Glenns STA-1

[wokkaboy]

wow that looks great Glenn, so that had the colortone diluted it must have been intense when straight out of the bottle !
At least it will go further.
Look like you may only need the one coat of blue or possibly one more light one, its hard to tell with a night photo

[GlennGP]

Yeah Wokka, I'll need to have a close look under daylight to make sure there are no little raw pores lurking in the finish, and also just check the general shade. However, the dilution with water was somewhere around colortone:water = 7:3 or 6:4. It was pretty brutal, but it completely worked, definitely assisted by the black stain/sand-back pre-treatment. I took it up to 420 grit with the sanding - may have to take it back a notch for the finish. Gotta say, though when I got a good swatch of colour on that body I just knew it was going to work. Great moments in guitar-building.

[wokkaboy]

good stuff Glenn, sounds like one more colortone coat can't hurt. I'll be ordering some colortone blue, love the colour ! Its certainly dark enough !

[Nickosaurus]

That first pass of stain/dye/colour is always the sweetest.

[GlennGP]

More adventures with blue colortone! So, the water-based method I've been using has, naturally, been raising the grain in the wood, so more sanding was required, meaning I'm having to anticipate regulating the shade through application of colour washes and sanding at this point. Last night I applied a second coat of roughly 50:50 colortone and water.



This arvo I sanded it back to acceptably smooth.



... and then I applied a water-heavy wash (30:70 or 40:60).



Probably be sanding again tomorrow, and then I'll see where we're at for smoothness and shade. (photos of the reverse following, same stages)

[GlennGP]

Here's the reverse, same stages. Second coat of stain-heavy wash:



... then sanded ...



... then water-heavy wash.

[wokkaboy]

looking good Glenn, you must have forearms the size of Popeye after all that sanding !

[AJ]

coming up a treat matey!

[GlennGP]

Hehe! The thighs of my khaki shorts are now fairly blue ... remind me to put a drop cloth on my lap next time I sand stained wood.

[gavinturner]

Looking great Glenn! Love that blue. I've got some colortone blue here that was a dismal failure when I used it, but you've given me heart to try again. Looks like multiple passes is definitely the way to go. Awesone work!

Cgeets,
Gav.