Scorched Sides Advice

[bdunne]

Hello all,

What, I at first, thought was just a little surface scorching on some blackwood sides after bending in my machine has turned out to be virtually all the way through, The scorching is only at the waist area of both sides. I have made a decent bit of progress on this build and don't want to abandon the work so far for what seems ultimately to be an aesthetic problem.

So now I am contemplating any cosmetic means I can use to hide or blend it. Has anyone been in this territory before and found a viable fix? I am thinking of simply staining the sides black, but if someone has some experience in this area I would appreciate their input.

Many thanks

Brian

[Jeremy D]

Pick up some fresh sides from Tim spittle?

[peter.coombe]

Take a break, then take deep breath and get some new sides and start again.

Peter

[Trevor Gore]

If you still have plenty of structure, you could try your hand at a 'burst. You'll need to figure out if you want the extra finishing work, though!

Some pics of one here.

[tippie53]

what was your bending procedure?

[bdunne]

Well, it was a long time to getting finished, but I decided to "dye" the sides black to hide the scorched area but still allow the grain and figure to show through. The end result didn't turn out too bad I thought.

I'll post some more in the gallery soon, but my photographic skills are severely lacking.

Brian

[kiwigeo]

Man that's something I would never have thought of....thinking outside the square. This has to be a serious contender for save of the year.

[charangohabsburg]

Looks great!

It reminds me bit on those sandwich-like cookies with chocolate

cookie-sandwich.jpg (19.59 KiB) Viewed 15146 times

It also reminds me on an occasion before my life as luthierie-addict when I commissioned some kind of guitarrilla to a Bolivian luthier and proposed a different wood for the sides than that of the back - because I liked how it would have looked. Unfortunately that luthier decidedly rejected the idea, saying that "things are not made that way" and that it would look bad. It was one of the first instances when I thought "oh well, I can make it like that if I find the time to make a guitar".

In any case I'm pretty sure that in a century or two this guitar will cause some serious head scratching amongst historians, which in the end will conclude that the sides were "baked" for acoustical reasons!

[kiwigeo]

Better fully baked than half baked!

[Trevor Gore]

Excellent save, Brian.

How did you do your "dying"?

[bdunne]

Hi Trevor,

I used the wood dyes from u Beaut. Basically followed their recommendations. Used a mixture of the Black Green dye and the Red dye, it penetrated very well. They recommend wetting the surface a couple of times to raise the grain and sand smooth before applying the dye to minimise the amount of sanding at the end.

Brian

[Trevor Gore]

Thanks for that, Brian. It certainly seems to have worked well. I've always fancied doing a black blackwood guitar!