# Spalted Maple Top Build - A Few Questions (Dyes, Finish & Necks)



## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

Hey everyone,

A little background - So I'm in the process of building my first guitar. I picked up a killer spalted maple top (basswood back) from Spaltkinguitars off Reverb. I'm planning on doing some wood burning to the back and cover it with a dark brown dye from TransTint. Currently I'm waiting for the body to arrive so I'm not 100% on the front.
Before I start ordering my dyes and finishes I wanted to clarify a few things.

For one I've never worked with spalted before, and I haven't been able to find much on Youtube regarding dyes on spalted, so has anyone worked with and dyed a spalted maple top? Any suggestions, tips?

With this build I was looking at going 1 of 2 ways -
Dye the front and back with TransTint dyes, then clear over top (Lacquer?). My question is what is the preferred way to seal in a dyed body? From what I understand Tru-Oil applied even a week later can still result in the dye bleeding. Is this true?

Another option I was looking at was just applying Tru-Oil over the entire body. I'd like to avoid this though as I'd really like to get a bit of colour with a satin-like finish. I have a Gibson Les Paul Tribute wth a "Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish" which I'd like to achieve. Is it as simple as buying the spray cans and going over top the dyed body? Any preferred brands or types of finishes?

Next up I'm looking at getting a neck. Now I'm not against finishing and setting up a neck myself, but I'm confused on how some are marketed. Specifically I'm looking at PST Guitars necks on Reverb. They give the impression these necks are finished and ready to bolt on. Is this ever the case or am I better off getting a quality Warmoth or Fender neck and doing the set up and finishing myself? It seems to be about $350-500 Canadian for these unfinished necks or about $650 for the PST Guitars "finished" necks - Not to mention the PST necks look much higher quality and are done in pretty exotic woods which would look amazing with the unique spalted body I have.
In your experiences where was the best value for a neck?


Other than that, any cool links to finished spalted maple top guitars would be appreciated, I love getting new cool ideas!

Thanks everyone and have a rockin' day!


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Au natural with spalted is alway nice, but I saw this the other day and really liked it...


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## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

And I almost went with a jag body. There was a nice kurt styled spalted top I saw on Reverb not long ago i hesitated on. I was looking up some purple spalted tops and this brings me back to my original concept for the guitar. What a beauty that is. 


Was going over some build details with a family member and this is just about what I'm trying to achieve I just want the colouring to be bit more subtle and "natural".

This build is inspired partly by a close family member - someone who was partial to old-school Washburn guitars and banjos. I want to incorporate my taste for colorful sunburst with the defined tone of a beautiful wood showing through if that makes sense.


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## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

For the record, here's something I'm drooling over. I just love that natural look with a touch of color and a black border. It's like the perfect burst


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

One thing, spalted and figured woods don't get along well in a planer. They tend to get a lot of tear-out. If you need to thickness your body, a thickness sander is a much better way to go.

And, if using dye directly on the wood, remember that softer parts of the maple will absorb more dye than harder parts of the maple. A better option is putting the dye into your clear lacquer or clear top coat.

Things like Tru-oil do bring out the beauty of the wood even more than just spray topcoat directly on the wood.

Welcome

Edit:
the guitar in the picture you posted was most likely done by using a light brown dye on the whole body, spraying a coat of sealer or top coat on the whole body, then going back with green dyed top coat with an air brush to do the burst. If you do the burst in dye, the colours will often run/sag when you spray on the top coat


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## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

Lincoln said:


> One thing, spalted and figured woods don't get along well in a planer. They tend to get a lot of tear-out. If you need to thickness your body, a thickness sander is a much better way to go.
> 
> And, if using dye directly on the wood, remember that softer parts of the maple will absorb more dye than harder parts of the maple. A better option is putting the dye into your clear lacquer or clear top coat.
> 
> ...


Luckily the body is "paint ready". So regardless of what type of top coat I do I should expect the colours to run? Do some more than others?
Im not against the idea of Tru-Oil, I'd just love to get a slight burst effect underneath.
In my head Ive got the idea that I'd like to put down a layer of black or dark green dye (TransTint) and sand it back to bring out the "flame" in the wood then put down another layer around the edge to create a slight burst. Feather with naphtha, sand and coat with Tru-Oil. Is this possible? Or will the dye run to the center to the point it wont look good? What's a good recommendation for a "clear coat" or "sealer" to someone who'd like to give a spalted maple top a slight dye?

I've attached some pics of what I'm aiming for more or less. 

Thanks and rock on!


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## Mikev7305 (Jan 6, 2020)

sulphur said:


> Au natural with spalted is alway nice, but I saw this the other day and really liked it...


WOW! man that guitar is another level


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Mikev7305 said:


> WOW! man that guitar is another level


That's a G&L Doheny.


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## Mikev7305 (Jan 6, 2020)

To the OP, I am very much a novice when it comes to wood finishing, but I did experiment a lot in the last year with dyes. I was using it then on a mahogany body and neck mainly, and on various pine and poplar wood crafts.

I never found a way for the dye to stay in tact with any kind of rubbed clear coat. I tried wipe on poly, brush on poly, a couple different water based clear coats, danish oil, probably a couple others, and all of them wiped away varying amounts of the dye. 

I think the only way to finish a dyed body is to spray it. Maybe there is a sealer you can spray on it to seal the dye, then continue with whatever rubbed/brushed on finish you'd like? 

