Official Luthiers Forum!

I am finishing up the body on this one and the wood is lighter than I like. I have seen KOA that is a dark golden color and wondering if it is a stain or just how the wood pops under finish. I have to get some Naptha and see how it will look under finish but it doesnt seem to have that dark golden hue. Any advice? Would you use a stain? How would you maximize the graing pop?

Thanks

Rich, that set is great looking. You have no worries, it is going to GLOW. And as Todd has stated, epoxy will darken it more if that is what you want, but I don't think I would let any stain anywhere near those sets!

Shane

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Canada

Do Not Stain It!

Give it a Z-Poxy wash and it will pop. It will look Swwweeeeet.

Z-poxy wash all the way! I agree!

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John Nowicki

I agree with the above-I think you'll lose grain definition with any staining, and I
think the wood will look GREAT with z-poxy fill. I don't think there's any way to
make it look like Koa- it doesn't have the yellow background color that Koa does.
But the z-poxy (and Nitro if you use it) will add a little bit of a yellow hue. It'll
look fine...

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

Rich,

Yuck, you have lines going across your carefully built instrument. I thing you should follow Hesh's all black guitar so you can hide those ugly lines. The only drawback is then it will only play "Smoke on the Water".

I'm sure the guitar will look fine when finished. I have seen Ukuleles with the Golden colored koa and they look pretty good.

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

Another vote for NO staining. That is one of the finest woods in its natural condition under finish.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Acacia can be used for the soundboard?
But whatever you do, its going to be a great looking guitar.

Very similar to Koa so yes it can be used as a soundboard.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Thanks guys, ZP it is and NO STAIN. I will order thr zpoxy tomorrow and practice on the cut offs.

As far as Acacia for soundboard, as Bob C said, this is from Koa family. I got that beautiful set from Bob C, uncle Bob, Zootman Bob top and back was a very close match. Sounds like a drum when I tap, loud, good sustain, deep. Hope it sounds like that when its all done.

Thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow with the feedback.

No you should not.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars