Official Luthiers Forum!

I want to buy a selection of dyes (for adding to nitrocellulose lacquer) for doing sunburst finishes.
I tend to prefer the 'tobacco' color schemes- ie browns rather than the extremely red style 'burst' pattern.

Colors available in the Color FX dyes I'm looking at are:

Burnt Umber
Raw Umber
Burnt Sienna
Raw Sienna
Van Dyke Brown
Orange Shellac
Aged Natural Cherry      
Medium Brown      
YellowG      
YellowR
Orange
Red
Black

I'd like to buy about a half-dozen (or fewer) of these shades- which will be the most useful?

Thanks!

John

John...I had the same situation. I got amber colorFX from Woodessence, but they weren't able to relate a decent cross reference between colors (too many, too confusing, "which is tobacco brown!!). So I elected to go with Homestead TransTints (which Stewmac sells under colortone label & which they WILL ship to Canada). I got tobacco brown & red mahog. Maybe cherry in future.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Thanks for the info, Dave.
Jeff at Woodessence got back to me within a few hours and suggested the Amber and Black, plus a several brown tints, including the Siennas and VanDyke.
I'll figure out what to order after checking my wallet- at $15 a pop, it starts to add up quickly.
Cheers
John

John I don't know what size bottle woodessence sells the tints in but if the same size as Stewmac and same product I think the cost is comparable. I have been using Stemac's color tone for several years and they last a long time. In fact the Yellow I had was so old it was an old formulation that didn't blend/mix well into nitro. I contacted stewmac and Erick sent me a new bottle for free! Now that's service too.

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Most manufacturers will send you a color sheet showing typical stain color on some wood such as maple. Of course, this is a printed sheet, but it gives you a good idea.

The umbers are more neutral; the siennas are more red. Van Dyke is usually the darkest brown. FWIW

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks for the tips on the 'artists color names', Howard. The colors I see online are often pretty 'approximate', so you are right about getting a printed sheet. Whenever I use dyes/stains (not often) I end up blending a couple of tints in most cases- thus the desire for a 'selection'.
Dave- You are correct about these dyes lasting a long time. I'm coming to the end of my 'set' of dyes that I bought from Bill Lewis in the 70s!
I guess it's an indication of my lack of use (guitar output) as well as long shelf life!
Cheers
John

I would certainly add the orange shellac to the list - I have about 7-8 of these dyes, and the shellac colour is great - has a touch of reddish orange to it for the centre of a burst with the vintage age built right in. The amber on its own is very yellow looking to me - it needs a touch of red and maybe brown to warm it in

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"