Preval and stain - created 11-17-2011
larsen, thomas bakkendrup - 11/17/2011.07:58:25
Hi everybody! I am thinking of spraying some alcoholbased stain (stewmac's metal dyes) on my guitar neck, with the use of a preval sprayer!
Anymore have had succes with preval and spraying alcoholbased stain on a guitar neck?
Or would it be much better with a spraygun maybe?
Many thanks!
Thomas Larsen
I think the simplest way would be just to wipe it on.
Hi Thomas,
If you are just going for a uniform color, then wiping it on might be simpler.
If you are not shading, why dirty up the spray equipment for a simple wipe job. The less I have to clean up the spray gun the better I like it.
I use Preval units all the time since I don't have proper spray equipment. They work great for spraying lacquer and other finishes. I don't like them for spraying stain or doing bursts. I have a little airbrush that works much better for me for that task. The problem with the Preval units is there is no material flow adjustment so you have to adjust by carefully watching how much material you are laying down. You could try it for spraying a neck but my experience is that you will get puddling, especially in areas like the heel or volute. Maybe I'm just too heavy handed to get them to work for me for the staining operation. I just finished fixing a neck that I messed up using Preval with amber tinted thinned lacquer where it was too thin and got a run in the volute area. Very hard to fix and get even color.
I agree with Warren. Spraying finishes is OK with those, but there's no room for error when working with stains!
Even now, while I have an HVLP Sprayer, I still like to wipe the stain on and reserve spraying for the clear-coat.
Ok thanks everybody..great to hear about your experiences with spraying stain, and why not to!
The reason I am thinking of spraying the stain is because I read somewhere, that a way too avoid uneven staining, and to get a more uniform color
..is to spray a wash-coat of sealer, to seal the wood, and then sand back close to the wood, before spraying the stain..that way you also get rid of the problem with the endgrain becomming more dark shaded or colored..
It is also recommended that you add a bit of dewaxed shellac or laquer (about 10% by volume of a 2 lb. cut)it seems,..very useful when spraying waterbased laquer to prevent bleeding!
I guess It is better to skip the preval solution, when it comes to spraying stain..guess I need a touch-up spraygun, and a lot of left over pieces of maple for practice!
Many thanks!
Thomas Larsen
Many tha
Hi Thomas,
Furniture manufacturers use dye stain sprayed on in the way you describe to help make the wood more uniform. Maple, for example, is harder to get a consistent stain on when wiped directly on the surface. Mahogany, on the other hand, looks very uniform and prettie to me when wiped straight on. Factory guitars use that same spray on process, usually tinting the lacquer, to get consistent results. It's okay to replicate that and try to hide unsightly wood grain but I like wiped on stains for the exact reason the factories don't do it...it brings out the individual features of a piece of wood. For bursts, I wipe on the base coats in the middle and around the edges and then use the airbrush to refine the edge areas and darken the sides. I like the way amber or yellow stain pops the center of the burst but agree that you need it to feather out on the edges to hide end grain. I like alcohol stains for that since you can lift some of the dye stain to blend by using an alcohol soaked rag with a really light touch. Maybe because the first book I bought was Siminoff's Electric Guitar book.
Hi, Thomas,
The Preval units spray thin shellac coats very well, so they should theoretically be able to handle dyes or stains in alcohol. HOWEVER, the spray pattern and spray pressure are obviously not adjustable, so they might not be the best choice. I guess it comes down your particular needs and preferences--and your acquired skill with the Preval unit, too. For example, if you discover on a test piece that you need to go back and hand rub with alcohol to even things out, then you're probably better off just wiping your stain. I do like the units for sealer coats of shellac and things of that nature. They're great for people like me who build for fun, don't have a lot of output, and can't justify professional equipment that only gets used once or twice a year. For those situations, I'm blessed with a very trusting and generous friend...
Patrick