ColorTone Aged Clear Nitro

I have an ST kit on the go with a mahogany neck/headstock. I've been looking at options to make it less dull than it is and I like the look of the ColorTone Aged Clear Nitro. StewMac sell it for $28 AUD (https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...uitar-lacquer/) but being an aerosol, I can't get it shipped here. I've found a couple of places in Aus that sell it, but it goes for about $100 a can. I was thinking along the lines of 2-3 coats of that, decals and then finish with normal clear nitro but at those prices it's a costly experiment.

I'm not sure how well a dye will penetrate the mahogany and I'm worried it will end up blotchy if I go down that road. I'm just after a subtle vintage aged kinda tint, not a solid colour. I found some cheaper stuff in Australia. Not exactly what I'm after, but maybe the amber might work - https://www.guitaraust.com.au/finish...eck-tints.html. However, they're out of stock.

Anybody happen to know where I might be able to get the ColorTone sprays without having to sell a kidney? Or perhaps alternate suggestions to achieve a similar effect?

What colour is the mahogany?
There is a broad range of "mahogany", and they than can vary in colour from a pale brown to quite a reddish brown.

Depending on the colour of the raw timber and what effect you're trying to achieve, you could apply blonde shellac which has a natural light amber tint, then spray a clear lacquer over that. There are also different coloured shellacs that can be more orange or even brown.

If you go with shellac, it wants to be dewaxed and you'll likely need to get shellac flakes (of your colour choice) and dissolve them in metho for application. The shellac can be applied by spray gun (if you have one) or wiped on by hand.

This is a mahogany neck of mine that is simply finished with Tru Oil. As you can see, it's got quite a red hue to it:
Attachment 41397

This is another mahogany neck that was a more pale natural colour and I dyed it with water based dye and clear coated with satin poly. It took the dye very evenly. The lighting makes it appear lighter in the middle, but it's very even IRL.
Attachment 41398

It is a very pale colour, much lighter than the mahogany body on my other kit. To be honest, I had to go back and double check the kit specs when I got it. But the grain does have some aspects to it that look like the mahogany body on that AG. I'm by no means a timber expert, however.

In checking that other kit, I realise now that the finish is much more even than I remembered. Think I was getting confused with yet another kit I was building at the same time which wasn't mahogany, it had a maple neck. I'm getting too old to be trying to do more than one thing at a time. That one ended up quite blotchy (yet another "I did that on purpose" finish).

So, maybe a real light dye is the way to go. Just a matter of trying to get the right colour and intensity. I'll have a small amount of off-cut to test with when I do the headstock.

I've always liked the idea of attempting a shellac, but just reading how to go about it has always had me believing I'll stuff it up so I never actually do it. I guess the beauty of a bolt-on neck is if it goes completely awry, can always just get a new neck and try again.

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I've always liked the idea of attempting a shellac, but just reading how to go about it has always had me believing I'll stuff it up so I never actually do it.

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Using shellac is really quite easy. If you're talking about doing a French Polish, that's a bit more involved, but not what I have proposed above. If applied by hand, it's really no different than doing a wipe-on poly or Tru Oil.
Initially it's just mixing the right ratio of shellac flake and alcohol to get the appropriate "cut" (consistency). Happy to provide more info if you're interested.

Not cheap at all, but those R&F sprays are what I've used for nitro amber tints in the past. Good sprays.

https://www.guitaraust.com.au/finish...eck-tints.html

Double the UK price, but you are paying the shipping/import costs. Note that there is nothing special about the 'neck tint' nitro. It's just standard tinted nitro packaged up for those who want to paint a body one colour and the neck another. So any tinted nitro will be suitable.

My two SG builds were mahogany and they took the heritage cherry spirit stain very well and evenly. Not sure how effective an amber stain would be on mahogany in terms of colour change though. Darker, yes, lighter, maybe nota lot. And even amber nitro probably wouldn't change the look that much. But for stain on mahogany I'd go spirit rather than water-based stain, as it does penetrate a bit further and probably more evenly IMO.

FWIW, I used U-Beaut water based dye on the mahogany neck in the pic above. No problems with blotching.

Attachment 41403

The colour is "Cedar" but it's quite a dark brown.

Thanks guys. I'd already stumbled across those R&F sprays, but they're out of stock of the amber at the moment. I'm only really after a subtle change in colour. Just this morning I've cut out the headstock so I have a couple of scrap pieces now to test on. I'm thinking of combing what I have left of the vintage amber with a few drops of the tobacco brown just to give it a little bit of a brown hue. Will experiment with a few combinations and see how it looks.