Finally done with this mahogany dread, #12!  She's got mahogany back and sides, and an Adirondack spruce top, sunburst.  I learned a few valuable lessons on this one...like alcohol dye is a bear to get off ivoroid!  I'm not too sure about the color, but the wife and friends said they loved it.  What do you guys think?  I am not too good at pics, though.  Camera was set to auto.  That line across it isn't a scratch, it's the reflection of the driveway.

the dark spots in the lower half are reflections of leaves. (and the driveway.

Thanks for looking.

[QUOTE=DennisLeahy]Brad, I can't see any gnat legs. Do you grind them up and add them to the finish, or invite them to take a final walk on the guitar?

Looks great! How does she sound?

Dennis[/QUOTE]

Well, I have trained gnats...they can only walk eight paces though, then they have to belly crawl a little.  Come to think of it, do you think that prehistoric amber with the bugs in it was really caveman nitro?

I appreciate it.  She has a nice tone, not as "zingy" as a new rosewood.  I'm not much of a player, but  the treble side seems to be more noticeable, or maybe less bass? 

Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it.

Claire, I think it has a warm even tone to it, not as "snappy" or boomy as the rosewoods.  I guess you'd say it has a medium action at 3/32" at the 12th fret (bluegrass world!). 

 Allen, I've never been a huge sunburst fan either, and I guess that goes back to seeing all those guitars that have a narrow, extremely dark burst that looked like they had been airbrushed with paint.  This one is the third or fouth sunburst I have done, and I have always tried to keep them a little transparent and subtle.  The tuners are actually Grover open geared.  As far a weight, I haven't weighed it, but it feels lighter than the rosewood dreads...the only one that was actually weighed came in at 4.8 pounds.  Didn't weigh it myself, but that's what the guy told me.

[QUOTE=amcfarlen]Ya, the sunbursts I've seen have looked more like paint. And not very well applied either. So, the dye is alcohol based. Is it just diluted with metho and sprayed on until you get the desired opacity? [/QUOTE]

Allen,

That's pretty much it.  I'll spray my base color, a gold tone first.  Then I mask the h-bone purfs and do the sunburst with a tobacco dye.  It will look a little darker than you'd like until you shoot the sealer. People who have seen say they like it more so than the usual burst, so I think I'm going to stick with it.