Again I am still quite green with this stuff. And if there's a way to maintain the dye colouring and still have a rubbed oil finish, I'm all ears.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

SaxDrumsNRockNRoll said:


> Luckily the body is "paint ready". So regardless of what type of top coat I do I should expect the colours to run? Do some more than others?
> Im not against the idea of Tru-Oil, I'd just love to get a slight burst effect underneath.
> In my head Ive got the idea that I'd like to put down a layer of black or dark green dye (TransTint) and sand it back to bring out the "flame" in the wood then put down another layer around the edge to create a slight burst. Feather with naphtha, sand and coat with Tru-Oil. Is this possible? Or will the dye run to the center to the point it wont look good? What's a good recommendation for a "clear coat" or "sealer" to someone who'd like to give a spalted maple top a slight dye?
> 
> ...


Yes, you can do your dark dye base on the whole front or whole body, sand it down, and then spray your burst in dye using an air brush. Once the first/base colour is soaked in/dried/sanded, it won't run when the burst is applied. I tint with dye in alcohol, it evaporates fast and doesn't raise the grain like water does. Putting water on wood is playing with fire, you never know what direction it will go (the wood, not the water). 

I like using lacquer as a top coat because each new coat burns into the coat before it, bonds, levels, and makes pretty. I use a water base lacquer called Emtech EM6000 by Target Coatings. It works well, no fumes, and soap & water clean up. Available at Lee Valleys and Wood Essence in Canada. They make a sealer as well EM1000.
You can also tint the lacquer, but remember that each coat of tinted lacquer will make the guitar darker in colour.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

You can dye the spalted maple and then a sanding sealer to keep it in. 

This is pigment dye if you want to get crazy. Jump to 3 minutes in


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## gabriel.335 (Nov 26, 2020)

I had USCG build this body (mahogany, maple top) from a maple tree in my back yard. I just finished it in natural lacquer







.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)




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## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

Hey all, didn't wanna post without having the goods. So I ended up just doing nuts on the body and seeing what I can come up with. A few more sandings and I should have it where I want it.


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

I was given about a hundred Lee Valley Aniline dyes, if anyone is interested go on their website and pick your colour and I will send you some. I think it work great for this application!

Just hope I don't get busted for some "dust in a Baggie"


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## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

Going to let it dry at least a few days and I'll start applying the Tru-Oil.


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## Mikev7305 (Jan 6, 2020)

SaxDrumsNRockNRoll said:


> Going to let it dry at least a few days and I'll start applying the Tru-Oil.


I'm following along to see how the dye holds up after rubbing the tru oil on. I didn't have good luck in a similar situation. If it handles it fine I'd love to try my hand with dyes again, the colours you can get are incredible. It looks awesome by the way


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## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

Mikev7305 said:


> I'm following along to see how the dye holds up after rubbing the tru oil on. I didn't have good luck in a similar situation. If it handles it fine I'd love to try my hand with dyes again, the colours you can get are incredible. It looks awesome by the way


Thanks. I'm hoping by letting the dye dry a few days/weeks it won't bleed out as much. I also grabbed a can of dupli auto clear coat. I'm gonna see if I can spray on a coat of clear then do the Tru-Oil. 

I'm liking how it turned out so far. I don't normally like green and intended to do a purple at the start, but the spalting came through more than I thought and just couldn't resist. The Tru-Oil should give it a nice "aged" look.


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## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

Hey again everyone, so Ive spent the last few days dyeing the body. I put a few coats on the back and front yesterday and the night before. It was dry this morning but I didn't like how the edge turned out so I threw a few more coats on. I'll post up some pics once it's dry, hopefully later on today.

I'm looking at necks, pickups and loaded pickguards now. What's everyone's favourite suppliers for pickups? 
I'm trying to keep this build as "Canadian made" as possible and found MJS pickups. 
Anyone have any experience with them? If I snag the pickups from him I'll probably grab a matching spalted maple pickguard from the same guys I got my body from.


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

SaxDrumsNRockNRoll said:


> Hey again everyone, so Ive spent the last few days dyeing the body. I put a few coats on the back and front yesterday and the night before. It was dry this morning but I didn't like how the edge turned out so I threw a few more coats on. I'll post up some pics once it's dry, hopefully later on today.
> 
> I'm looking at necks, pickups and loaded pickguards now. What's everyone's favourite suppliers for pickups?
> I'm trying to keep this build as "Canadian made" as possible and found MJS pickups.
> ...


Looks great!
Mjs pickups are fantastic, Smitty is the s**t.
Seriously great dude winding awesome pickups.

There’s also vineham pickups (east coast) McNelly pickups (Ontario).
Pickup wizard (Ontario)

There are more but those guys I have personally dealt with and can highly recommend.

Nathan


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## SaxDrumsNRockNRoll (Jan 21, 2021)

nnieman said:


> Looks great!
> Mjs pickups are fantastic, Smitty is the s**t.
> Seriously great dude winding awesome pickups.
> 
> ...


Awesome, I actually just had a friend of mine text me some Vineham pickups he wanted to grab and down the rabbit hole I went. 

I'm honestly considering Vineham and MJS at this point. Vineham seems to be a bit more affordable so I may give them a try. I'm having a hard time choosing between the Black Strats and the 62 and 69's. 

I tend to play a wide variety of music, with this build intended more for stuff like Floyd, Cream/Clapton, The Eagles, and some miscellaneous blues (mostly BB and Albert King). I've got a Les Paul with humbuckers I like to use when I wanna get down and dirty (Sabbath, April Wine, Pat Travers).

Ahh decisions, decisions. I guess I'll just have to spend the next few days playing guitar and looking up pickups, oh what a shame!


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

You need to put a sanding sealer over the dye if you want it to stay there. 2 or 3 coats then whatever finish you want.


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