Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm currently mixing colors for my next archtop, wine red for this one. I mixed the red and was spraying it over just about anything I could get my hands on when I sprayed it over a test board that had some of my sunburst ground color on it. I loved the way it looked, the light amber really made the red pop. So here's my question, did the brightening of the red just come from the red laying over the amber like a candy or could I get the same effect by just mixing my ground color in with red? I know a lot of hot rod finishers say that the layers of the finish can be very important but shooting the guitar with that amber is pretty hard to do evenly (for me anyway). I'm sure I'll experiment with both ways but I'm curious if any of you layer colors like this.
Jason

Sun bursts are often done in a layered fashion . The matching of one base color on top of the other can really make the colors work. Gibson used under colors of yellow , and red with the dark top color.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Layering is entirely different than mixing colors together in a finish. Which ever way you want to try you'll of course do a sample board unless you like living dangerously. If your having trouble with even tone thin your color down and layer. It's much easier to blend color if it is done in thinned coats vs. heavier coats.

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Christopher Morley

Thanks. I mean specifically solid colors as opposed to sunbursts. Orion, layering is what I'm talking about. Do any of you use layering to achieve your colors? It seems like a lot more work to spray amber then spray my red over that to achieve the final color but if I get the results I want it would be worth it. Maybe what I'm really asking is, can you achieve effects with layering that you can't with just mixing the color? One more question about toners. How much do you typically thin toned lacquer? I've been using 1:1 lacquer to thinner.
Jason

Jason, I think layering, whether dye on bare wood or toned lacquer, makes it easier to end up where you want. You can sneak up on it & make adjustments on the fly, as long as your colour intensity isn't too great (as Orion alludes). I also think an amber foundation is almost always good. This finish involved 5 different mixes (all on bare wood... & not counting the one I sanded off to pop the grain)
I'd also recommend getting "Guitar Finishing Step by Step" .... you'll get a lot out of reading specific recipes.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Dave, that's a lovely finish. Are all your colors dye on wood or do you use toners as well? I have the book and have gotten a lot from it. How do you go about popping the figure? Saturate the wood with a darker shade of dye than the finish and sand back then proceed with your regular finish schedule? I read on here somewhere that you use a polymerized tung oil under shellac. Is that your figure popping step?
Jason

I've used both toned lacquer (WB) & dye on wood.... the latter "masks" the grain a lot less than a deep toner (which becomes increasingly opaque) but on the whole is a bit trickier. I've heard some say they favour a combo of both, which I intend to try.
I've used both the dye & sand back (some feel this is "cheating") for coloured finishes and poly tung oil for natural finishes to bring out the grain. Both work.

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Dave
Milton, ON