Translucent Black staining technique

[tommyboy]

WOW !

[Steve]

Great looking piece of wood, isn't it? The figure was gorgeous unfinished, and after I put the finish on -- OMG!

Would you believe I bought it on Ebay?

--Steve

[tommyboy]

Every time I look for figured wood on eBay it's over priced or has a ridiculous shipping charge attached to it or has barely any figure at all. Man, you did real well for yourself.

[Rick]

I've bought tons of fantastic wood on ebay. It's a terrific source for special wood.

Rick

[Mike Marlow]

I know a couple of high end luthiers and they dye or stain the wood. Clear Nitrocellulose lacquer after that. I suspect your experience was more related to your stain choice, than to the practice of applying stain or dye.

[Mike Marlow]

Nice piece of wood Steve. How does it play? What is the maple cap attached to?

[Steve]

The body is a solid piece of swamp ash 1-3/4" thick. I hollowed out two compartments in the back side, one for a preamplifier and another for a

9v battery box. Other than that, it's solid. The fingerboard and tailpiece were made from a piece of Macassar ebony I got from Woodcraft. The neck is birdseye maple with a 1/4" walnut stripe.

It plays very nice, but the fact is I'm not really qualified to judge that - this is the first and only upright bass of nay kind I've ever played for more than a minute or two. But I've been playing guitars and electric basses for over 40 years.

My plan for the next one is to make the body semi-hollow, with a Sitka spruce bookmatched top and flame maple back. I'm still working on the body design. I want it to have figured maple on the sides as well as the back.

--Steve

[Mike Marlow]

That Sitka spruce will make some nice sounds, especially if you chamber the body some. It resonates nicely, but it really wants some sound chambers under it.

My electric guitar is a handcrafted guitar from a luthier down in N. Carolina. It's a Honduran Mahogany body and neck with a flame maple cap. The mahogany body has sound chambers routed into it and it's very noticeable what the difference in tone is between it and the same model without the sound chambers. I'm sure you'd find Sitka responds to the sound chambers the same way.

From what I investigated at a point when I was going to build a guitar myself, I believe I've read that maple does not make a good body. It makes a good cap, but it really wants some other woods under it in order to get a less harsh tone. Maple is good for sustain, but not so good for tone - if I remember correctly.

[crow]

I use water based annaline dyes to stain the wood. next I apply several coats of a good poly/tung penetrating sealer followed by multiple coats of a water based sanding sealer. for a hand rubbed finish I use Behlen's Master Gel ( 5 - 8 coats rubbed on & polished off) followed by 3 coats of wax (Butcher's bowling alley wax or a good clear car wax)

I suspect that you never used a penetrating sealer. That step REALLY makes the figure pop!

You can see some examples @

&/or anything that says 'oil finish' & 'made in USA' was done by yours truely

-- jepp if it sounds good...IT IS GOOD!

[Thad]

Beautiful work, Crow.

[Mike Marlow]

Nice looking stuff. I had always been told by high end luthiers that they preferred nothing but Nitrocellulose Lacquer for a finish coat. They claim it allows for more tone and a warmer tone. (more flexible than a poly finish). Your thoughts on this - since I see you use poly finishes?