Guitar finishing: Magic Marker anyone?

[deeaa*]

Also posted th AG:

I've been pondering how to finish this guitar I'm building, and I was
thinking of various dyes that would color the top birch veneer nicely.
Just by accident I picked up a large green magic marker and swiped it
with that...and WOW! It turned really beautifully translucent green
with grain showing through marvellously.

It was also super easy to spread....would be very easy to make pretty
sunburn or other similar designs too. Perhaps I will make it kinda
'greenburst' with stronger greens towards the eghes and all the way to
black finally.

Now, I'm seriously considering dyeing the wood with magig marker! Can
anyone suggest why should I not do it...I can't think of any reason
not to. I tested spraying some varnish over it and that looks even
better...so I figure marker it all the way round and then varnish
quite normally.
Also, does anyone know what exactly is that dye in the pens...maybe
the exact same dye is available also in cans.
Mind you, it didn't seem to agree with maple nearly as well, but with
birch...wowzee!

I need to post a picture soon...

[marnold***]

I certainly wouldn't stop you from trying. My only concern with using a bona fide magic marker is that you'd have a hard time making it look like one finish instead of a series of stripes. Plus magic markers tend to leave a darker smudge when they first make contact.

[deeaa*]

Yeah, I would have thought so too, but it seems really easy...it doesn't really so much color the wood as when on paper, it kinda flows to it instead, you just keep rubbing it and it gets all even...no felt tip marks at all. Weird.

Here's how it looks (cell phone cam):

[sunvalleylaw]

Wow, that looks great!

[Eric***]

I always thought green was a cool finish for a guitar. I'm no expert on guitar woods and chemical compatibility, so I'll refrain from offering an opinion here, but I think that would be pretty sweet if it did work out, especially if you get the burst idea to work out.

[stingx]

I like how that looks. There doesn't appear to be streaking. As long as your achieving your desired results then why not. What are you going to seal with?

[deeaa*]

I dunno yet about sealing...will need to ask around in the paint store what's a safe clear lacquer.

Here's a bigger slab treated; looks even better now, I gave it a slight nice sanding with 120 grit:

[Mike S.]

I don't know whether this has been mentioned here before, but some of the best, most vibrant wood dyes are actually those alcohol based stains intended for coloring leather. They are available in a wide range of colors, and are deep penetrating as well.

[Jimi75]

Wow, that looks great!

That's what I thought, too!

[Katastrophe]

Inventive! I like it. BTW, how many markers would it take to "paint" a whole body?

[tjcurtin1]

One concern might be color-fastness - is it going to fade out or - worse - to some other perhaps undesireable color with time and exposure to light... I would be more inclined to use a dye (like aniline dyes) made for furniture or leather. You can get them in all kinds of colors, I'm sure.

[deeaa*]

Yes, it will remain to be seen whether it fades and how much...but, I have seen pretty old ads etc. markered in and not faded really at all; blacks seem to get purple after a while, but then again normally marker signs aren't clearcoated....except - well lots of people's signatures are markered on guitars and then clearcoated for them to last, so I'm hoping with the lacquer it'll stay well...it's now clearcoated 4 times and boy it looks great...I never realized birch could look so 'flamey' even. I have used 2 markers and they show no sign of wearing out really, I would venture those two big ones (almost an inch thick) would be enough for an entire guitar.

I think it's gonna look just superb with half a dozen more lacquers and then a proper buffing, very happy wit it now!

[otaypanky***]

I don't know whether this has been mentioned here before, but some of the best, most vibrant wood dyes are actually those alcohol based stains intended for coloring leather. They are available in a wide range of colors, and are deep penetrating as well.

Fiebing's make a very nice shade of green leather dye.
That color is really going to 'pop' if you put a clear gloss finish on it Deeaa

[deeaa*]

It does, yeah! Check out the blog for more photos!