Official Luthiers Forum!

I have been able to EASILY source what people call black/Maple/black purfling, but to my eyes it appears that the Maple is bleached to almost white.

The color is too stark white for a build I am doing. I need something more "natural Maple" looking instead of white that the typical vendors have in stock.

I only need a small run of this stuff and can't do the minimum quantity/order that places like Gurian want.

I am including a photo of strips of purfling that show a more natural Maple vs the bleached Maple (white). The photo is a little exaggerated - but it's the best I can provide and think it gets the idea across.

Can someone tell me where I can go to get this more natural looking Maple without having to spend $200?

I could use about 20-50 strips.

_________________
P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I've got .040" black/koa/black and .065ish" black/mahogany/black purflings that I had custom made at Gurians.

Hesh - I have both of those also, and have the b/koa/b as an option - but would like to get closer to a nat. Maple

I have natural maple strips in a 5-layer neck and am trying to come close to matching the color.

Thanks for the offer!

_________________
P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I found using Z-Epoxy to pore fill and wiping it over the SM BWB purfling tones down that stark white.

_________________
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.

Paul, I've bought 75+ sets from the same seller on eBay. They are black and Pearwood. I've included a picture of them used in a rosette below. This was the first rosette I ever made so it's a little sloppy before it was cleaned up, but it gives you an idea of the color. PM me if you'd like the seller's name.

_________________
Brad

LMI's .6mm Maple purfling strips are natural color.
Also the inlay that Walter Lipton has (B/W combinations in both .6 and .3 mm) has a natural maple color as well, his company is Euphonon in Orford N.H.

Paul, These are so easy to make. Why the struggle to source them?
A thickness sander, some thicker veneer from Certainly wood and some fish paper from RC and you are there.
PM me if you have other Q's but really, it is that easy.

_________________
Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Pear is much darker than Maple. This is nice purfling. The only thing I didn't like is it comes coiled up. It does make for much cheaper shipping but it's a little bit awkward to work with because it retains the coiled shape. http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRENCH-STYLE-VI ... 5d2f598d2a

I used an amber shellac as mentioned above and ended up with a nice honey tint.

Ditto on the shellac idea. I did my last uke with orange shellac...really took the white to a more amber color

Paul,
I make my own (all wood veneers) using curly maple on a regular basis. If you would like, I could make you a batch. PM me if you are interested. Here is what they look like under finish (z-poxy & em6000):

http://ensorguitars.com/eir_lutz_gallery.html

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com