Home-made waterslide decals and Dingotone

[Leif]

Hi guys,
Has anyone made their own waterslide decals and used together with Dingotone stains on their guitars?
How'd you go about it?

Cheers,

Leif.

[Andy40]

Easy peasy Leif.

I do all the time.

I have a laser printer at home, used waterslide decal paper. printed my own design.

Obviously you prepare the neck and headstock with the usual standing.

I then stain with Dingotone stain with the requisite number of coats. because its oil based I then put the waterslide decal on before I put any type of finishing coat. My preference is to use Tru oil as a finishing coat because you can put enough layers on to wetsand down fairly flush.

[Andy40]

My latest

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[Leif]

Hey Andy,

Thanks for the reply.
Nice job.

So you reckon using just the Dingotone finishes would be insufficient?
Do you seal the ink with lacquer as I have seen in youtube vids?

I was hoping I wouldn't need to sand, lacquer, and use something other than Dingotone but it seems like it is necessary.

Have you tried the sticky tape method from youtube?

Cheers,

Leif.

[Bakersdozen]

I have tried the packing tape method. Works fine with a bit of patience and practice. But it's thicker than using waterslide, so more work to hide the outline under finish. ie more layers are needed to be built up before you can get everything flat.

I use that method on my TeleMaster build.

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...d.php?p=183194

[McCreed]

Do you seal the ink with lacquer as I have seen in youtube vids?

If it's inkjet printed, yes. Laser printer on laser waterslide paper, no.

[Simon Barden]

But it can help if you are having trouble applying the decal. Not all decal paper is the same, and whilst the thinner the better (as it gets hidden under a clear finish) the really thin stuff can be awkward to apply as it wants to fold over and stick to itself through surface tension as it comes off the backing sheet.

If the decal does fold, then often you'll get a crack in the ink which is visible and you have to remove the decal and start again. If this keeps happening, then applying a couple of layers of clear finish will help stiffen it keep it flat and pristine. But if you manage to apply it without any issues, then there's no need for applying some clear finish first (unless you really want to).

[Andy40]

Hey Andy,

Thanks for the reply.
Nice job.

So you reckon using just the Dingotone finishes would be insufficient?
Do you seal the ink with lacquer as I have seen in youtube vids?

I was hoping I wouldn't need to sand, lacquer, and use something other than Dingotone but it seems like it is necessary.

Have you tried the sticky tape method from youtube?

Cheers,

Leif.

Hi Leif,

thanks for the reply. I have not used any of those other methods.

I can say from experience with DT Neck finish that it is a very, very thin oil based coat. Its designed that way because Dingobass's preference was to get as thin and natural finish as possible.

So when you put the waterslide decal down, then apply the finish over the top there will be a step up from the headstock face to the face of the decal. When you wet sand you need to be very, very careful you do not take the finish off the edge of the waterslide decal and lift it or get water under there.....ask me how i know.

I just use the tru oil because its thicker and applying some coats then wet sanding and applying more coats will give a level finish, because I am anal, even though I know DB would be sneering at me, lol.

You can get the finish you would like from dingotone, you just need a lot of patience and be very careful.

[Leif]

I tried the sticky tape method and failed. The ink came off with the wet paper.
Anyway, went ahead and bought some waterslide paper and it worked very well.