anyone used dye?

axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
Anyone got experience of dyes - pros cons, where to buy, problems etc?

I saw a nice dyed body recently, different look to stain, I'm just a bit intrigued now.
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Comments

  • RolandRoland Frets: 8592
    Use an oil based dye which doesn't raise the grain the way water based dye does. Don't forget that the wood can still go darker (yellow/brown) with age, and so can the oil/varnish finish. My blue guitar is now turquoise.
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • lysanderlysander Frets: 574
    I did an aniline dye ( can't remember if it was with alcohol or water ) hand rubbed sunburst on a flame maple top a while ago, it was good fun and came out quite nice but it faded quite a bit with age.
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  • 4xv4xv Frets: 49
    I'm going to be using an aniline dye shortly on some maple so I will be watching this post closely , however I do quite like the idea that it may fade somewhat for that super relic vibe
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  • lysanderlysander Frets: 574
    The fading looks more washed out than relic unfortunately :)
    Doesn't help that the water based lacquer that I had sprayed on top got a blueish tint with age, nor that it sunk into the wood a bit. I'll try to take some pics at some point.

    I think an oil finish would probably have looked better, if I was doing it again I would try that.
    I would be worried that the first coat might mess up the burst though, so I would probably spray a coat of shellac to seal it first.
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27590
    I use Chestnut spirit stains quite a lot. Not sure if there's a difference between stain and dye?
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    Sporky said:
    I use Chestnut spirit stains quite a lot. Not sure if there's a difference between stain and dye?
    i am never sure of the difference either - but chestnut spirit stains are great.   
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  • hywelghywelg Frets: 4302
    This is a Chestnut dye dark blue on the top applied with fine wire wool, then turquoise added to the first few nitro coats

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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    edited May 2017
    Sporky said:
    I use Chestnut spirit stains quite a lot. Not sure if there's a difference between stain and dye?
    Another vote for Chestnut - they do a useful couple of sample packs too @axisus , one for wood shades and one for rainbow stuff.  As you know, although I love the Chestnut spirit stains, I personally tend to use fountain pen inks...simply because of the wider range of colours and low cost ref experimentation.  The Chestnut spirit stains are just that - spirit based.  Inks are water based.

    Ref the difference between stains and dyes, the finishing suppliers have done the usual trick of confusing the hell out of everyone.  It used to be simple - stain did just that.  It soaked into the wood giving it colour and varnish covered the stain.  And you could also get coloured varnish.

    Then - and bloody irritating the first few times you got caught out - some of the well known suppliers started marketing stuff as 'stain' that was basically an acrylic-based coloured varnish.  And with nothing on the tin to explain what it is you are buying.  I have ended up over the years with so many expensive cans of wrong stuff I could never use that I now don't buy any of their products. 

    So now you have to proceed with caution with anything termed a 'stain', because it might or might not be.  Stuff classed as dye, at the moment, is more likely to be the right stuff (if you want a soak into the grain colouring) until the b******s no doubt change that too.
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27590
    I started buying pigment powders from art suppliers and using isopropanol as a solvent for it.

    Very cheap, massive range of shades, very mixable.

    Downside is that you really don't want to get isopropanol on your hands or breathe the fumes. Almost instant hangover. And a bad one.

    I am now trying to find somewhere that'll sell me IMS... otherwise it's back to using vodka as the solvent!
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • lysanderlysander Frets: 574
    edited May 2017
    Here's the hand rubbed burst I did about 8 years ago using aniline dyes.
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  • Jez6345789Jez6345789 Frets: 1756
    I have a collection of oil analine dye powders I bought on my last US trip trying to find a red that fades like old 50's les Pauls and from my testing so far they all have come up a lot more fade resistant than I expected. Good in one sense but less good for the les Paul project. Think Bartlet on his build thread gave the wrong name ha ha.

    they are easy to use and mix well with oil, acetone, alcohol, anything except water. And a little goes a long way.. I also bout analine dye powder off an eBay seller in Orange and that stuff worked well and its easy to make up stock solutions from dye powder.
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  • DanielsguitarsDanielsguitars Frets: 3261
    edited May 2017 tFB Trader
    The red that fades is either from lmi or woodworker and the natural cherry fades as soon as you look at it

    Just remembered its mosers natural cherry, the lmi stuff is the same stuff just branded I think

    Virtually all the red went out of a burst i did within a couple of weeks and hardly any sun, did come out nice though 

    I did show the fading in a thread I did ages ago
    www.danielsguitars.co.uk
    (formerly customkits)
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