New Builds
TO ADD FORUM POST USE THE DISCUSSIONS TAB OR ADD NEW TOPIC IN THE SIDE BAR
Organizer:
- Organized by
-
-
Darkening Brazilian RW
-
Darkening Brazilian RW
Hi all, I was fortunate enough to have been gifted a Brazilian RW B&S set from a friend who inherited it. Unfortunately, while the back pieces were nicely bookmatched, the side pieces apparently were orphans. One of the sides matches the back closely enough, but the other is pretty light, and the contrast is….stark.
I want to darken-up the lighter side, but I don’t want to just hit it with my best guess for a stain, cross my fingers, and hope for the best. Any advice from your collective expertise on the best way to get the job done? Thanks!
-
4 Replies
-
Sunlight oxidation can darken wood. It could be that the way the guitar was stored, it had more light exposure on the dark side than the light side. You could test that by lightly sanding the top 4 or 5 mm around the top of the rim (which will be where the binding will be put in, so sanding there won’t impact you in the long run) on the dark side and see if it lightens up. If so, you could lightly sand the entire dark half of the rim to try to get a more even match.
Also, when you apply finish, it is going to slightly darken the wood, and differences will be slightly less noticeable.
-
Thanks for the response. These sides started out at about .200″ (and looked pretty close to each other when they were that thick), and I sanded them to .085″ for bending — so I’m pretty sure it’s not sunlight related. In addition, they were in a big stack on a shelf on the opposite end of the previous owner’s shop from the window.
I do want to be as minimally invasive as possible, and if lacquer alone was going to solve it, I’d be all for it. My fear is that the difference is too great for lacquer to even it out, and by the time I prove or disprove that hypothesis it’d be too late to fix it without removing the finish.
Thanks again.
-
-
I just realized I didn’t make this clear in my original post — I’m happy to test approaches with scrap wood and products I have in my shop, but I’m asking here because the best product or approach is probably one I don’t already know about.
-
I’m not sure I see a way around it but for dye. One thing you might try is to use an oil based pore filler and use dye as the colorant rather than pigment. You could double the dye on a different batch of pore filler that you use on the light side. If your oil based pore filler is cut with a solvent that will bite into shellac, then a shellac seal coat could be the ticket to a risk free do over if it doesn’t quite jive.
TEST TEST TEST !
Log in to reply.