Can't get Colortone tint to dissolve in clear coat!

[Browny1010]

Hi, looking for advice. I have a Tele neck that has been stained and satin finished (one of those Chinese ones) but its too yellow. Looks like Daffy Duck's bill. I can't stain over it, and don't want to sand it off, so was planning to mix some Colortone dye, like the Vintage Amber, into a clear coat, and spray it a couple of times. However, the Colortone won't dissolve in wipe on poly (Feast & Watson) so I bought some acrylic and thinners from SuperCheap Auto (SCA brand), and tried dissolving the Colortone in the thinners. Still immiscible, so no joy either.

What would you suggest I try? Shellac flakes in metho? Once I get a decent colour, then I'll spray a hard poly over it, probably satin finish, for a better neck feel.

Any advice appreciated .. cheers.

[Rabbit]

With the colourtone I'm assuming it's pre-mixed. The stuff I have was premixed in water I think. Most of the stains are either in water or alcohol. Your idea of shellac in metho is probably your best bet with what you have. Another possibility is mixing it with a water based poly. In my case I use a water borne custom paint system that's poly based, and would mix in a dye based product known as a candy colour. There are also stained polys you can get, but they are usually timber tones. no toxic green or candy apple red in those lineups!

[Simon Barden]

You needed the basic Colortone tinting powder to do what you wanted to do. The liquid stain Colourtone looks to be alcohol/spirit based
(as it's flammable) so would work with a shellac mixture or just as a stain.

The Colortone range has changed since I last looked at it, as there used to be tints which mixed with everything. The universal tints are now from a 3rd-party, but this is the sort you need to mix with poly or acrylic clear coats.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...niversal-tints

You can get pigment powders on eBay or Amazon that will do the same thing.

To delete the duplicate post, go to edit post and there's a delete post option at the top of the page (at least using a web browser). Don't bother with a delete message, click the upper left box then the lower right 'delete post' box and that should do it.

[Browny1010]

Thanks Simon, I found that the Feast & Watson woodworking stains dissolve well in the SuperCheap Auto acrylic. So I've successfully sprayed several coats, using a mix of Old Baltic tone, and then added some black, and its darkened nicely. As usual I'm now not satisfied with this success, and am looking at how I can do some masking to create the "tiger banding" of the roasted necks with some additional coats Can't leave well enough alone . Thanks again, cheers.