# Mixing your own colours



## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

I want to try and shoot a Butterscotch Blond finish and I need to mix my own colours to get it. I have a receipe that I found on one of the vintage guitar sites and it sounds like a logical process, but it requires tinting clear lacquer to get the desired effect. I've used StewMac stuff in the past for different projects and liked the results. For this project I'll need 4 different tints and at @ $20.00 each plus shipping/duty/taxes it doesn't seem very economical (considering I only need a couple of drops from each).

So I was looking at the Wood Essence site and found this product and wondered if anyone has used it and what their thoughts were about it, Mixol Pigments:

https://www.woodessence.com/Mixol-Pigment-Individual-Bottles-P50C11.aspx

It's very economical at $5.50 CAD per bottle and even better, it's a Canadian company!


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Butterscotch blond is the toughest color to get right i was told.. I wish you good luck. If for some reason you don't get the result you need. i have a few extra reranch Cans for sale. not cheap, specialy shipping. but they are right on the nose.


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

i have not tryed there dye. but the next time i need any thats where i was going to buy it they real good to deal with.this is what im currently using 
Aniline Dyes Alcohol Soluble - Information and Pricing at LMI
it mixes with lacquer works good the only thing that pissed me off was the shipping cost just so much as the dye


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

I might check that out also. I'll be down in the U.S. visiting my sister who lives there. The shipping can't be that much inside the U.S.A.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

al3d said:


> i have a few extra reranch Cans for sale.


Darn, wish I had known that about a month ago. I tried to blend my own butterscotch for a swamp ash tele it was a
disaster. So bad I ended up painting it a solid colour over top.


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

al3d said:


> Butterscotch blond is the toughest color to get right i was told.. I wish you good luck. If for some reason you don't get the result you need. i have a few extra reranch Cans for sale. not cheap, specialy shipping. but they are right on the nose.


Thanks Al3d, but I want to try this without using a spray can. If I can get it right I'll be able to more than 1 guitar. Many thanks


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

are you trying to get a transparent or solid color ?...if solid this might help 
http://www.guitarscanada.com/guitar-building/15182-lacquer-queston.html
i believe Marty added a small amount of white oil paint (i think it was oil paint) to the transparent lacquer to give it a opaque solid color


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## bevins (Mar 4, 2010)

Lee Valley has aniline dye not too bad on prices and the shipping won't kill you as it is in Canada.


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

the aniline dye lee valley sells is great i use it for all my coloring bare wood but for tinting lacquer it wont work i wish they sell it i buy a bunch of stuff from lee valley every year


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## Shepherd (Nov 20, 2008)

I've used the Mixol, #5 & 25 with a touch of brown & red, to get BSB. It works well but you have to be careful, because it is a pigment it will cover the grain if you apply too many coats. I used to apply a couple of coats to slightly obscure the grain and then finish it off with NGR dyes from Mohawk. Now I just use the white as a whitewash first coat then go the dyes. Works great and you can go from a closet classic to a bar room brawler shade very easily.


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

Thanks Shepard. That's very similar to the process I found. White wash first coat and then yellow/red/brown in different proportions - and most important - TEST on a scrape piece of wood first!


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