Quick question

[faniez]

Quick question.
How can i achieve this color? saw it on a bass online and im interested in making it in my bass. Thanks

Sorry for the bad english.

 

[EricssonB]

Dark stain, sand it and then a clear coat, says my novice-level of carpentry.


Differences in grain density make for differences in absorption and thus the high-contrast stain; inconsistent.

Not all woods will do it.

 

[Big B.]

Dark stain is part of it but it appears to have been scorched with a blowtorch prior to staining/finishing.

 

[EricssonB]

Dark stain is part of it but it appears to have been scorched with a blowtorch prior to staining/finishing.

Hot damn I never considered that. That'd make for a rad-looking neck.

 

[faniez]

Thanks, gonna try it soon.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I'd caution you about trying to do a genuine scorched finish, unless you've done some serious practicing on scrap. The temperature required to scorch the wood will probably cause any nearby glue to let go. And many of the fillers will shrivel and curl up.

I suspect that body in the picture wasn't really torched. You can get that effect by coating the bare wood with black-tinted epoxy, pushing it down into the grain. Then you sand away most of the epoxy, leaving it in the grain, and leaving some "charred" patches. Then you apply the golden brown stain to color the areas between the black. Then clear coats.

I use a similar technique of filling the grain with black epoxy on my ash-bodied Basses. If I don't fully sand the epoxy off of the surface, I get that charred look.

 

[faniez]

I don´t feel confident enough to try the torch thing, first i´ll try with the dark stain. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Did you understand my description? Don't use a dark stain. That'll just make everything dark. Use a dark-tinted epoxy to fill the grain, sand it back to get the charred effect, then use a light colored stain to color the background.

 

[line6man]

That's done with a torch.
Gives this effect.

 

[line6man]

I'd caution you about trying to do a genuine scorched finish, unless you've done some serious practicing on scrap. The temperature required to scorch the wood will probably cause any nearby glue to let go. And many of the fillers will shrivel and curl up.

I wouldn't be worried about that. That's why you would start with a one-piece body.