new archtop needs honey finish

[Greg Martin]

Im experimenting with my dyes again after 10 years of not. I wonder if someone has perfected a nice honey finish for archtops. Im trying to get in between natural and honey ( using Beneditto pics as references). Im trying both behlen and/or water based dyes under nitro lacquer,using hvlp. On LP guitars straight lemon yellow works but not on the arch top ,to yellow. I do not want to do the accenting/sand back process on this guitar either, looking for that aged natural/honey look.Anyone??

[David King]

Transtint makes two ambers, their "honey amber" might fit the bill.
http://www.veneersupplies.com/products/ ... -2-oz.html

[Dennis Weaver]

I am not an expert but a lot of the shellacs that aren't paled come out blonde.

[Michael Lewis]

As with nearly any coloration of wood, you may need to 'correct' the color some. The wood brings some color to the equation, so you must account for that. To understand color correction get or make a color wheel. This starts with the primary colors, Red, Blue, and Yellow spaces equal distances from each other around the wheel or circle. By adding blue to the red you get violet (purple), by adding yellow to red you get orange, and by adding yellow to blue you get green. This is the basic 'rule' to keep in mind. now you mentioned Lemon Yellow, which is a hard yellow with slightly green cast, so to warm it up you add a bit of red. Mixing colors can become more involved (green and red make brown, etc.) but this is a good starting place.

Get some colors and start mixing them so you can become familiar with the changes. Start by testing your colors on white paper until you are comfortable with the process, then start testing on scrap wood similar to your guitar. What color(s) does your wood have?

Be careful of the type of lighting you use when you mix and judge colors as some lights will skew your colors. This is what the grocery stores do in the produce section so the produce looks better than it really is. I prefer sunshine for judging colors.

[David King]

Garnet shellac can look good over maple.

For accurate color rendering under artificial lights you can play around a bit with different types of bulbs. I always combine a 2700k with a 6500k fluorescent bulb to pick up more colors. Ideally you try for a high CRI in the 96-98 range but that's expensive. Sunlight is a very particular spectrum, not a flat light at all so it's tricky to reproduce. Tungsten photo bulbs are sort of close, halogens aren't terrible. Most fluorescents are pretty awful with CRIs in the low 80s. The GE "Reveal" filament bulbs with the bluish neodymium coating work OK and don't cost very much thought their actual CRI is in the 70s. GE supposedly makes an LED "reveal" bulb now with a CRI of 90. I have no idea what it might do to colors as I haven't tried one yet. Clear glass 75W tungsten bulbs (if you can still find one might be a best bet.)

[Beate Ritzert]

Why not using lamps / bulbs for photographic purposes? These usually have the appropriate color spectrum and a color temperature of 5400 K, i.e. the color temperature of the sun. And prices around 20 € seem reasonable to me compared the the prices of wood and the tools we deal with.

[Dave Stewart]

"Honey amber" is different for different people..... lots of recipes.
For me, it needs red. My blend was 5 drops amber/2 drops cherry red per oz lacquer.
1-2# orange shellac as a sealcoat didn't hurt either.

[Beate Ritzert]

Mhmm, my recipe for the above color is a clear nitro finish at an age of 10 years
No, sincerely, at what time in its lifetime should a guitar have a color close to that of an aged blonde instrument?

Dave: that guitar is a real beauty!

Or simply a thin finish of "Clou Hartöl".
Maybe also a french polish with a not too light shellac?

[Peter Wilcox]

Garnet shellac can look good over maple.

Here's garnet from http://www.shellac.net/dewaxed_shellac.html which they describe as "Deep Rich Brown-Red cast" but which I found to be more amber.

It gave the color to the light part of the figure of this maple. I think the color is pretty accurate if that old sock in the upper right looks white on your screen.

[Greg Martin]

Dave I see the red now that you bring it up. For my lps it was similar to yours with 2-3 drops of medium brown also, and vynal sealer or lac sanding sealer under, so really the result was different not bad for an LP but not the honey amber . Ill test with yours and use orange shellac and/or garnet under as a final seler. thats what I was looking for thanks.

[Chris Mudd]

I finished a tele with honey amber transtint in tru oil. This was a klieer combination for me .I plan on using it again. I didn't count drops. I probably just ended up making each coat slightly darker until I was satisfied.