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I had to sand off some honey shellac I first laid down on this one but that was the only hitch on this one. Overall...this was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I found the recipe by tinting my lacquer to achieve, more or less, the depth of color I wanted in one coat. Then I dilluted the intensity by 1/6th figuring I'd lay down 6 coats for the color and two clear coats. I figured that would give me some latitude to add color depth if needed while spreading out the color to six seperate coats in order to mitigate any uneveness in the spraying. That worked out pretty well as a plan.

The experience motivates me to tint the next two guitars. I already have the tints.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Jeez. That's pretty!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

That looks really nice!

It does add depth to it. Keep up the great work.

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Wisdom is justified by her children

Yes it does....I sort of looked at that piece of maple as less than stellar in terms of depth of figure and thought the tint would add something back to that aesthetic vacuum.

On that note I wonder if anyone knows of a surefire way to highlight a weak figure like this??

I've read about a technique involving black dye scrubbed into the grain and then sanding back but I didn't want to experiment on this guitar. I have test panels ready but they are all highly figured and I don't think they'd make good tests.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Really really nice!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

very nice

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If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. - Jack Handey

The black dye process you've mentioned has been referred to as "popping." Try a youtube search for "pop maple" or "popping maple" for a good tutorial.

Very nice.

Nice Stuart! I have found that diluting transtint dyes in water and applying directly to the wood really helps the grain. I did a dual humbucker thinline tele this way a few weeks ago and am now shooting clear coats.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Sweet!

I have seen some examples of diluted TT Black rubbed in and sanded back - looks great - haven't tried it yet...soon though!

Rob

Really nice color, Staurt!
Love the peghead you've designed.
Very unique.

Thanks (one and all).

The first peghead was a 3x3 but in order to do that layering I had to go with a 6 in line. Now the peghead carries the same main design element as the body and it ties the whole thing together better.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic