blue and black burst

[thistle3585]

How do I achieve this type of finish? Or where can I go to get more info on how to do it? Any help would be appreciated. This is for a solid body electric mando.

[sunburst]

Well, here's what I'd try:
Stain the whole thing blue. To preserve and amplify the figure in the wood like that one, I'd rub the stain on with a rag.
To shade the edges I'd spray on some black or very dark blue until I got the look I wanted.

But first things first...I'd experiment on some scrap wood first.

[douglas2cats]

I vaguely remember some article in Guitar Player mag many years ago that interviewed a guitar maker discussing how to do Candy Apple Red finishes. If I remember correctly, he was first dying or staining the thing black, then sanding off almost all of the color. What was left behind were just the patterns of the grain that had absorbed the most color. He then put the red on over top of that. Not sure if you'd be able to find the article on their website or not. It was quite a while ago.

[thistle3585]

Thanks for the help. Here is what I found.

"flamed maple can be enhanced by pre-dying with either black or a strong solution of color. For example a blue flamed maple top can be pre dyed either black or dark blue. The darkness of the blue should be several shades darker than is intended for the final color. After applying the darker color and allowing it to dry, sand the wood back to the point that the field is natural but the grain is stilled dyed. If you are doing a burst you can sand more in the center of the body and make the grain color lighter there than at the edges. This gives the effect of having the flames appear to burst into the center of the body. The pre-dying technique can also be used to enhance the grain of alder and basswood although the effect may be less striking. After the pre-dying has been done the body can be wiped with a solution close to the color of the dyed finish. If the color isn't dark enough additional dye can be added through further wipings. If the dye is too dark much of the color can be removed with a clean damp cloth."

[Dale Ludewig]

I've done a number of blue/black bursts. I use the MEK dyes from LMI. I wipe the whole instrument with blue. Depending on how dark you want the curl, you may want to add some black to the blue. You'll have to experiment. Usually I'll wipe off as much as possible, but it can be tricky because MEK dries extremely fast and if you're not careful, you can wind up with some streakiness, although it's usually not as bad after some finish goes on as it appears before finish. Sanding instead of wiping will give a more dramatic effect, but I normally mask all of the binding I can. This makes sanding near the edges a bit hairy, but because the edges go to black, it's not that big an issue. If you're doing a rounded edge solid electric, you of course won't be masking the body and that won't be a problem. But if you mask the fingerboard edge, gotta be careful there.
After the curl is accented, I use a spray gun to make the body blue to the extent I want and then go darker and darker toward the edge and the other areas I want black.
You can see pictures of the final process at my site:
www.ludewigmandolins.com
By all means, practice on some scrap. And blue is beautiful.
Dale Ludewig

[delsbrother]

Stew-Mac had an old finishing video that does a PRS-type blue; don't know if it's bursted too, but there are certainly other types of bursts on the video. They've since re-done all of Dan's videos (and I don't know if the finishing one's changed) but probably worth a watch.