursts using EM6000 and Colour-FX dyes.
To really bring out the flame in maple, I mix black with some water and apply on the bare maple, then carefully sand it back to reveal the grain.
I then seal with shellac, then spray the base colour - in this case Midnight Blue.
Then I add some black to the mix for the burst around the outside, with the gun turned down a bit for a fine mist.
Then on to to regular finish schedule after scraping the bindings.
On that note, the last one I did I had some issues scraping the binding, as the shellac layer was chipping.
I have since switched to Target USH3000 as a sanding sealer - in testing I found it scrapes perfectly.
For a honey-burst - use Amber for the base, then add a few drops of blue and red.
My notes say, for 4 oz of finish, use 20 drops of amber for the base coat, then add 5 drops of red and 2 drops of blue for the burst....

Cheers!
Rob

I'm a beginner at bursts

Traditional 3 color hand applied stains



Amber stain followed by a drop of brown in the lacquer



Red and amber dye added to the lacquer



Three different methods, three different results.

As always I do a lot of testing on scrap.

Beautiful well done!

Pretty danged nice "beginner" work! Looks great.

Dave

Freeman,

Do you tape off the binding then paint?

What dyes are u using?

What guns are u using?

For the moment, I need a good off the shelf case that I could order from Musician' s Friend or similar (small body guitar)

Mike, I've been using this case for some parlors. https://www.accessbagsandcases.com/prod ... r-gig-bag/.

First the disclaimer, and its a really big one. I honestly don't know what I'm doing, I've read a lot and experimented a lot and slowly getting it figured out, but I am still very much a beginner. OK, with that said, answers to your questions.

I usually tape the 1/4 inch sides of binding and may put a coat or two of sealer on the short edge. With wood binding and purfling I always put a coat of sealer on it. Plastic binding can be scraped clean with a box cutter blade, if you use any fiber or maple stripes it will absorb stain. I have not done a faux binding finish but have experimented with the concept - I think I could by applying several coats of sealer.

I'm using StewMac's Colortone dyes both to make stains and to tint lacquer. I've experimented with both water and DNA to dilute the stains and prefer alcohol. That is somewhat dependent on what kind of finish will go over it. If you are going to French polish you might want to consider water. Also if you are going to pore fill wood or try to pop grain with something think of how that will affect stains. As always practice on scraps of your wood.

My gun is an inexpensive no name gravity feed HVLP gun that I bought at an automobile finishing store. I don't even know the nozzle size. If I was going to get a new one the purple Harbor Freight guns are recommended, I would consider one of those.

One thing about the gun is that I am anal about cleaning it every time I use it. It only takes a few minutes - I empty the cup, shoot a tiny bit of thinner thru it, pull it apart and wash everything in thinner including the little filter under the cup. I don't have problems with the gun.

I'll add something else about sunbursts. I have started building a couple of guitars with a strong idea of how I was going to finish it only to change my mind completely when I start actually fooling around with wood and stains. Do not, I repeat, do not, experiment on your guitar - stains can be irreversable and can go places you don't want them. I am building a guitar now that I was sure I was going to do a Gibson style tobacco burst but when I actually stained some of the top wood and put it against the guitar I changed my mind completely





Notice how much the slow ("winter") lines has absorbed the stains while the summer wood didn't. I though maybe I could darken that by airbrushing right arourd the edge but didn't want to gamble and decided to just go with a natural finish on this guitar. That actually works better with the combination of wood and binding colors

I have built three parlors from the Antes plans and they fit nicely in a TKL parlor case. I've built one 00 and it seems to fit a small classical TKL case.

Quick hit of vintage amber, followed by tobacco brown for the top and back. Sides had a little more of the amber before the brown.

Photo of the back is a bit underexposed and oversaturated. It's not that dark.


And just standard green tint in the nitro. It looks anywhere from black to emerald green depending on how the light hits it.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow Brad! Bursts look especially good on archtops; when they look like glass.

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Why be normal?

Wow man this thread has turned into an art gallery! All these are awesome the skill & patience is amazing!

Almost embarrassing to post after Brad's and some others. I've only ever done two burst guitars using LeeValley water based dyes over ten years ago and nitro over top. Sprayed with a Sata Minijet. I was still quite happy with the way they turned out. Lousy pics from my phone at the time.

Here’s a Merlot burst A-style mando I did. It is sprayed….

M