Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

So, apparently, Rit dye can be used for furniture staining. Therefore, it would be adequite for guitar body staining. I have not tried it, but the Rit website states you can use the dye to stain wood, and a customer service rep is going to email a copy of the instructions to me from Rit. Once I am home and am able to check my email, I'll copy and paste the contents in this thread.

Has anyone here ever heard of using Rit dye to put a colored finish on your guitar?

http://www.ritdye.com/Questions.50.lasso

We used Rit in woodshop class back in the 70's man.
Be aware that anything mixed with water will raise the grain, no matter how well you sand and prep..

sanshouheil wrote:We used Rit in woodshop class back in the 70's man.
Be aware that anything mixed with water will raise the grain, no matter how well you sand and prep..

Thanks for the advise George. How did the Rit work out for you in your shop projects?

Best I remember we used red the most. And on the softer woods it really would make the grain show as the grain absorbed less of the dye.
Been a many bag through the hooka since then so ....... well you know.

sanshouheil wrote:Best I remember we used red the most. And on the softer woods it really would make the grain show as the grain absorbed less of the dye.
Been a many bag through the hooka since then so ....... well you know.

That's cool though -- I like that effect with the grain. That's really cool with swamp ash. ...purdy...

Dunno about wood, but I know a guy who put it in his bathtub & dyed himself green for St Paddy's Day. It made him kinda sickly, & it lasted a looooooooooooooooong time, too!

Tie Dyed golf discs can be works of art. Some of them are too beautiful to throw. Discraft came out with their supercolor Z discs a while back. I shouldn't go to the disc golf store. My hand automatically starts reaching out to touch them when I can ill afford to buy one. I don't know if they use RIT dye, but they sure are beautiful.

pardon me for being unsold on the idea but... what would be the advantage?

you can find good wood stain for $10 a quart and pro stain for $20 a quart... neither will raise the grain, both will easily apply evenly. You can get any color you want online.

if you want the grain to really stand out you die the wood black, then sand it off... the grain typically soaks up more and so when you sand it off the grain remains dark... this is how I did my tele...

so why not just use the stuff that's been used for years with great results? less work in the end when the grain doesn't rise up and need to be sanded back down. plus having to sand it will sand off the stain... causing you to re-stain... causing you to re-sand.... etc. etc.
sorry, I don't mean to piss on your parade... I just don't see the point.

no offense meant...

maybe if you mix it with denatured alcohol instead of water?

No offense taken Mike. I see your point about just using a wood stain, but I haven't found any in colors other than brown, brown, brown, black, or brown that are oil based, so that the grain wouldn't raise. The key word here is COLOR. Yes, mixing it with water would make the grain raise. I didn't know that prior to this thread, but Sans was nice enough to educate me on that. What if you mix the powder dye with some kind of wood oil, like tung oil or tru oil? Would that work? Any thoughts?

Hayden King wrote:maybe if you mix it with denatured alcohol instead of water?

That may work too Hayden. Any thoughts on any of these ideas? Has anyone tried any of these ideas?

Unfortunately, I am not able to test this theory myself yet -- it will be a while before I buy a guitar, or refinish one that I have for that matter. I want to get a Warmoth for my next bass and finish the body myself. In my research for wood dyes/colored wood stains, I came across this info.

Please continue to post if you have any advise on the above Rit dye comments, or if you know of a source for professional COLOR stain. Thanks!

philbymon wrote:Dunno about wood, but I know a guy who put it in his bathtub & dyed himself green for St Paddy's Day. It made him kinda sickly, & it lasted a looooooooooooooooong time, too!

Serves him right!!

I understand... you probably went to the local hardware shop and that IS what you'll find there as very few ppul want a blue dyed deck...

check this link... less than $20 and some of the best stain money can buy. most of the stuff you come across will not stain dark enough... when they say red they mean BLOOD RED... with ONE application.
(don't get any on yourself unless you want to be that color for two weeks)

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/ColorTone_Concentrated_Liquid_Stain.html

I seem to recall our shop instructor mentioning some different mixing and application technique, but It's been too long for me to accurately recall the solvent used.

As a side: One of the guys glued the receaver down on the old style telephone he had in his office. We all watched intently when the phone rang (it was the next day and he still had not discovered the prank)
Poor guy dang near knocked himself out with the phone as he jerked it up.
Hell oooooooh

mistermikev wrote:I understand... you probably went to the local hardware shop and that IS what you'll find there as very few ppul want a blue dyed deck...

check this link... less than $20 and some of the best stain money can buy. most of the stuff you come across will not stain dark enough... when they say red they mean BLOOD RED... with ONE application.
(don't get any on yourself unless you want to be that color for two weeks)

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/ColorTone_Concentrated_Liquid_Stain.html

Thanks for the advise Mike. I'll check that out.