Transparent clear coated mahogany

[neilli]

Guys,
I'm revising my soon to be placed custom shop order to be an XTRR inspired by Dan Spitz's trans black guitars (now owned by Rob Witte - bastard!! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]).

I really want to have mahogany wings with a 3/4 quilt top, as opposed to his having solid maple wings and the associated suble central stripe down the body: Can mahogany be painted trans black, or is it too coloured in it's natural state? I don't really want a black painted or mahogany coloured back as it's getting too far away from Spitz guitars, but I think all maple will sound too bright / thin (especially with the small body of an XTRR)

Any thoughts / ideas would be appreciated...

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

Mahogany can be painted as trans Black.
Only it will look VERY dark though.

All Maple would sound thin or Bright?
How did Dan Spitz sound like?

I have an idea.
How about Maple top, Mahogany in the middle and then again Maple back?
This way, it will look all maple from the front and back. only it will look funky from the side... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[toejam]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

Maybe if a black stain was rubbed into it, it would be better. That's what Gibson did with the limited "Vintage Mahogany" MF Les Paul worn/faded cherry Studios or the GC faded brown Studios (both body and top are mahogany on these models)... just rub the stain in and give it a matte satin finish. You could always put a high gloss finish over it instead of the satin.

[neilli]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

I had a rethink and I may go for Kornia as that seems to have similar tonal properties, but will (I imagine) take the trans black better.......

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

There is a Y2KV with Korina in trans Black.
Someone posted that in one of threads.

[xenophobe]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

I saw that YTKV... it just looked like a plain black guitar though...

if you're going trans-black, you'll want something that is contrasting, like figured wood of some sort to set it off. A darker wood like mahogany wouldn't really appear to be very trans-finished at all.

[neilli]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

My problem is that I don't want solid maple wings, a: because of the sound, and b: because of the cost!

Dinkyjacksonman's idea of a quilt maple / mahogany sandwich might work with solid coloured sides, but I have my doubts it'd look right without a burst which I want to avoid.

The alternative is that I go for mahogany body / quilt top and have the sides and back solid black, but I'd prefer to see the wood. It's a quandary.....

[xenophobe]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

Just go with a trans-black without the burst... it'll look better that way.... sort of...

[neilli]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

As far as I know, the Friedman KE1's had a solid black body behind the quilted top, so maybe that would be the way to go.

The frustrating thing is that I don't want to get too far away from Spitz's original guitar, but I have a feeling that if I got a true replica made, I'd love to look at it, but wouldn't want to play it because it would sound way too thin / bright!.....

[Hossman]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

I have seen some amazing figured mahogany - Rare. But to transblack it would be too much. Dinkyjacksonman's idea of a quilt maple / mahogany sandwich is something I have in the works now but not a V.

[Bengal65]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

Why not go with the mahogany back, maple top and the finish a trans black back and a white or (cream) binding along the top edge? Or, instead of binding a masked edge so it will show an all wood "maple" binding. Mahogany can be bleached somewhat before the Trans black is applied. Cheers! [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[neilli]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

Thanks for all your input guys - I'm going to take some time to consider all the options.
I don't think I want to go for binding on this guitar, as that's getting even further away from the Spitz guitars...bleaching may be an option though!

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

If you bleached mahogany wouldn't it look more or less like korina? Hossma's suggestion of looking for some figured mahogany is a good one. You might also think about having them use a very dark grain filler on korina to give the grain enough contrast to show through the trans black finish (or if you're felling really goofy you could do a red dyed grain filler ala the Gibson voodoo models).

[kruneh]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

I´d really like to see a pic of Spitz´s guitar.

[neilli]

Re: Transparent clear coated mahogany

Go to www.jacksonmuseum.com and the 2 that Rob has are listed as new additions to the museum at the bottom of the intro page.....to my eyes, one looks much nicer than the other.

JC has a Korina XTRR of his as well...