Wood dying tips anyone

[Variable]

Advice, Im about to start on a tele build, ideally id like to do a vibrant green burst effect on the body. Most of the youtubers being based in US seem to be using alcohol based dyes, brands which dont sell here in the UK like keda. 

 

I was wondering if anyone on here had any experience of wood dying? Which products would yield the look im after.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[ezbass]

I used a water based, art paint for a Tele body once, worked OK.
 

 

A number of folk here and on BassChat are ink users IIRC. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by ezbass

[Variable]

Nice job, Whats the brigde on that? Thinking about a top loading bridge but they seem to be thin on the ground for a telecaster 

[ezbass]

53 minutes ago, Variable said:

Nice job, Whats the brigde on that? Thinking about a top loading bridge but they seem to be thin on the ground for a telecaster 

It's a Stetsbar https://stetsbar.com/index.html I've since removed it and gone back to hardtail on that guitar, as my trem requirements are now fulfilled by the Bigsby on my Casino.

[Dolando]

I’ve used Rothko and frost dartfords dyes before and they look good. Here’s a body I did with there walnut dye. 
 

Generally if you want to blend together use the same type but if you want to do a sanded back dark colour to accent the grain use a contrasting type. Water based contrast and spirit over the top. It will prevent it reactivating the dye underneath. 
 

Water based dye will raise the grain, so best to use that if you plan to sand back to accent grain. Spirit don’t as much but fry quicker so blending can be harder. Best way is to get some and do some tests on the same wood if you can. 

[Variable]

Thanks for the reply. Didnt know about raising the grain, had to google that.  I'll avoid warerbased go alcohol then as im going to be working on a maple veneer, might be risky doing too much sanding i imagine the veneer will be quite thin.

 

Beautiful piece of work btw, scratch building is way beyond my skills and my tool box im afraid. Fascinating seeing how these guitars are created. 

 

Im sure just putting together a tele will be more than enough challenge for me, i plan to pick up the components as i go along.

 

Thanks.

 

[Dolando]

No problems.
 

Yea, veneers are usually like 0.5mm thick usually so minimal sanding! With spirit you have to work fast. A good tip is us a different tag for each colour and you can use them to help blend into the other colour. I’m sure there are loads of videos on dye bursts on YouTube.

 

Thank you! That’s what I started with, now I’m on my 10th scratch build. I’m on Instagram as Dolan Custom Guitars if you fancy checking out some of my builds. 

 

 

[Variable]

Body arrived today, quite smooth, looking good. 

 

Question 

Whats the first process you would use when colour dying? 

 

Im assuming i shouldnt seal till ive dyed? Id imagine it might hinder the dye penetration?

 

Do i need to use a grain filler?

 

Thanks

[Variable]

Dye turned out ok, quite happy with it especially for 1st timer duffer and all.  Will seal and the eventually apply nitrocellulose once all the necessary holes are drilled. 

 

Some glue spots, which you only see when you start to dye doh. Veneer is so thin i didnt want to sand too much, only here and there for glue spots. Fortunately the worst spot will be under the scratch plate.

 

Plan to put a top loading bridge on, white pick guard. Single coils (not sure which) 

Neck im looking around for, i see a fender 22 fret for 200 quid online. Tuners, control plate hopefully Prewired all the above all on shopping list sssh dont tell the Mrs.

 

[Dad3353]

[ezbass]

BOOM!

[velvetkevorkian]

Nice work!

[Variable]

7 hours ago, velvetkevorkian said:

Nice work!

Thank you, hopefully have the guitar completed after Christmas, just got to sneak the parts into the house without the mrs seeing  

[Crusoe]

That looks great

 

[Dolando]

Looks great! Better than the first dye burst I did. That should pop when you put finish on it. 
 

No string through holes says bigsby to me…?

Edited November 25, 2022 by Dolando

[Variable]

On 25/11/2022 at 21:14, Dolando said:

Looks great! Better than the first dye burst I did. That should pop when you put finish on it. 
 

No string through holes says bigsby to me…?

Do like 

[Variable]

Do like the look of the bigsby, not so much the price. I will just go for a traditional looking tele bridge that allows strings through the back of bridge, not sure how this will effect the tone?

 

 

 

Apologies for reply above the forum glitchec before i could type.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dolando]

On 26/11/2022 at 22:07, Variable said:

Do like the look of the bigsby, not so much the price. I will just go for a traditional looking tele bridge that allows strings through the back of bridge, not sure how this will effect the tone?

 

 

 

Apologies for reply above the forum glitchec before i could type.

 

No worries! They do licensed ones but not sure on quality. I wouldn’t say string through vs top load would make much difference. Good contact with the body makes more of a difference I reckon. 

[ezbass]

I think you’d be ok with string through, I’m not sure string through makes such a huge difference (I know others swear by it, so YMMV). I’m pretty sure one of the Bigsbys I’ve fitted in the past was a licensed one and I’ve also fitted top spec too and I can’t say I could tell any difference. The Stetsbar trem I fitted to my Tele was very Bigsby like in action and tone.

[Variable]

Switch plate and gear arrived, had to dremil to the cavity as it just wasnt fitting, sitting nicely now. 

 

Pick guard also isnt perfectly snug with the contour of the switch plate, im guess a bit of sanding to ensure a nice fit.

 

Bridge is on the way, once ive worked out all the holes for drilling for the hardware i will be able to to sort out any imperfections and get the lacquer on.

 

Pick up wise, im tempted by some fender texan customs after hearing examples as kindly suggested earlier on here.

 

Neck im not so sure, think i want a 22 fret as a lot seem to be 21 fret. Eyes on a fender neck at the moment however i have noted some non branded neck are considerably cheaper from the likes of northernguitar i think they're called. Any advice welcomed.

[Variable]

Thats it all parts ordered, no more decisions to make,  hopefully goes together nicely fingers crossed.