Tips on U-Beaut dye application?

Hey All,

Getting to the point with my GR-1SF build where I will apply the colour. I'm using U-Beaut water-based dye, which I've never used before. The instructions on their website are fairly general, so was wondering if anyone had some tips for me specifically for guitar use, along the lines of:

1. What's the best way to apply it - brush, sponge or rag? (or spray maybe?)
2. Slip slop slap or be frugal?
3. Should I apply it warm or cold?
4. Will it stain the binding? I know some plastics (nylon especially) are easily dyeable... so I guess is the binding used on the kits made from nylon or similar plastic?
5. When to sand or not? For example, after each coat or 2, 3, 4?

Anything else you can think of.

Cheers,

Pete

I've used Ubeaut stains for a while now. Love them. First thing is they are concentrated, so dilute them at least 1:1 water to stain (I usually end up at about 3:1 and get good coverage and vivid colours).

1. Rag works for me.
2. Work it in. Not too much in one go. I use a circular motion and try to keep each pass as even as possible.
3. Cold is fine. Never tried it hot.
4. Yes. Binding is usually ABS and will easily scrape or steel wool clean.
5. Sand up to 240 or a bit higher. Go over a few times with a damp rag to raise the grain and fine sand again. Then apply colour, then clear coat. No sanding in between colour and clear coat.

Depending on your mix and what colour you are trying achieve, you should only need one or two coats.

Oh, and if you are mixing colours to get a specific shade, progressively add only very small amounts of colour and write down every step so you end up with an accurate "recipe" for your colour mix. This means if you need to touch up later or you run out half way through you can achieve the same shade repeatably.

Thank you, kind sir. Was planning to try the dilution tomorrow, but 3:1 sounds like a good starting point. Will post the results in my build diary.

Cheers,

fP

If you want a fairly light shade you can dilute the U-Beaut dyes quite a lot and still get quite impressive results....

My ES-1TL build was done using concentrations of 100 drops into 75ml of ambient temp water on both the Blue and Green coats.
On my RCM-4F build the Purple is 25 drops of Blue and 50 drops of Red in 75ml of water mix, Then after sanding the Pink wash later was 40 drops of Red into 75ml of water.

I only use higher concentrations on the Red dye as thinner concentrations tend to come out Pink, and with Black which becomes Grey. All the other colours just go lighter/paler when thinned with water.

Marcel,

The dilution will give you a good single coat result. But, should you apply mutiple coats the colour will deepen.

Honestly...my finishing exploits have not been that good....But I am doing the pore filling at 120 grit....sand after at 180...and then do the nap lifting at 240...threee times normally. I NEVER SAND ANY FURTHER THAN THIS. The wood, especially the soft Basswood, goes shiny on the surface and it is very hard to get stain to take evenly after that.

So....get all your marks out at 120grit. Then pore fill...sometimes more than once...sand off to 180. Three nap lifting with damp rag and light 240 sand. Then as many coats of stain as you wish....normally I look at three.

First one is pretty intense.....a secret I found on YouTube....is to keep the stain moving....as in...wipe it on and keep it moving until it soaks in....don't let it sit as it forms tide marks. The second coat just a little lighter....but the same....keep it moving. You should notice that the colour is even across the wood, and the only variation will be the natural tones in the wood itself. The third coat will deepen the colour.....not just darken....but evens out the colour range and gives it more depth.

It is great stuff mate. :)

Also, when someone says 'stop at X grit' with sandpaper make sure it is fresh X grit paper. Over using a piece of sandpaper can end up polishing the wood even at lower grits. If I'm sanding up to say 240 grit I'll always make sure the last passes are done with a fresh piece of paper, just to be safe.

Just like wiping your bum. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Just like wiping your bum. ;)

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You wipe your bum with 240 grit? I don't know whether to be impressed or horrified!

Be impressed. Be very impressed. :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

Also, when someone says 'stop at X grit' with sandpaper make sure it is fresh X grit paper. Over using a piece of sandpaper can end up polishing the wood even at lower grits. If I'm sanding up to say 240 grit I'll always make sure the last passes are done with a fresh piece of paper, just to be safe.

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Fresh paper is best. A new or fresh piece every time you commence another sanding task.

A habit that I have also developed at all grit levels which works for me (as I typically work outside in the shade so I have lots of natural ventilation) is sand until the paper appears near "full" which often only takes anywhere between 10 to 30 seconds, and then hit both the paper and the work with compressed air to blow away the dust. Typically I use 100PSI. The result is I can see and therefore know exactly how far I have sanded on the work, and when I restart sanding there are nil bits of grit on my paper to cause weird scratch marks on the work. Sanding dust will fill any grooves or holes in the work thus obscuring what you have not sanded. Getting rid of that dust ASAP means you know exactly where you are on your sanding job.

As for the colour. You are so right there Ozzbike. Multiple applications of the same colour will intensify it and then deepen it, if that is what you want. Sometimes a particular work will refuse to accept a stain or dye, other jobs will soak it in like a thirsty sponge. Either way the beauty of using dyes and stains is with most like the U-Beaut range you can continue to rework them until you get the pattern or colour and/or depth that you want on that build. And typically when they are still wet from the dye or stain they will reasonably approximate how they will look once a clear coat is applied some days later over the top.

Simply for reference here is a Tele body where I used Yellow and Blue Keda powder dyes over a sanded body that was once stained with professional Rosewood coloured furniture stain. The grain in the middle appears Red, and the Blue over the Rosewood on the edge gave me Purple, so in effect by using only three colours I sorta got a Rainbow....