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  • Staining or dying a guitar body? Help!

    Hi guys. I want to strip down a guitar body to the wood, then stain it a darker color. The wood is alder. I'd like to make it look as much like a koa color as possible. I've never done this, so I really have no clue about how to do it. Are there specific types of wood stain to use? How many coats, how long to dry, sanding, some type of sealer that goes on at the end, etc, etc? I know it won't look like koa, but just getting that general color would be awesome. Any help at all would be appreciated. Thanks.

    Richard
    Breaking Point, my all instrumental CD available here:
    www.cdbaby.com/cd/richardjamessounds

    http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Point...92366&sr=301-1

    http://youtube.com/user/jsrmusic

  • #2
    Where's Mike Learn when you need him?
    Breaking Point, my all instrumental CD available here:
    www.cdbaby.com/cd/richardjamessounds

    http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Point...92366&sr=301-1

    http://youtube.com/user/jsrmusic

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    • #3




      To me, there is no prettier color wood than KOA. This is my Warmoth Strat. I'd like to build a KOA Les Paul, but I don't think you can buy one piece KOA anymore.
      "POOP"

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      • #4
        To be honest with you, alder is pretty uneventful as natural wood, so you might want to reconsider, or just save your pennies up for a koa-topped body maybe...

        If you are hell-bent on doing it though, you'd probably need to do something akin to this: http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Fini...lueguitar.html

        You probably can ignore the part about the false-binding, but everything else holds...you'll probably want to use a darker orange-tinted stain, although my worry there is over time it will darken to a point of looking like poo brown, and I'm not so sure that's what you're after...

        Just my .02, hope it helps!
        Crime doesn't pay. Neither does lutherie...

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        • #5
          Originally posted by missionguitars1 View Post
          You probably can ignore the part about the false-binding, but everything else holds...you'll probably want to use a darker orange-tinted stain, although my worry there is over time it will darken to a point of looking like poo brown, and I'm not so sure that's what you're after...
          +1 Poo brown is the shit. I personally haven't seen an alder body that looked decent stained. If someone has had good luck with it, please post photos and how you did it.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by tcwil8 View Post
            +1 Poo brown is the shit.
            PooPoo you mean

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            • #7
              Originally posted by DonP View Post
              PooPoo you mean
              careful, SG will come running if we keep talking about poop.

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              • #8
                Thanks for the tips guys. I guess I don't really want a poop colored guitar. See, what I really want is one of those mid 90s Charvel SDs that was Koa with the Wilkinson trem. I rarely see them on the bay. I almost bought Seegermany's lacewood model, but had to back out. So maybe I'll just wait for another one to pop up rather than staining one myself. Thanks for the advice.
                Breaking Point, my all instrumental CD available here:
                www.cdbaby.com/cd/richardjamessounds

                http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Point...92366&sr=301-1

                http://youtube.com/user/jsrmusic

                Comment


                • #9
                  Sorry bro, been busy making musical sawdust. Unfortunately, there is no faking Koa. You could sand it down and find some one with a vaccuum press, I do not have one yet, and have them laminate a Koa veneer to the top then reclear it. No cheap adventure no matter how you slice it.
                  Custom Guitars, Refinish and restorations.
                  http://www.learnguitars.com

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                  • #10
                    Hey Mike, thanks for the response. Well, I guess I'll just wait to find the real thing. I'm glad you guys talked me out of it.
                    Breaking Point, my all instrumental CD available here:
                    www.cdbaby.com/cd/richardjamessounds

                    http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Point...92366&sr=301-1

                    http://youtube.com/user/jsrmusic

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by SEEGERMANY View Post




                      To me, there is no prettier color wood than KOA. This is my Warmoth Strat. I'd like to build a KOA Les Paul, but I don't think you can buy one piece KOA anymore.
                      WOW..That's beautiful!!!

                      I'd rub the wood with a Sham-wow. I use one as my Jizz-gel rag, and now my beanbag has a nice amber glow.

                      Also, use it while the Sham-Wow is still moist..I discovered spooge is like a good tung oil.
                      "Bill, Smoke a Bowl and Crank Van Halen I, Life is better when I do that"
                      Donnie Swanstrom 01/25/06..miss ya!

                      "Well, your friend would have Bell's Palsy, which is a facial paralysis, not "Balls Pelsy" like we're joking about here." Toejam's attempt at sensitivity.

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