How to create a vintage amber stain ?

[donnyb]

Hi ,
I like restoring 70's Yamaha guitars, but have not found a very close vintage amber stain to add to the acrylic lacquer spraygun finish.

I use Dulux Prooftint stains, of which I have a lot of different colours. For amber, I mix yellow, (golden teak), red (maple) and a bit of brown, but usually end up with a colour that's either too yellow or orange. I guess I have just not got the right ratios or am missing a colour in the mix, but man, I have tried a lot.
The USA has vintage and medium amber solvent based stains, but wont ship to Australia due to flammability.

In the photo herewith of a FG151B 1979, the colour I'm after is the darker amber areas on the soundboard.

https://imgur.com/sTLoNpe

Hoping someone has mastered it, or can point me to a premixed amber stain that's available in Australia and most importantly, compatible with spraygun application acrylic lacquer.

Cheers and thanks for reading.

[asgilbert]

Hi Donnyb, I got some of Crimson Guitars in UK. It is water based.
https://www.crimsonguitars.com/products ... ng-stains/

[donnyb]

Thanks Blackwood.
I don't think water based will mix with acrylic or nitrocellulose lacquers though (?).

[56nortondomy]

Stewmac stains mix with water and lacquer, I've used it many times. Wayne

[matthew]

this is an old thread by now and you've probably solved your Amber problem but looking at the recipe you've described I would just be adding a touch of black.

each time you add brown to a mix to make it darker you're actually adding a bit of red, so it's very easy to go too red with a mix that's got red in it already. Black usually has a bit of blue in it which takes off the red and makes it darker.

i do a lot of colour matching and touch up with spirit stains. I can get 99% of the shades I want with these four tints.