78 Fender Musicmaster refinish

[Johno]

So I've stripped the finish (with nail polish remover & a cloth )from my Musicmaster & had decided to give it a Mary Kaye style finish using Wudtone dye, either the Blonde or Olympic http://www.wudtone.com/product-category ... id-colour/

But the body has a couple of dark knots which may look a bit crap with a transparent finish, anyone have experience of bleaching/fading wood or perhaps I go for a darker colour... not sure I can be bothered with a spray can finish?

[Djdubed]

the wood will look shite as a blonde finish, sadly those knots are a bit much, paint it a nice custom solid colour

[Johno]

I know that's why I'm.asking if anyone here has had any joy bleaching wood.....
I think if I went for a dark finish to hide the knots then I'd want to balance it with a different pickguard, which I'd have to make as these only came.in black.

[Kent]

Knots and stuff look great with transparent dyes

[Johno]

Some of those look great, maybe I go for it & as the colour is light if it looks bad I can always go over.......hmmm

[CorporateDisguise]

Yeah, I agree. I think knots add charater, and make your guitar more unique.

[601210]

I'm no expert but I can't really think of anything you could do to lighten the knots that would work well.

These guitars were student models, after all. Can you imagine how out of whack a flame-maple, carved-top, floyd-rose-with-all-gold-hardware Musicmaster would look?

I think it's always gonna have a bit of that underdog charm whatever you do, so might as well embrace it. I could be proven wrong, though.

[Con-Tiki!]

bleach won't fix that.
The grain in that blank is actually really nice. I'd clear it, and put it back together.
If you want to make it look more "70's", spray it with some amber tint first.

[Trout]

Costello-ish?

[s_mcsleazy]

i dig the look of the knot but given the location, it might rub against your arm.

i'd actually say just go with a solid colour once you fill in the knot

[Johno]

Think I will go with my.original plan if a
Mary Kaye style white blonde.... if it looks bad then it will be light enough to go over with something darker.

[andy_tchp]

Think I will go with my.original plan if a
Mary Kaye style white blonde.... if it looks bad then it will be light enough to go over with something darker.

Was going to suggest exactly this.

You can go a little heavier/opaque on the edges, I've seen plenty done in that style. (Also huge variations in how much grain is/isn't visible once finished on individual guitars.

[andy_tchp]

Sorry I just reread the OP and the mention of Wudtone for finishing - You'd need to use a spray paint to do lightly misted coats if you wanted any opaque-ness before the final blonde/clear, so my previous suggestion mightn't be entirely helpful

[Johno]

Sorry I just reread the OP and the mention of Wudtone for finishing - You'd need to use a spray paint to do lightly misted coats if you wanted any opaque-ness before the final blonde/clear, so my previous suggestion mightn't be entirely helpful

The beauty of the Wudtone finish is it does not require spraying, just wipe on.

http://www.wudtone.com/product/finishin ... ge-blonde/

[andy_tchp]

I've used Wudtone before a few years ago, but I didn't think you'd be able to 'build' it enough to get more than a tinted wood type effect that was still translucent. Do let us know how you get on, I got excellent results with their 'Azure Lagoon' offering on an Ash body.