Advice wanted for Dingo Tone

[icooksey]

Hi, I am a new member. I am not a musician, but I am going to attempt to build a SG-1 from Pit Bull kit for my grand-son. He wants the whole body Karijini Red, but am worried the body is a very porous wood (basswood I think it is called) and I don't think it will be as easy as Ding Tone video makes out. Should I use some form of sealer before I start with the stain itself. I think the stain is going to show all the overlaps.???
Ian.

[Brendan]

SG1 is basswood. Basswood in general is a very flat wood - (think pine, but not yellow) as opposed to some of the ash woods (much more porous). As such I have never used a sealer on basswood before staining. Dingotone is surprisingly easy to apply - couple of suggestions though - work in the cooler parts of the day. Take your time, but keep working your edges.
In terms of absorbtion - the first coat will seem to be soaking up a lot of stain. This is normal. It might feel like its using a lot, but in reality its not using a much at all. For peace of mind, Dingotone was developed for Pitbull Guitars, so there should be plenty in a bottle. I often have enough for 1 1/2 - 2 guitars in a bottle of Dingotone - depending on how sparingly you use it.

[Raven]

Hi Brendan or anyone else,

I put three coats of Dingotone stain coat on an Ash body, allowing a few days to dry between each coat. I ended up with some spots that didn't blend/merge fully. I'm wondering if I have to sand and start over again or if a fourth coat might help blend the overlap marks.

[Brendan]

Hi Brendan or anyone else,

I put three coats of Dingotone stain coat on an Ash body, allowing a few days to dry between each coat. I ended up with some spots that didn't blend/merge fully. I'm wondering if I have to sand and start over again or if a fourth coat might help blend the overlap marks.

Send us some pics - may be able to help.

[Tony]

I am in the middle of using Karijini red on my rcm12 build, neck and body. It's mahogany and I think basswood is of similar density/porousness. The only prep I did was a pretty basic sand and then I grain filled to get the grain to "pop" with the satin, but no sealing at all and it's come up very nicely. In terms of application it really is as easy as described and shown, you can see where the satin has "taken" and where you've missed, it doesn't dry on you immediately so you can dig in a little and get things very smooth and pro looking. Dig in! I'm at the intensity coat stage and the red is suddenly more prominent and more "flamey". Very satisfying

[Andy40]

Could be a number of things, as Brendan said, pics can help us decode the mystery

[Raven]

Pics as requested showing a few of the more visible/prominent uneven absorption problem spots.

Most of these occurred after coat 3 of basecoat/stain and were a consequence of either pooling or missed unblended overlaps when I moved from working outdoors to indoors to avoid overly bright light. Coat 3 seemed to take forever to dry (due to cool ambient temperature at the time ???) which might have contributed to the uneven absorption and pooling. Another contributing factor to some blotches might have been smearing from inadvertent contact with my gloves or the work bench when I flipped the body over to do the bottom side (I have since made a jig to hold the body clear of everything).

Paler stripe left of pic centre is actually from glue residue and most of this will be hidden by the scratch guard, but the central blotches won't be hidden.


Side pic shows a missed overlap.



More blotches towards tail.



In looking back over pics from previous coats some of my problems might relate to inconsistent application of filler - I put more onto end-grain and cross-grain areas than elsewhere.

Do I need to sand back to bare timber and start again or could a 4th coat help in some way ?
(I previously tried some selective spot sanding on blotches and overlaps but this was not precise enough and just seemed to tear off the whole finish).

[Brendan]

I've dropped a line to Dingobass to see if he has any ideas.

[dingobass]

Hi Raven.
Try giving the whole body a very light sand with 320 grit paper togive the surface some "tooth" and apply another coat of stain.
Hopefully that should even out the coverage.
If you run out of stain or intensifying coat, send me an email at the address on the instruction sheet and I will send you some more.

[Andy40]

Hi Raven,

DB is the expert but I have found that I sand to 240 grit when applying DT if I want a deeper colour. what colour is that, it looks like Nullarbor Ochre?