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Hi all.

I have read several posts that are adamantly against the staining of wood and several that are proponents of it.

I am at the point with an HD28 build that I am ready to start the finishing process.

I want to approximate the HD28 colors as closely as possible.

Does anyone have a recipe for the mahogany neck and EIR body and sides as far as a stain combination to get close to the original?

Thanks for any advice.

Stewart McDonald puts out a finishing book that has recipes for this, I belive. You might check out their site. You could probably find the book used on Amazon for cheap. I have it, but its not for sale. :>)

Kevin

Is it the one named "Guitar Finishing Step by Step"?

I wouldn't think you would need to stain the rosewood. John will be along in a bit and he can tell you how Martin stains mahogany necks. Seems they use walnut stain but wait on John's advice.

Martin used to use a 2 stain process red mahogany first then brown mahogany on top of that. I use minwax special walnut then then ebony and that will get you that dark color like martin uses . Martin is now using a dark Maple stain , but I am not 100% sure from what company.
The key is to get a color so the mahogany will be dark and not so contrasting on the rosewood. As for the Rosewood , martin uses a stain that is mixed in with the filler. They use an oil based filler similar to pore o pag and it is the color and texture of hershey syrup
the staining of the rosewood will help to give the grain definition.

You use the special walnut on the rosewood back and sides directly or only in the grain filler?

Tape off the back strip and wipe it on allow to dry then seal coat , fill seal and apply finish

That is with the special walnut?

minwax stain , it is a color of that brand.

I stained the EIR with the special walnut from Minwax.

It is beautiful. Deep and and dark with nice tones running through it.

AAAAAA++++++++