What did we do wrong?

Hey guys, I bought my Dad a kit bass and this Dingotone body finish as a project for him to do.
He followed the tutorials on the youtube channel on how to apply the finish.
He said he did the stain 4 times, the intensifying coat 3 times, and the final coat twice.
I've attached 3 photos, the first one from late February, the 2nd from mid-March, and the last one is from a couple of days ago.
The colour has pretty much vanished completely, we were just wondering if there's something he should have done differently, or if the body finish kit was maybe faulty or something?

Attachment 44143Attachment 44144Attachment 44145

late Feb - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...1&d=1679985325
mid-march - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...1&d=1679985325
24th march - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...1&d=1679985325

I used Dingo Tone on my first kit build.

I won't use it again. I gave me all sorts of problems. My Bondi Blue guitar is now an Olive Green. The final coat just would not cure and left the guitar all tacky.

Looking at your pictures I suspect you have not let the first coat cure properly. When the final coat was applied, did the applicating cloth bring up the colour?

I can't get Dingotone here in the US, but there are a lot of warnings about it on this forum. You should probably do a quick search...or look for an alternative since you are not the only ones to get bad results. FWIW I have had good luck with General Finishes Dye Stains that are pre-mixed and water based, but they are pricey and I think folks have been getting good results with other stains water and alcohol based stains.

I too had problems with Dingotone on my Gretsch kit. I eventually sanded it back and rattle-canned several coats of green. On later kits I ended up using Feast & Watson stains instead.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by miketoehider

Hey guys, I bought my Dad a kit bass and this Dingotone body finish as a project for him to do.
He followed the tutorials on the youtube channel on how to apply the finish.
He said he did the stain 4 times, the intensifying coat 3 times, and the final coat twice.
I've attached 3 photos, the first one from late February, the 2nd from mid-March, and the last one is from a couple of days ago.
The colour has pretty much vanished completely, we were just wondering if there's something he should have done differently, or if the body finish kit was maybe faulty or something?

Attachment 44143Attachment 44144Attachment 44145

late Feb - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...1&d=1679985325
mid-march - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...1&d=1679985325
24th march - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...1&d=1679985325

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The loss in colour here is disappointing and very frustrating. I would send an email to PB about this, and see what they recommend.

There are a number of other options for blue stains in Australia. But I would sand it all back and start again!