Experience finishing Luthite?

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Josh Kern
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2014 1:55 am

Experience finishing Luthite?

Post by Josh Kern »

sanded down my old Ibanez Ergodyne EDB a few weeks ago and defretted the neck. Neck is filled, sanded, and finished and now it's time to finish the body. Does anybody have any experience finishing Luthite? I can find very little information online about the material, its porosity, etc. Some sources say that the material mimics the density and sonic qualities of maple, but the raw Luthite seems more like a sculpted resin. I am having a difficult time finding a paint supplier that can or will mix custom lacquer colors for me. I have a couple ideas of what may work, but I thought i would ask the community before I try again as there are no scraps of this to experiment on. Going for a semi-transparent deep purple burst to black.

- Tinting base lacquers and using in a sprayer? If so, any leads of where to obtain? Lowe's and Sherman Williams store were useless.

- Anybody know if Luthite is stainable at all? I would like to try a hand-rubbed approach and spray the edges if it is.

- I saw one video where the poster was rubbing leather dyes into the material, thought it was wood.

- Hand rubbing diluted pigment?

I'm beginning to see, aside from the toxicity of its fine particulates, why Luthite never really took as a material.
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