Stupid questions - no. 4,375 in an occasional series

So I bought this body, right, with the intention of doing it in a certain colour. To cut a long story short, I'm thinking of oiling it instead.

image

Here's my question.

While the makers did a great job of matching the grain patterns of the two bits of swamp ash, as you can see, the shades are very different indeed. And yes, that's how it looks, it's not the photo.

So if I oil it, that shading simply isn't going to disappear, is it? I mean, the oil won't stain it sufficiently to hide the difference, will it?

I'm thinking not, but I have a childish, naive hope that I'm wrong.

I'm going to have to paint it, aren't I?
If you must have sex with a frog, wear a condom. If you want the frog to have fun, rib it.
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Comments

  • RoxRox Frets: 2147
    ...sadly, yes... or, you could give it GT40 racing stripes.  :)  Unless you stained it a REALLY dark colour.. it wouldn't be so noticeable...?
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    I can vaguely remember someone using some kind of wood lightener on here for a project. 
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547

    Rustins do wood bleach which can help, although you may still end up with a colour difference so its hardly fool proof.  Its a two part solution, Part A draws all the colour out and makes it quite dark, Part B removes it all

    damp the grain a bit.  all wood darkens once a finish is applied and they may be much closer in colour once finished.  I doubt it, but i would check before giving in on a solid finish.  If your planning on oiling or lacquering you can wipe down with white spirit  or thinners which will give you a good idea of the natural colour (a tone or two darker but a good indication).   Don't do this if planning to use a wudtone finishes.

     

    Also, it still looks nice so i wouldn't loose sleep about a bit of colour difference anyway.  if you went for a colour on top of the wood rather than a stain or natural oil then most of the colour diffence would be hidden

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  • TheOtherDennisTheOtherDennis Frets: 2010
    edited August 2014

    WezV said:

    Also, it still looks nice so i wouldn't loose sleep about a bit of colour difference anyway.  if you went for a colour on top of the wood rather than a stain or natural oil then most of the colour diffence would be hidden

    Which is why I was thinking I'd need a colour, to hide the difference in tones. Ah well.

    Ta for your views, gents. :)
    If you must have sex with a frog, wear a condom. If you want the frog to have fun, rib it.
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  • jd0272jd0272 Frets: 3867
    Difference will make it stand out a bit from the norm, which quite appeals to me. A nice 2TSB. Yum.

    Why not sell it and buy another un?
    "You do all the 'widdly widdly' bits, and just leave the hard stuff to me."
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  • TheOtherDennisTheOtherDennis Frets: 2010
    edited August 2014
    Because basically I was going to use Wudtone to make it a specific colour which, it turns out, Andy doesn't currently do. He's happy to let me have whatever I need to try to mix the colour myself, but as I'm not usually successful when it comes to experimentation, I've decided against.

    So rather than wonder how to get a shiny finish on my original choice of colour (see original thread from a couple of weeks ago), I thought the easiest thing would have been to oil it, but of course then I remembered how mismatched the tones of the bits were. Put a colour over them and it's irrelevant, which I knew all along, I was just hoping against expectation that I'd be able to get away with oiling it instead.

    Looks like it's a colour job, then. I might go back to Andy after all, give it a go on one of the cavities to see how it looks first.

    And I'm not sure the hassle and expense of selling it is worth it, tbh. It's a lovely bit of wood to hold, it's just a bit two-tone is all.


    If you must have sex with a frog, wear a condom. If you want the frog to have fun, rib it.
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  • martmart Frets: 5205
    This looks similar to the Lucy project that @DannyP was working on. 
    Read the fifth post down on this page and then follow his progress:

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  • imaloneimalone Frets: 748
    You could of course use something like liberon water based dye and then oil over it. There are people on ebay who sell the individual colours if you don't want to do a whole set. There's also something called liming wax, which sounds intriguing (and I haven't tried), maybe not if you're still after a shiny finish, but would opaque it a bit which would help level out the contrast of the woods while keeping the grain.
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