Help needed for understanding burning finish thing

[Sam Ray]

Sorry. I wasn't really sure whether to put this in the finishing your guitar forum or not, so I thought I'd be safe and put it here. The other thing is if anyone decides they don't like how this might look then I don't want to be rude, but I'm not building the bass for you. If I want to know whether you like it or not I'll ask.

I want to try building one of the RC-4 kits. I decided that I want it in some sort of natural finish, however I don't want just a regular MapleGlo looking Ric-styled bass. So I thought a burnt look might be thing. Frankly, I'm not gonna know if I like it without trying so I get that I could ruin the body and all that but it'll be fun to try. So if I want it to just sort of look like a natural bass that was in a fire and was rescued before it got completely charred, how would I do that? Can I do it without applying any sort of colour to it and maybe just put a clear coat or something over it? I'll be honest I really have no idea where to start except I'll need the body and hot stuff (possibly fire? ), so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you

[dave.king1]

Many years ago my cricket club had a award for "most bowled" for the season, it was a bat that I cut a big hole in with a hole saw and then scorched the edges with a propane torch.

It really did come up a treat and I see no reason why the same wouldn't work on any wooden object provided you go at it slowly and keep a damp rag handy.

A couple of my mates have done the same with signs.

The obvious rider here is that in each instance the wood was quite thick so in your case I'd go to the green shed and get some cheap ply about 4mm thick and perfect the skill first

[dingobass]

Above suggestions are good.
Another way is to get some gunpowder (you would have to have or know someone with a firearms licence) and use that....

There is a trade secret topic that covers this technique on the Stewmac.com website.

It looks awesome!

[Sam Ray]

Thanks guys. On other forums I've found you get a lot of people not answering questions and telling you that you suck and your ideas are horrible. It's nice to know this forum won't be like that . @dave.king1 did it come up like Jimi's strat turned into charcoal kinda thing or just like a light sort of smoky look in the wood?

[dave.king1]

G'day Sam,

Because of the humour involved I absolutely toasted it on the edges but the effect tapered away to the natural finish, sort of burst like.

As I said it works but get some thin cheap timber with similar properties to trial and perfect before attacking the body, also remember Jimi's Strat was a solid body and he used lighter fluid as the accelerant.

Back in the early 70s fire was a common part of the stage act and we used lighter fluid on our ( heavy ) woollen clothing because it's the vapours that burn as it evaporates off the garment leaving the garment and wearer basically untouched.

Don't try this at home kiddies

[Sam Ray]

I love the use of 'we'... Would pine be ok if I was practicing to do it on one of the ash RC-4s??? I have access to a fair pit of pine so I'd rather use that than buy small bits of something else

[keloooe]

Sam, based on DB's post, you can finely grind some matchstick heads and use that but BE CAREFUL it is EXTREMELY dangerous, it is more dangerous than the standard home brew mix for gunpowder....

By the way it is called Armstrong's Mixture.

[dingobass]

You are a pyro, Pest....

[dingobass]

Sam, we are one big happy family here...
You will never have to worry about being called names or being told your ideas suck

[keloooe]

You are a pyro, Pest....

*evil pyro grin*

DB is correct Sam, we are all here to help, there has never been an incident of anyone calling another member names, we treat each other like a big family, none of us are here to cause any trouble!