I wouldn't mind paying so much for stain, if I were sure about the outcome. I have mixed up a bunch of colors using cheap acrylic paints, none of which passed muster, particularly with my wife/unpaid fashion consultant. I am pretty sure that if I lived in Australia I'd have bought a Dingotone kit by now, but since Dingotone does not fly or swim, I am SOL on that score.
So... I made one more trip to the craft store. I bought four more shades of reddish acrylic craft paint. Tried all four on my last scrap of maple plywood (actually a router template for another project...and bingo! One of them actually looked good! It took 8-10 tries, and seven little bottles of craft paint, but since all the bottles were under $1 apiece, even the errors did not break the bank.
When I finally got the one that my wife liked best, I stained the other side with it, and the result is above. There's glue and endgrain from a little piece that is laminated to the right side of the template, but rest came out nicely, I think. Grain shows through nicely, and it's a lovely burgundy color.
To get it, I mixed one part acrylic craft paint to two parts water, then rubbed it on doing my best to channel DB on youtube. I am sure there are better ways to do this, but I am actually pretty happy with how it came out. Will see how it looks with a topcoat. For anybody who wants to try this, if you can't read the bottle, it's Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint, and the color is "11039 Wine."
Only 8 months later, I am ready to color the beast. I am really nervous about this. The good news is that my test piece is the same color now as it was when I took this pic. I tru-oiled it, and it still looks good. The bad news is that I am nervous about doing the guitar... Wish me luck!
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by fender3x
