Official Luthiers Forum!

I have a commission for an Osage Orange guitar and the customer wants to maintain the pale look of the freshly sawed wood. Without adding something to block the UV rays it will darken over time.

Anyone have any a source for UV blockers for use with water based finishes.

Cecil

The truth is that most of color change is caused by oxidation not UV fading. UV will yellow many finish films and fade the color of many woods but the darkening of Osage is not UV related it is oxidation happening.

opps I did not mean to post again sorry

Thanks Michael,

I kinda thought that that was what was happening. My customer had talked to another luthier in the area and he told him that a UV blocker was need to prevent the color change.

This individual has retired from building after twenty years and just does repairs now. Goes to show you that twenty plus years is not enough to "learn it all".

Cecil

Most modern instrument finishes already contain a UV inhibitor. By the way UV light can and does accelerate oxidation to a point but the long tem affect of UV exposure is to fade the color.
Because normally we do not seal the internals of a guitar. Even after finishing oxidation does occur. You could likely slow this way down by sealing the wood on the inside as well. This should slow down natural oxidation rate quite a bit. That said at any time the wood is in the green it is slowly but surely oxidizing.

In re. to your origianl question, someone recently told me that a UV blocker is simply pigment added to a finish. Does anyone out there know for sure & what kind & how much?
MM

_________________
Mike McNerney