Masking the Plastic Edges Before I Dingo tone a Hollow Body

[Danielknoll]

Hi there

Do the nice plastic edges around the body need masking before dingo toning - or will the stain just wipe off. Many thanks

DK

[FrankenWashie]

Hi DK, welcome to the forum.

You will need to mask the bindings off else the stain may penetrate and micro cracks in the surface.

You can also carefully polish the bindings with 1200-2000 grit sand paper which can help prevent stain penetration, but it is advisable to mask them off before hand. ONce the stain penetrates, its pretty much there to stay.

[Brendan]

Agree with FW above.

[agus]

I typically go ahead and mask them with Frog Tape (not sure what the product equiv or if you have that in Aus) - but know going in I'll have to scrape the bindings to get that "POP" you want. I've done it both ways. With Frog tape - it just makes sense but I scrape 'em anyway to get a super-clean edge.

First time I scraped bindings, I watched all sorts of youtubes. When I started trying to do it with a super-sharp blade wrapped with tape, I thought "WAIT A MINUTE! I'VE DONE THIS BEFORE - I'VE GOT A TOOL!"

Long story - but I had to play English Horn (double-reed instrument) for a year and a half to get out of college and maintain my scholarship. I'm a sax player. So I bought a reed making kit, the damn English Horn reeds are expensive!

A Reed Knife is purpose built for scraping without cutting the crap out of your fingers. Sharp as F*** but it won't cut you when you grip the blade. In a brief email conversation with Leo at https://www.lospennatoguitars.com/ - he was unaware of reed knives, so perhaps this group is as well. (BTW! SUPER HIGH RECOMMEND HIS BOOKS - You'll learn a *lot*)

Should be able to find them at any woodwind supply store.

[RocknRolf]

https://www.lospennatoguitars.com/ -

Off topic, but his guitars look stunning!

[agus]

His books, IMHO that I just discovered this past week - are required reading for anybody in this passion. I look at my work at https://www.amarkinstruments.com (anything not painted is PBG) and I go "that's ! How I screwed that up."

[DarkMark]

At the risk of sounding OCD, on my 3rd guitar I;
1) Masked the purfling.
2) Stained.
3) Scraped the purfling.
4) Clear coated with a wipe on product twice.
...and here’s my contribution.
5) I scraped the purfling again. The wipe on clear coat may take up a little tint of colour, so the extra scrape really makes it look clean. By now the stain is locked in and doesn’t drag over the purfling anymore.