# Ibanez SZ Refinish



## ACD (Jul 2, 2014)

Hi All,

I'm currently in the process of refinishing and Ibanez SZ. The guitar is made entirely of mahogany and I am hoping to finish it with a stain. I have seen Carvin do some really nice blue stains over mahogany and was hoping to achieve something similar to the picture attached. Would anyone be able to provide some advice on how I could achieve a colour similar to the guitar shown here?

Thanks!


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## ACD (Jul 8, 2014)

Any suggestions? In one example I saw, someone had achieved a similar colour by staining green then sanding black, then black & sanding back then blue to finish. I'm not sure if that would be the best way to go about this.


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## M3CHK1LLA (Jul 9, 2014)

i cant tell you how its done, but if you dig around the luthiery section some more, i bet you can find some examples. ive seen a few.

nice color choice btw.


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## eddiewarlock (Jul 9, 2014)

i think you have to bleach the mahogany on your guitar...mahogany and blue stain...not a good idea...

Red , orange, yellow, those colours work well with mahogany. Not blue or green....


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## tssb (Jul 9, 2014)

ACD said:


> Any suggestions? In one example I saw, someone had achieved a similar colour by staining green then sanding black, then black & sanding back then blue to finish. I'm not sure if that would be the best way to go about this.



You would do this with a wood that has more variation in its fibre/grain, such as flamed/quilted maple, etc. The different fibres absorb the stain at different rates and this sequential process brings out the differences in the grain, aka "making it pop".

Mahogany has a very consistent fibre with very little variation. If you were to try this though, ditch the black layer and simplify it to : green -> sand -> blue. Also, I would do a very faint burst to it, so sand the green at the edges more than at the centre.

As others suggested, check out our Luthier section, lots of things to be learnt from there.

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## ACD (Jul 15, 2014)

Thanks for the comments all! Below is a picture of the guitar after the first round of sanding. I'm still kicking around the idea of doing the blue finish as shown earlier but am definitely open to other suggestions (maybe a dark stain or vintage style burst?). The knobs I have for the guitar are abalone topped to match the fretboard inlays so I think a red finish would be out of the question.


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## VSK Guitars (Jul 17, 2014)

If you're looking to get similar to the pic you posted, I'd do black with a sandback, then green sandback, then blue. 
Or you can mix the green and blue together to try to get a color you like. That's where I'd start anyway. 
I'd also pick up some scraps of mahogany to practice on


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## Jarmake (Jul 17, 2014)

eddiewarlock said:


> i think you have to bleach the mahogany on your guitar...mahogany and blue stain...not a good idea...
> 
> Red , orange, yellow, those colours work well with mahogany. Not blue or green....



What's the problem with blue and green on mahog? I have dyed mahogany green and blue with success, when I was doing carpentry and building some guitars...


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## ACD (Jul 17, 2014)

Agreed. Definitely will be doing some tests on scrap before I go ahead and stain the guitar. A store near to me carries the following stain which is strikingly similar to the one in the picture (almost like a mix of blue/green) 

NGR Stain Colours - John E. Goudey Manufacturing Ltd[gallery5d5b829e4c]/2/ (The blue prismatone colour)

Should I be bleaching the mahogany first to get a brighter end result?


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## VSK Guitars (Jul 17, 2014)

That looks pretty light colored already, I don't think you'd need to bleach it to get the color in the pic you posted above. If you want it brighter, then maybe you would...


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## fastmerc (Jul 18, 2014)

Most times when the major manufacturers have a Mahogany colored like that it won't be a stain but a blue tinted clear. Obviously not to say you can't stain it, but I think to get that result it would be by tinting your clear.


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## ACD (Jul 28, 2014)

So I did some stain testing tonight. You can ignore the two black spots (going to sand these back and try some other tests later). I'm really quite happy with the way the green and blue stains look just by themselves. Depending on how things go with my other tests I may just end up going for the straight blue stain. Any input is appreciated!


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## immortalx (Jul 28, 2014)

May I suggest that you should do the whole finishing process on your tests.
It's going to darken with a finish on it, so put whatever you intent to use (lacquer/oil/poly) and if you're planing to buff it do that also to have an accurate representation of the final colour tone.


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## VSK Guitars (Jul 28, 2014)

I like the lightest blue, I like that you can still see the pores in the grain


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## theo (Jul 28, 2014)

+1 for the lightest.


