How to colour a bone nut?

[TonH]

Recently I made a nut for a P-bass of the 80's.

But the bone I used is very white.

How to colour the bone so it looks vintage?

 

[Duplo42]

Submerge into very strong coffee or tea? I did that with white plastic saddle - i lightly sanded it to get a bit rough surface - made a pot of VERY strong coffee (turkish-style coffee, like 7 teaspoons in 2dcl of boiled water, left it to cool down before putting in saddle of course) and left saddle inside overnight. Was satisfied enough, so l left it in for afternoon - it now has nice beige tint to it, nothing drastic but the artificial look was gone.

 

[TonH]

I was also thinking of coffee, so I will try that.

Thanks!!!

 

[Barnaby]

I was going to suggest coffee too. Freddy Gabrsek has used it to get a vintage look and he's a master luthier. Tea will do this too. Soaking too long can make bone pretty dark, however. I'd personally try for 5-10 minutes in a cup of black tea, then work up from there.

 

[Duplo42]

Cool, haven't tried black tea or using bone nut - it's surely different then plastic and gets tinted much faster.

 

[96tbird]

Bone, unlike plastic, is very porous so it'll soak up pigment quickly. Tea will work great.

 

[stuntbass77]

How would one do this if they already installed the bone nut (all but one of my basses have bone nuts). I don't want to remove them as they are in tight and I would rather paint them if it's the only way.

 

[96tbird]

Tan shoe polish.

 

[twoByFour]

In centuries past, tea was used as a dye, mainly for textiles.

 

[iiipopes]

Strong coffee. Hey, it works on my teeth, much to my dentist's dismay!