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I used TransTint stain in water to darken some figured maple. Looks pretty nice from the outside, but the solution wicked right through the wood! I've never had this happen before and I didn't think I was soaking the surfaces excessively. Well, what's done is done, so I went ahead and wiped on a single coat of shellac and that bled through, too!



Luckily this was an inexpensive, non-bookmatched set that I'm using to make a knockabout guitar for myself, but I'd really like to avoid this in the future. Is it me? Is it maple? Is it hobgoblins? What the heck is going on here?

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George :-)

I've used a lot of Maple over the years George. Trans Tint bursts (in alcohol) , shellaced wood etc. I've never seen anything like that. Being a non porous wood the only thing I can think would be excessive run out to expose more end grain than usual. Does it sand out?

George, I've seen it a lot on mandolins. It comes from spraying too "wet" of a coat on a thin maple. Solution is to spray a "drier" coat. If it does'nt appear wet from the outside, it won't soak through. Many dry coats are better than heavy coats and you will approach the color you want better.

You may be right, Danny, because it only happened with the back; the sides are fine. Very strange. Sanding diminishes it some, but not entirely. Oh well, it's a good day when you learn something new, right?

The guitar should still look kind of cool from a distance:

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George :-)

Thanks, Haans! I wiped this on with rags and tried to use as little water as possible. Obviously I didn't succeed!

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George :-)

That's a pretty slick looking "knockabout" guitar. Looks great on the outside.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

My curly maple 13 fret Nick Lucas had bleed through with transtint. Looking at the end grain of curly maple you can see its "folded" the dye just runs right through........

Not speaking from experience, but if you use alcohol instead of water, as a carrier, wouldn't it flash off quicker, and reduce the depth into the wood?

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Thanks for the replies, fellas. Yeah, Jay, I like the way the stain looks on the outside.
You may be right about the alchohol, Alex. My test pieces didn't exhibit this problem, so I thought water would be fine. Those were cutoffs from the sides, of course.

When it comes time to finish, I'll have to make sure my varnish is nice and thick!

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George :-)

I had the same thing happen a few months ago on MY maple knockabout L-00 guitar. I wiped on alcohol based stain and it came through very much like yours. I just moved on from it, thinking I had too much run out in the wood. It may be that I put it on too wet. At least I learned a lesson on one that I plan to keep for myself.

James

Taylor has made a big push toward using figured maple like yours in their guitars. On almost half of the 600 series models, the back and sides are stained fairly dark. I wonder how they deal with this issue.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Hi George

I had the same problem with a curly Redwood top. Can't see it without a camera or light and mirror so it doesn't bother me. Seems like this is right under the sound hole. If you use a label there it might not show at all. Just a thought. Nice looking guitar - Mike

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