Ok to dye bare slots in nitro finish?

[jjasilli]

I've got a maple guitar neck finished in opaque black nitro from thr 70's.  The nitro finish is worn through in spots to bare wood.  Can I safely dye these spots without harming the surrounding nitro?

[acheld]

Sure, but why?   What are you trying to accomplish?

Unless they are small scratches, it will be very tough to match your finish.   An accomplished touch up painter could probably do this, but most of us can't.

Pictures?

[jjasilli]

Here's a photo.  I want to make the bare spots black.

[acheld]

Yeah, that's not purdy.   But it IS honest wear and tear.

I don't think you could easily match the finish by just touching up the worn areas -- it could easily look worse, IMO.

I suppose you could try airbrushing some black lacquer onto the worn areas, wiping it off in between coats -- with the purpose of reducing the contrast between the black and the worn ?maple.    This procedure would require some confidence on your end.    It's a method of blending finishes, and I'm not describing it well.

You know, I've seen guitars purposefully relic'd looking like this.    Not my cup of coffee, but some folks really like this stuff.

Maybe just live with it and celebrate the longevity of the instrument?

[jjasilli]

I'm on the 3rd coat of Fiebing's Dye.  It's black leather dye which I happen to have on hand.  So far it's darkening the maple & not harming the surrounding nitro finish. 


I don't have an air brush & have never used one. Good idea, but hopefully the dye will be good enough. 


If it were a mahogany neck I might not mind the relic'd look.  But for me the bare maple looks too garish against the surrounding black finish.

[acheld]

Cool! 

I've been using Rubio Monocoat products for the past year, and really like them.  But very different than what I've done in the past.

I just can't use lacquers much -- it's too humid most of the time outdoors, and too toxic to spray in the house.

[jjasilli]

The dye worked pretty good to color the areas of bare wood.  I was hoping that would be a good enough cure.  But the edges of the nitro finish are brittle with a tendency to flake-off exposing more bare wood; rinse & repeat.  Looks like I need to seal the edges of the nitro finish around the dyed wood.  Not sure how best to do that.  Maybe your idea to spray with nitro is the answer.

[acheld]

I think it's pretty safe to do that.  Clear or black. The new lacquer will dissolve the old. 

Light coats!  You can do several coats per day.  Stewmac lacquer is very good, but there are others.  None are cheap.

Once you're happy with the color, let it sit for a week, and then you can use 0000 steel wool to bring the finish close to the old satin finish?   Lacquer really is not totally cured for > month.

You're aiming for "good enough," not perfect.

[rake]

You could wick some #10 thin superglue around the edges of the nitro to secure it down.
Maple is close pored so it will only accept so much stain. You could try adding the black dye right to some nitro and use that for touchup even if you brushed it on.
I had to do a repair on a black LP Menace that the robot vacuum decided to drag around the den and snap the headstock. Let's just say I made one scared wife very happy. SSSHHHH! I don't think she told her hubby yet that the vacuum beat up his baby! 

[jjasilli]

The area to refinish is long and narrow, along a curved surface.  If it were a spot refinish I'd be more comfortable with using superglue; but I'm concerned it may run all over the place.  The dye actually worked well.  I'm going on vacation for a week.  Will return to this when I get back.


When hubby finds about his headstock it may no longer be just nature that abhors a vacuum!

[acheld]

Don't use superglue.   Very difficult to deal with runs, and it (the thin stuff) will run.

Good thing about lacquer is that the new will melt into the old.  And if you make a huge goof, you can touch it up with "blush" lacquer, or sand it away easily to start over.

The damaged neck finish will not be an easy process, I suspect.

[G._Hoffman]

I've got a maple guitar neck finished in opaque black nitro from thr 70's.  The nitro finish is worn through in spots to bare wood.  Can I safely dye these spots without harming the surrounding nitro?

Depends on the solvent for the dye, but most of them should be OK.  Without a clearcoat, though, they won't be very robust.

[G._Hoffman]

I'm on the 3rd coat of Fiebing's Dye.  It's black leather dye which I happen to have on hand.  So far it's darkening the maple & not harming the surrounding nitro finish. 


I don't have an air brush & have never used one. Good idea, but hopefully the dye will be good enough. 


If it were a mahogany neck I might not mind the relic'd look.  But for me the bare maple looks too garish against the surrounding black finish.

Fiebing's shouldn't cause any damage, and should be more robust than some (we use it to dye ebony fingerboards for weirdos who don't like the cool stripey ebony).

[G._Hoffman]

Don't use superglue.   Very difficult to deal with runs, and it (the thin stuff) will run.

Good thing about lacquer is that the new will melt into the old.  And if you make a huge goof, you can touch it up with "blush" lacquer, or sand it away easily to start over.

The damaged neck finish will not be an easy process, I suspect.

Cyanoacrylate is great for a lot of different finish repairs, though Super Glue (the brand) is crap as it has a ton of acetone as a solvent.  I use a lot of GlueBoost Fil`n`Finish, which is designed for finish repairs.  I do try to avoid it with lacquer repairs, though, as it looks awful if you ever try to put lacquer over it in the future.  It's amazing for repairing polyesters and polyurethanes. 

[rake]

I've been switching to GluBoost. Not sure if Stewmac is phasing their brand out or not!
When working with any thin CA glue a whip tip is your friend! If it's running you're applying too much.

[G._Hoffman]

When working with any thin CA glue a whip tip is your friend!

Super fine tip Pipettes are better, I use both, depending on the situation, but almost always prefer pipettes when possible. 

[rake]

When working with any thin CA glue a whip tip is your friend!

Super fine tip Pipettes are better, I use both, depending on the situation, but almost always prefer pipettes when possible.

I too keep both in the shop and use both. Sad that we lost one major supplier (LMI) but there's always someone ready to step up!

[G._Hoffman]

When working with any thin CA glue a whip tip is your friend!

Super fine tip Pipettes are better, I use both, depending on the situation, but almost always prefer pipettes when possible.

I too keep both in the shop and use both. Sad that we lost one major supplier (LMI) but there's always someone ready to step up!

Here you go.  400 for the price of 30 from LMI.  They're the same ones.
Gabriel