How can you lighten a dark brown finish safely?

Sands

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How can you lighten a dark brown finish safely? And properly?

I have a 71 D-25 BR. The top and sides are nicely grained, but the finish is so dark, it’s hard to see. The top has been cleaned.
 

davismanLV

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I'll assume it's all mahogany, but either way, the only way they get the BR (brown color) is by staining the lacquer. If the stain is in the lacquer (or even if it's on the wood) the only way to change that is to refinish the guitar. Most mahogany is anywhere from light tan to medium reddish brown. That whole dark reddish brown is a human concoction for mahogany. So you'd have to strip the guitar and refinish it.

I think I'd learn to live with it unless the finish is seriously messed up.

Sun will bleach color slowly over time but you can't leave a guitar in direct sunlight because it will heat up and damage a lot of your glue joints.
 

mavuser

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Sun will bleach color slowly over time but you can't leave a guitar in direct sunlight because it will heat up and damage a lot of your glue joints.

^exactly^

however, if u bring the guitar out in the morning sun on a bright and clear day (10-10:30 am), with the sun behind u and the camera (your back to the east and your face to the west), and the guitar in front of u facing you (front of the guitar facing east), you may be happy with what you see at that angle of sunlight (like i was this morning with the photos i posted). These finishes are tinted, and change with every refraction of light. either u move, the guitar moves, or the sun/lights/(clouds) move. or a combination of sun and lighting...the guitars never really look the same (unless it never leaves a basement studio etc.)

as ive posted before, this is a guitar to accept it the way it is, and ultimately decide if it is a keeper or not, in its original state.
 

Default

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You could always buy it a membership to a tanning salon!

Actually, if you get a tanning bulb and build a light box, that might just do it.
 

SFIV1967

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How can you lighten a dark brown finish safely?
Impossible if you ask me.

I'll assume it's all mahogany, but either way, the only way they get the BR (brown color) is by staining the lacquer. So you'd have to strip the guitar and refinish it.
No Tom, the grain filler is already heavily stained! So the bare wood is colored, not only the lacquer! Go to minute 26:00 and watch until 28:13 and you will see what I mean, here it is a rosewood guitar but it is the same for a mahogany guitar.

https://youtu.be/UVVTSuC-01k?t=26m00s

Ralf
 

richardp69

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Although cosmetics and looks are somewhat important to me, the real deal is the sound/tone. If you like what you hear soundwise just leave it alone.
 

Sands

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Well I guess it will continue to lighten over time. I’m not getting a tanning bed, tanning bed light, or leaving it in the sun. I would consider trying a UV bulb, if there was some indication that might help. It just needs a little help. The grain is just short of right there.
 

davismanLV

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Ralf, I was pretty sure that was the case, but just covering my bases here. Thanks for the vid. It's a great review of the finishing process. I know some makers are skipping the heavy filling step but if you want that mirror like finish, it's the only way to go without putting a TON of lacquer on which is gonna smother the sound.

Great share, Ralf!! :encouragement:
 

merlin6666

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I had friends who had bleach in spray bottles which they used on clothes and other things to lighten colours. I wouldn't use that on a guitar though.
 

Default

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Well I guess it will continue to lighten over time. I’m not getting a tanning bed, tanning bed light, or leaving it in the sun. I would consider trying a UV bulb, if there was some indication that might help. It just needs a little help. The grain is just short of right there.

Tanning bulbs are UV bulbs, iirc. My dad built a light boX to treat his psiriasis (sp).
 
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GardMan

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Here's a small example of what prolonged exposure to sunlight can have on the color of a Guild stained mahogany guitar...

The headstock of my D-35, sans TRC. Note the difference in color... Most of this results from the five years I lived in San Francisco, when my D-35 lived in front of a west facing picture window, and got afternoon and evening sun (not in the summer, when it was foggy).

132043259.jpg


The back shows comparable bleaching... but I am too embarrassed to show a pic (I have never taken one). For you see, the chair I leaned it against shaded the lower bout from the sun... so the upper bout is a pretty, golden mahogany color, while the lower bout still has the deep, port-wine color of Guilds stain. At least you can see I had the TRC on upside right!
 

adorshki

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For you see, the chair I leaned it against shaded the lower bout from the sun... so the upper bout is a pretty, golden mahogany color, while the lower bout still has the deep, port-wine color of Guilds stain.
Think of it as a bikini line.
:biggrin-new:

And for our OP it IS the UV in sunlight that does this.
So a tanning/ UV lamp would work but have no idea how long it'd take.
 
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