My First Build: Which Red Is The Best Red?

[JohnathanL]

Hey guys!

Johnathan here. Novice woodworker and guitar builder Thank you all for helping us newbies.

So I've purcahsed my first kit for my birthday without any dyes coz I thought the Uluru & Karijini Red may not be quite what I was looking for. I’ve since been cracking my head trying to find a dye/stain that’s like a deep cherry red on a typical Gibson SG when I figured that it'll probably save me a tonne of time and money if I just go with the dingotone kit.

If any of you guys have used either or both these dyes, I'd love to know which one would be closest to the heritage cherry red here (https://www.guitaraust.com.au/catalo...86/image/3042/).

I'd also greatly appreciate any sample photos of your guitars with the Karijini and Uluru red finish + roughly how many coats you've put on.

THANK YOU!!!!

[Simon_B]

Dan_B's SG is a fantastic Cherry Red and inspired me https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...hlight=tumeric

I went Cherry Red, I got a small amount of Colortone Cherry Red from eBay pretty cheaply, I also got some mahogany to darken to a heritage red but didn't use it. I suspect people get standard bottles and split them up into smaller bottles and sell them. My red SG https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...?t=9879&page=2

Here's an example of the small ColorTone batches https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ColorTon...72.m2749.l2649

[JohnathanL]

Mate,

Super helpful!!

Thanks for that. I'll check em out!

[McCreed]

FWIW, I also bought Colortone Cherry Red from that same ebay seller.
It's important to note that he is selling "pre-diluted" Colortone. He buys the dye neat from Stew-Mac in the US, then dilutes it and resells in 50ml bottles.
I found it too weak to get a nice deep red I was looking for even after using the entire bottle and multiple coats (it was more pink than red). I ended going over it with U-Beaut Red, which I used neat and only used about 20ml. It is a TL-1A kit, ash body, grain filled with ebony Timbermate, dyed with then clear coated with DIY wipe-on poly.

This is my finished result:



I had an email exchange with the seller but I can't find it. He told me what his mixing ratio was (which did coincide with Stew-Mac's instructions) but it was still weak as piss. All I can think is someone along the line inadvertently over-diluted a batch.

[Simon_B]

Good heads up, my first coat was a bit pink but upped the concentration and got what I wanted. I guess you get what you pay for!

[JohnathanL]

That's roughly the colour I'm looking for really (slightly darker perhaps)! I got the AG With Mapel Flame. I'd like the grain to stand out a little but not as much as it does in yours. Do you think it's still necessary to ebony timbermate it?

Also, what did you use as the topcoat and how're you finding it?

Cheers, mate!

[JohnathanL]

How'd you up the concentration on those Colortone water-based dyes exactly? Do you mean you just put on multiple coats? Total noob here haha!

[Simon_B]

Not scientific at all. Just put drops in 30-40ml of water until it looked red, maybe 20-30.

Then did it again stronger

I did raise the grain first though, twice.

[JohnathanL]

Oh! I thought the colourtone dye was ALREADY diluted. You're saying you diluted it further? I liked what Dan_B did though, threw in some crimson red watercolour in his cherry-red colour tone and looks like he got a real nice colour to it.

[Simon Barden]

What kit have you got? The end colour will vary depending on the colour of the wood, so you'll get a darker finish on mahogany than you would on a light wood like basswood. The strength of the grain showing through will also depend almost entirely on the wood, though with something like mahogany, with lots of open pores but generally not a strong grain pattern, you can use a darker grain filler to highlight the pores and bring some interest to the finish.

I'd also advise against using DT (Dingotone) in Brisbane. DT was developed in Perth, and really is easiest to use in a cooler, less humid environment. From several years of reading posts on here about DT, if it's too warm and humid, and each coat can take weeks to dry fully (sometimes it's sooner but rarely much less than a week).