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Hi Folks,

I am looking to do a hand rubbed sunburst like this picture of an old Nick Lucas. Any suggestions for what materials to use for this? StewMac has a Vintage Amber and Medium Brown (Colortone Liquid Stain) that seems to possibly work. Anybody do one like this and have advice? Looks like this was rubbed onto the bare wood?

Thanks
Glenn

I believe that sunburst has tobacco brown and red mahogany and vintage amber. Dan Erliwine's and Don MacRostie's book on finishing give all the recipes for vintage and contemporary finishes. Worth having in your library.

I have tried many ways to do a rubbed on burst in a french Polish, none of them gave me the nice even look I wanted. In the end I wound up spraying the toner on in the middle of the process much as I do with a lacquer. I don't like applying the color directly to the wood, if you are not happy with the way it goes you are usually stuck with it. It's always best to run some samples to verify your process will work out the way you want, especially for color and transparency. Here is a pic of a French Polish burst I did a few months back.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Hi, Glenn. FINE WOODWORKING has published several articles about hand-rubbed coloring, toning and blending. One very nice hand-rubbed sunburst is demonstrated through the entire process in this video:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/Material ... x?id=30182

You can find many other useful articles here: http://www.finewoodworking.com/search/s ... 1267924j23

I do believe this is more problematic on a guitar top, because of the tendency of the softer wood to show "blotchy" areas. However, there are strategies for dealing with this in several of the articles. As always, experiment on scraps of your woods first, so you'll know what to expect on the instrument.

Good luck with it!
Patrick

Thanks guys! I was definately going to test on scrap, but was hoping folks have gone through the process and share their successes.

Glenn

John How does those all the time. Might check with him.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

There are lots of ways to do sunbursts, and they all have their distinctive looks. If you like the look of a burst rubbed directly onto the bare wood, and you'd like to copy it, you must do it the same way; it is not possible to get that look by spraying over a sealer, for example.

I usually do a combination of hand rubbed and sprayed finish on my mandolins, pretty much as described in Siminoff's book. For a standard Gibsonish looking sunburst I use Transtint dyes (or Colortone from Stewmac, same thing) vintage amber, medium brown and tobacco brown, in alcohol. I rub vintage amber over everything, and medium brown around the perimeter. I sometimes rub a little tobacco brown at the edges and and details, but it is mostly sprayed on, with an airbrush. When done, I seal with either shellac or lacquer, and I may add some more tobacco brown over that to adjust. When everything finally looks OK under a clear coat, I scrape the bindings, and start adding top coats.

Rubbing is more risky than spraying, and on your first it may end up looking more uneven than expected, or even blotchy if you are unlucky. That's not easy to fix, so you may have to add more color than planned to hide it. When you get it right, it is a quite lively and interesting look though. Practice on scraps, and try to find pieces that are as similar to your instrument as possible, and also match grain direction etc, as it matters a great deal for how the wood absorbs the colors.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin