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After seeing some of Hesh's beautiful blacktop guitars, I'm inspired to try it in the near future. I'm just wondering how Hesh (or others) do it? Do you use transtint colors in the lacquer or do you spray dye first and then follow with the clear coats? Thanks for any help.

Darrel, Mohawk sells high gloss black lacquer here in Canada. Depending on the look you want, 2 or 3 coats if you want the texture of the grain to show a bit. If you want the piano look probably 6 coats. Then clear coat with their instrument lacquer. It's a fun process. I suppose there are other ways but this worked well for me.


Good Luck,
Danny

Thanks Danny. I just picked up a gallon of Mohawk's Instrument Lacquer out of Vancouver. I was kind of hoping for this one off that I'd try dyes or something so I didn't have to buy a gallon of black. I've used the mohawk blue penetrating stain in lacquer before and it worked quite well, so was hoping I could do something similar for the black? Great looking mando by the way.

Hi Darrell, This was my effort, Inspired by Hesh too but because of a little accident I got to go it sooner than I anticipated. My method is described about 1/2 through post.

http://www.anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?t=2284

Cheers
John

Thanks Darrel but I can't take any of the credit for my black topped guitars beyond the concept - both were professionally finished, one by Joe White and the other by Tony Ferguson. Since both finishers use different finishes, Cat Poly for Joe and Cat Urethane for Tony if I were you I would contact these guys and see if they want to share the schedules with you. That is of course if their schedules would be relevant to what you plan on using. If you are using nitro what our friends Danny and John said would be what I would do.

You just reminded me that now that the weather is getting better, stinkin flowers are in bloom, it's time to find an old barn ready to fall down around here and take some natural lighting photos of these ladies.

G'day Hesh! Blacktop Dreadnought looks Great!

Is the guitar in your avitar the one you did in blue Darrel? Let's have a look! I think with stains and dyes you'll get a different look. See more of the grain and wood. Go to the mando section and check out some of Haans work. He's pretty handy with dyes and tints.

Enjoy the Day!

Thanks all. I'll do some experimenting to see if I like any other options than buying a whole gallon of black, but may go that way (maybe I can find a piano to refinish ).

Danny, that blue archtop is mine. The problem there is that my wife thought it matched her decor well and it sat on a stand in the living room for a few years and was my daily player. The blue on the top has faded to almost grey, although the back still looks great. It's in the line-up to get a re-finishing this summer and then will go into a case when not being played.

Beautiful black tops Hesh!!!

_________________
Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Thanks Bill and John!

What kind of dye did you use, Darrel?

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard, I used the same Ultra Blue 502? penetrating stain from Mohawk that was used for the Scott Chinery's blue archtops. Any suggestions for something else I should try for the re-finish, or is just a matter of keeping it in the case? Thanks.

Here's a Walmart picture that my wife had taken when I was out of town. It gives you an idea of what the color fade ended up like on my Benedetto copy.

You might want to give this fellow a try. https://www.woodessence.com/ He's got some great products and I'm pretty sure the dyes are colour fast. He's a pretty helpful guy too. That's a fine looking trio there Darrel. Shame about the fading. I'm not sure where you are but I have a spare litre of black lacquer and it's pretty inexpensive. I'd be happy to help you out........ especially since my next build will be an arch top. I might have a question or two.

Danny

That's awfully generous of you Danny. I'm in Calgary so let me know how much with shipping. No huge rush, I'm probably a month away from closing up these two archtops and haven't started the necks yet.

My dad had a house on Texada back in the 70's so we used to go there the odd summer. Spent time in Gibsons and Powell River too. Beautiful part of the world. Can't beat the fresh seafood either. My uncle was the captain on the Texada Queen back then, which was good fun for us kids.