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Has anyone experimented with adding color pigment to the shellac & alcohol mixture? Has this ever been done? Would the pigment cause any negative effects to the shellac & alcohol mixture? May I make it clear that I am talking about a very small amount of pigment…just enough to tint, but not cover the natural look of the wood. In this case, spruce.

Thanks everyone for the welcoming (Hesh) and feed back (SR & Michael). I am not a luthier although in the back of my mind I guess I’ve always wanted to be skilled at working on guitars. I do (in fact) have many woodworking and finishing skills, but I would never claim to be a luthier without the proper schooling & credentials. In light of my upcoming project, I know that spruce can stain unevenly and then again spruce (or at least the spruce on my project) is beautiful and why would anybody want to stain over it…right? I agree 100%!!!

I‘ll be working on a guitar of mine that I’ve had for thirty years. I have no idea how old the actual wood is. It means a great deal to me and I have taken exceptional care of it. Recently it sustained some damage (certainly not do to my carelessness!). I was in shock for about a week after the incident and franticly researched repair resources. After I calmed down, the F. Polish application appealed to me. Then I thought, I’m skilled & I can do this myself…and I will. Yeah, I’m anal about my research, gathering information and getting all my ducks in a row, but hey…what can I say? Before the guitar comes out of its case, I’ll be doing a lot of testing (on spruce wood) then I have another guitar that I will use as my guinea pig before working on the main project. Everything will be made note of and documented. I would be glad to share any and all of my findings throughout the course of the project(s).

My nephew (Derrick) recommended this forum…thanks dude!

Thanks OLF & members! Thanks also to Orville & Robert Milburn.
Special thanks to Cyndy Burton.

Floyd

Hi Floyd, welcome here.

I'll give you a bit of advise that may save you some dissatisfaction with the possible lack of response you get to this post.

Give your topic title an appropriate heading. "Coloring shellac?" would have been a better title as you will certainly miss a lot of expert advise by your current title. I'm pretty sure you can't change the title of you post so you might want to start a new thread with a better subject title.

Sounds like you're having fun, good luck with your project.

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as long as the the tint is alcohol solvent there is no issue adding tint to shellac. I have done it many many times in the 40 years I have been working with shellac. Tints can be opaque or transparent. an opaque tint will be just tht opaque (not allowing transparancy). Transparent tints will always be transparent. You can adjust the depth of the color but they are transparent, just deep in hue. if you want transparancy use a transparent tint. If you want solid opaque color then you must use an opaque tint. She solids and how they desolve in your media are complettely differnt.

All the schooling and paper credentials in the world will not make a luthier. It really means nothing more than you build stringed instruments to call your self a luthier. You can be a hobbyist, apprentice, journeyman or master, it does not mater you still pratice lutherie. You get thes designations by aquiring specific levels of craftsmanship. But none the less they are all luthiers. While lutherie skill can be learned in a scholastic setting, paper credentials only confirms you attended and completed a curriculum. If you build stringed instruments then you are a luthier at a given point of a journey towards mastery of the craft. Luthier is not some high title that must be taken as symbol of proficiency. It merely describes the discipline of your craft or hobby

Floyd,

How about some pics of the damage? Just a thought... will shellac be compatible with the guitar's present finish? It might be different enough that the repair might not be to your liking. Is there some way to determine what the present finish is, because there might be a better solution?

I think it may be worth mentioning that (it seems to me anyway) that most luthiers use dye in shellac, not pigments. The difference being that pigments do not dissolve in the solvent where dyes or tints do. Some opaque finishes used in luthiery may be pigments though.

I personally have had difficulty using transfast pigments with shellac. That's not that big a surprise though as they're designed to be used in water, not alcohol.

Don't take my word as the final word though as there are many here with much more experience than me.

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