Les Paul Build - Part 10

Color the Body

In order to better match the finish on the top, as well as add color to the pale mahogany body, I decided to color the mahogany with a dye stain. Using Transtint Liquid Dyes with water, I mixed 1 part Red Mahogany and 1 part Red with 16 parts water. I applied the dye to the mahogany with a cotton cloth. Once I acheived an even coat, I let it dry for several hours. Unfortunatly, the dye would not absorb into the wood in the area near the horn where the binding was repaired. I went back and sanded and scraped the area more carefully to ensure that I removed all of the binding repair glue from the wood. I double checked the area by wiping it with mineral spirits and checking for variations in the surface.

After I was satisfied with the rework, I mixed another batch of dye and attempted to re-color the repaired area. The area now accepted the dye, but it was necessary to go over the entire body again because the new batch of dye was slightly different in color. As you can see in the picture, the dye does not color the pores of the wood. Generally, these can be colored with a pore filler, or an oil stain.

Guitar with Mahogany Dyed

Body with Mahogany Dyed

After letting the dye dry for a few more hours, I applied the grain filler. For the grain filler, I went with a mixture of boiled linseed oil and 4F pumice. To start, I coat the mahogany with oil and sprinkle pumice on one section at a time. After adding a little more oil, I worked the pumice/oil mixture into the pores with a cotton cloth. Once the pores are filled, I use a clean cloth to wipe away the excess mixture. The mixture of pumice and oil, as well as some sawdust that is generated by the pumice, will take about 72 hours to cure in the pores and will appear translucent when finished. This method gives a very natural looking filled finish.

Due the sides changing from end grain to long grain and back to end grain, the mahogany came out with a dark color variations. These could have been evened out had a I spent a lot more time sanding the sides. However, I decided that the variations give the mahogany an aged look, so I'm going to accept it as my design intent (I made the rules, so I can break them too).



Coloring the Top

The maple on the top does not require grain filling due to the maple being a closed pore wood. In order to enhance the grain of the figured maple, I began the coloring process using 1 part black dye to 6 parts water. Since dye absorbs into end grain deeper than the face grain, I can sand back the black dye and it will only remain in the figure of the maple (which happens to be end grain).

Top Dyed Black

I used 150 grit paper on my random orbit sander to remove most of the dye. Once the majority of the dye was removed, I switched to 220 grit paper and finished sanding. For the top color, I used the same colors and ratio as I did on the mahogany. My original intent was to finish the guitar without coloring it, but after seeing an example of a red dyed figured top, I couldn't resist.

Top Dyed Red

Next up, the burst and top coats...