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## Spacestationfive (Jul 29, 2014)

<3 SZ series guitars, I'm still regretting trading mine. What do you think of attempting the Carvin style Natural binding?


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## ACD (Jul 30, 2014)

Spacestationfive said:


> <3 SZ series guitars, I'm still regretting trading mine. What do you think of attempting the Carvin style Natural binding?



I had considered something like this but given my level of experience with refinishing I decided to keep it simple and not go the natural binding route. I've decided to go for the blue colour and have applied some coats yesterday and this evening. Will post updates shortly!


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## spn_phoenix_92 (Jul 30, 2014)

I'm placing my vote on the green 

I'm refinishing a few guitars of my own atm, so I'm gonna be following this one, I love seeing these things go.


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## Cbutler (Jul 31, 2014)

green!


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## ACD (Jul 31, 2014)

Decided to go with the blue! Here's a pic of where I'm at now. I'm really happy with the way the colour is turning out. Its tough to see in the picture but the colour is almost green in some spots (Kind of like the first pic).


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## ACD (Aug 18, 2014)

So I've finished the dyeing process and I've applied a couple coats of Birchwood Casey sealer and filler to the guitar (no pics yet). Things are looking good but I'm not 100% sure of what the best next step is before applying a tru-oil finish to the guitar. Should I sand lightly or use steel wool to even out the grain filler before proceeding with the finish coats or leave as is?


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## spn_phoenix_92 (Aug 18, 2014)

ACD said:


> So I've finished the dyeing process and I've applied a couple coats of Birchwood Casey sealer and filler to the guitar (no pics yet). Things are looking good but I'm not 100% sure of what the best next step is before applying a tru-oil finish to the guitar. Should I sand lightly or use steel wool to even out the grain filler before proceeding with the finish coats or leave as is?


I'd say sand lightly, the steel wool can leave behind tiny pieces that can react with some finishes. I'd use 600 or higher, but not too high so the finish has something to hold onto.


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## ACD (Aug 26, 2014)

Update! Here's the guitar after 4 coats of tru oil. I plan on putting quite a few more coats on before I complete it. I'm really happy with the way the color is turning out. It's almost exactly what I was hoping to achieve (like the carvin guitar at the top of the thread):


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## VSK Guitars (Aug 27, 2014)

Looks great man! Still light enough that the grain shows through... I like it


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## OWHall (Aug 27, 2014)

Saw the picture at the top of the thread and thought "why the hell would you want to re finish that!? It's gorgeous!" then read the caption lol.
Good choice man. You have good taste.


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## ACD (Jan 12, 2015)

Hi All,

Its been quite some time since I posted an update. I completed the finishing process tonight so I thought I'd post some pics! This is just after final wet sand/buff/polish. Getting tru-oil to a mirror finish was a significantly more time consuming process than I had expected but I am very happy with the results!


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## Jarmake (Jan 12, 2015)

Very nice!


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## theo (Jan 13, 2015)

Nice


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## VSK Guitars (Jan 15, 2015)

Double post....


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## VSK Guitars (Jan 15, 2015)

Looks great man.... nice work!


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## ACD (Mar 14, 2015)

Finished!


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## mr coffee (Mar 14, 2015)

Very nice results! That's just tru-oil for the finish? I've got a mahogany/bubinga body that has never looked right with any clear I've tried, may have to check this stuff out.

-m


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## ACD (Mar 14, 2015)

Thank you! I put about 2 coats of birchwood casey grain filler and sealer on the bare wood, then all tru-oil after that. It took a lot of coats with wet sanding in between to end up with the mirror finish but I am very pleased with the results.


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## mutateu (Mar 25, 2015)

ACD said:


> Thank you! I put about 2 coats of birchwood casey grain filler and sealer on the bare wood, then all tru-oil after that. It took *a lot of coats with wet sanding in between* to end up with the mirror finish but I am very pleased with the results.



Hi ACD... i''m refinishing my SZ320MH. Went with the stain/sealer/tru oil way... just a question, did you light sanded/buff in between coats? or just the final one?
...very nice work! 
Thanks

EDIT: ...forget it...


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## Renkenstein (Mar 25, 2015)

That's a damn good Tru-Oil finish, bud.


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