# Amber colour for Vintage necks



## wayne086 (Jan 22, 2010)

I aquired a 52 RI Tele,the frets on neck were replaced,but the finish was sanded off.I like the look but it gets filthy fast,I want to paint the neck to match the amber on the back of the neck.Any ideas whay I can use to match fenders colour?I was told in another thread where to pick up nitro,but clueless on the amber colour,visited the local hobby shops and couldn't find a match in laquer but did in Enamel,which wouldn't work,in my model building days I found out the hard way on how different paints react to one another.


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

I think the amber tint is added to your spray gun, isn't it? You'd probably have a hard time buying it in cans.

Seems like stewmac sells tinted stuff in cans (no surprise there):

ColorTone Tinted Aerosol Guitar Lacquer at Stewart-MacDonald

You could probably spray a coat or two of the tinted stuff, then switch over to a clear can of some other brand. Those colortone cans are expensive :0


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Reranch makes amber for neck..but getting it here is a bitch. When i'm out of reranch i use "light oak" nitro clear from RICHELIEU..identical almost. and then you clear coat it. one can you can make about 10 necks. and it's 8.95$

Colorant "Utra Classic" - M1000321 chez Quincaillerie Richelieu

U can also use their Amber one Colorant "Utra Classic" - M1000007 chez Quincaillerie Richelieu but it's a tade more orange on the side. but at those prices, order both cans and do some test and see which one you like better


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## wayne086 (Jan 22, 2010)

Thank You!!!


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

ive been using this-
ColorTone Concentrated Liquid Stain at Stewart-MacDonald

you can mix it with lacquer or oil- or you can mix with water or alcohol and brush it on.
i just mix with water, brush it on until the desired tint is reached, then clear coat-
i like this way, because you can play with the strength of the mixture to get the tint you want- 
i bought the one little bottle- done 5 necks, used it for some touchup repairs, and another forum member did a burst with it- bottle still about 80% full.

looks like this-


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## Shooting Star (Jan 18, 2010)

I just completed my very first project neck. I got it from Warmoth. It is a "telecaster" maple neck and fingerboard and I wanted it to look aged. I used aniline dye powder from Lee Valley Tools. I used the color called Honeytone Amber. It is water soluable. A little powder goes a long way. I just kept mixing it with water and testing it on a scrap piece of maple till I got the darkness I wanted. I applied it with a q-tip followed by wiping with a cloth as I went. It will raise the grain, so after the first application dried overnight, I lightly sanded the fuzz off and applied another coat. The stain brought the figure in the grain out very well. I then applied tru-oil for top coats (7 in total, I just did the last coat tonight). It turned out great. I have a 1984 squire strat and my new neck looks very much like the aged 25-year old maple neck on that guitar.

See the thread(s) on tru-oil which has good tips from Alain and Fraser on using it. I especially agree that you shouldn't rush applying the next coat and you should let each coat dry for a day or two before applying the next. I'll post some pics soon.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Shooting star, your first step were kinda futile...you can just tint the true oil for an easier finish..


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## Shooting Star (Jan 18, 2010)

al3d said:


> Shooting star, your first step were kinda futile...you can just tint the true oil for an easier finish..


I was wondering about doing it that way, but didn't know what kind of dye/pigment could be mixed with tru-oil, how much, where to get the right dye, etc. Also didn't know which tru-oil coats to mix it with, first, second, last, all?? So I went with a method I could understand instead......... color the wood till I liked it, then coat it. Turned out real good though. I could see saving time doing it with the tinted tru-oil but don't know how to do it. It would help me in finishing my walking sticks and canes as well as on any future guitar necks I might finish.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

You can die a small amout of true oil..that's how i do it. i do a few coats of tinted oil..once i get my result, i go to natural tru-oil. but don't forget, tru-oil has a already a lite amber tint in it as well.


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## Shooting Star (Jan 18, 2010)

I'm going to try that on some scrap maple tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.
(I should have added) What kind of dye or tint can be mixed with the tru-oil. What I have now is only good for water.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

ive mixed the stew mac colortone stuff with tru- oil, works great.
STEWMAC.COM : ColorTone Concentrated Liquid Stain
unfortunately, its the only thing ive mixed with tru-oil, so the only thing i know- lol.
it does work exactly as alain describes.


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