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I am thinking of creating a light honey colored shading of the edge of the top wood by immersing it in hot sand like they do with inlay work. Maybe one or two inches worth. what are you thoughts or experiences with this.

I think tinted lacquer would be a lot easier and more predictable. YMMV.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

If done after assembly, perhaps sand hot enough to burn the wood would also release the glue joint.

John,

I have no experience with this (had to Google it to find out what you were talking about), but it looks like a really cool idea. Reminds me of Michi Matsuda's gunpowder scorching technique that was featured in a Stew-Mac Trade Secrets article recently. Post some pics and show us how it turns out if you decide to go forward with it!

I was just about to chime in about the gunpowder technique from that recent Stew Mac tip video. When I watched it I thought, "that's cool but I'd probably blowup the guitar by accident".

My girlfriend's dad is an avid hunter and target shooter who makes his own bullets, so I have access to gunpowder and have thought about giving it a try...but I only have a few tops in my stash at this point, and none I want to turn into toothpicks . I might pick up a student grade top from RC Tonewoods next time I put in an order with them, just to do some experiments on.

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, John, but when i saw this video, I wondered about using the technique to do exactly what you described with the hot sand. Here's the link if any of you were interested http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0201.html.

thanks for all your replies. I also thought about getting the student grade tops and experimenting with the different techniques. Definitely liked the gun powder effect. Love his guitar, humbling and inspiring.