Official Luthiers Forum!

I just saw an Infinti car ad on tv and it said that the wood trim inside had pure silver dust polished into the wood. Anybody building guitars like that?

Yeah, I saw that too and have been wondering about that!

I thought fine silver dust was black - ?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I too am wondering...but I don't want to spend the money on the silver dust to find out!...

..hmmmm...Unless I grind up one of my wife's......"...MY PREECCIIOOUUUUUSSS"...Rings. She says it just like Schmeeeegul...but without that bad hairclub for men thing on her head!

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Will it make the guitar sound better or just cost more for the gimmick ?

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Clean silver dust is silver--tarnished is black. If you get it worked in silver and cover it with finish, it may still turn black after many years. Maybe you could use gold or platinum. Or, what's the half life of uranium?

When we polish metals, even gold, famous for its lack of tarnishing, removing tiny particles of metal, the deposits on the cloth are black, not the colour of the metal. Larger particles would of course be the colour of the metal.
It's just I remembered working many years ago(as a chemistry technician) with what was actually collidal silver (very fine particles, often formed by precipitation from solution) and it was black.
I should have known better anyway, opening my mouth before my brain was awake.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Yep...

If I wanted a sparkly metal-flake finish on a Guitar... I would use a metal flake paint additive product specifically designed as such....

Paint and colorant companies have been working this sort of thing out for a *LONG* time... They know a whole lot about it that I just won't get right when I File down one of Grandma's old Tablespoons into my varnish.....

The commercial products have some big advantages such as:
Mix with the paint right
Uniform/not clumpy
Lay down properly in the finish -- don't leave Swirlys...
Properly sized and shaped particles for proper appearance.... Thick, stubby particles = grit
Don't change colors to something strange.... (Yay, just what I wanted... Streaky, mucky, brown flake)

For example.. One of the most popular "Metal Flake" products is actually very finely ground Mica (Yes, the flakey mineral you use in the garden....)

Thanks

John