How do PRS stain their guitars? - Guitar Builders Basics Podcast - Episode 61 

Dude I love you’re videos. I’m hooked and you’ve given me the courage to do my first build! Keep up the great videos. Very informational!

lol just noticed this was froom 3yrs ago ..iv been watching your builds and you rock ..loved the 2020 build and the one v shaped one you did the other week workshop looking awesome for what iv seen of it this year.

I really like what you've done with your scalp. It's very interesting without looking gangster. It's quite artistic.

I've seen PRS lately on their instagram stories to be using something like 6/7 different colours and shades of dyes to get to the end colour. Understandably, the colour they were going for was a dark one but still that many colours (greens pinks navys etc) was pretty cool to watch

I've been under the impression for years that PRS uses Keda Dyes; they're a super-vivid powdered dye/stain and give really stunning results (also: they're non-toxic ;) .)

I've done a couple of (bought) bodies, and used water-soluble aniline dyes. which have worked a treat. Might have a few pics i can upload to teh forums. will have a look tonight. Also, funnily ennough, arrived at teh same idea for using magnets for control covers as you showed us yesterday.

One time my friend made some wooden pistol grips for me.....I wanted green so we used food coloring and then tung oil later.....they came out amazing.

Really neat pickup rings! God damn you have some good ideas for guitars.

I love the shape and look of that Sidjual? guitar.

There's a guy who posts to a RU-vid channel called The Big D Guitars who has done a number of segments on his staining techniques. (He also has quite an extensive collection of tone wood comparisons covering the usual materials but also loads of exotic ones.)

My experience is to stain with black base,rub out, then go over with lighter stain of choice, repeat process getting darker each time,receeding back by two inches at time for each coverage. Once stain is applied it should have coverage ranging from dark to light. At this point drag the stain from dark to light using a cloth, any lines can be swirled out. You should end up with a fade from dark to light.

Heard of Wudtone? I've had good experiences using their stains!

Love your videos Ben, have you ever tried wudtone? Really easy to use can do it in your kitchen if you wanted to and really good results

PRS uses 3 colors for fades. The dark stain applied to the bottom 1/3, medium stain on middle 1/3, and a light stain on the upper 1/3. Watching their videos on staining I've never seen them use black sanded off to highlight grain.

how do you do a silverburst like a 1978-79 Les Paul custom?

Well, you are absolutely hilarious and quite gifted. This is the second vid that has found its way into my rather troubling habit of watching all things guitar-ish youtube. Your very British dry humor fits nicely in my wheelhouse. I'm almost reluctant to admit I'm an American. But there, I just said it. Anyway, thumbs up!

With Gibson raising prices and other companies to follow, I'd bet bet you'll see an increase in sales. With technology the way it is and RU-vid how to videos on the rise I see a dramatic rise in people building their own gear.

Potential podcast question: Not related to something I'm actually doing. While reading through guitar forums I noticed the question "Can you refret a scalloped neck?" The answer is probably yes but I'm curious as to your experience on this and thoughts as to the potential problems.

What is the best brand of Candy Color stain to buy for this purpose?

So I looked up the "Sandstorm Fade" and one video came immediatly in my mind. Its the "Honey Burst" video from BigD Guitars. It seems likely to me, that the sandstorm fade could be achieved using those techniques, by basicly working from back to front instead from inside to outside.

I would love to figure out their angry Larry or red/cherry burst variants.

So where to purchase the raw toxic candy? 😅 i have found that mica based stains in liquid form working very well especially after wiping the wood with 91% alc ive been experimenting with mixing the two before hand and it appears to draw the stain out much better also leaves a much smoother color id imagine mica powder with 91% alc would achieve similar if not greater effects also i found prs uses triple stain techniques where they will use alc based stain first then a water base stain and finally they finish with a oil based stain that appears to make the grain really blow up i also used a translucent stain to start the area followed by the alc and then the final color that seems to work really well also the alc removes any oils left over from the stain allowing a clean surface for the next color or same color to be applied

@ 4:34 what is the name of this guitar body style if I were to order one?

The way I have seen most home builders apply these tints is to use a wet-on wet technique. So the base color is still wet, and the burst colour is applied on top. The base and color coats can be used to adjust the blend. Tons of videos out there on this. The big boys use spraying always to get their effects. Again lots of factory tours to see to get more of an insight. I would say experimentation on some spare wood before having a go at your newly built guitar would be sensible.

Have you tried leather dyes? Fiebings or Angelus are brands that people tend to use.

Hi Crimson Custom Guitars. I know the video it's several months old, but I would like to contribute with my experience. I also have found that toxic dyes are almost always better. I use anilines for dyeing, they are commonly used for dyeing clothes. Toxic, but not extremely, and for guitar dyeing little of it is needed (). They produce very beautiful colours and it's not difficult to obtain an even colour. The only problem is that nitrocellulose also dissolves them a bit, so hand applying the lacquer is forbidden, airbrushing gives less problems. Waterbased finishes do not interfere and epoxies also doesn't. I can't tell what happens with polyurethane as I haven't tried it. Also they are easy on sunbursts, as it more or less dissolves itself. It can be thinned with alcohol, and soaking a bit the wood with alcohol prior to staining the sunburst makes it easier for smoothing the colour transitions. For brown colours however I prefer using natural dyes. "nogalina" (I dont know english translation for it) it's a natural dye extracted from walnut and gives a beautiful deep brown. It's completely water soluble and it isn't toxic. When trying amber tones, the natural colour of shellac brings real beauty with added iridescence to the figure as the pores are not clogged with stains. If a deeper colour is wanted, as the anilines are alcohol soluble, you can pour a bit on your shellac mix for fine tuning the colour. For blacks it's easier to find good looking ones that are non toxic, but for greens, reds, blues, purples etc its always needed something deadly and unhealthy to get a nice look. I've learned many little tricks form your videos, I'm more on the acoustic guitar world, but love your work anyway. Greetings!

What would be nice to know, is where to get candy colors. When i search for it, i only get candy sorted by color.

"WE'RE pulling our hair out" HAHA don't you mean "THEYRE" your already bold Ben ! Love the tips and the clarity guitar is beautiful.

I've got a standard usa strat, and dont get me wrong I love it to death, but golly gosh the fingerboard feels so sticky and horrible to play on, especially live in hot and sweaty conditions. Basically it has too much lacquer on it, in too many places. It's pretty much soaked all over, with clear, solid, ramps of plasticyness around, all over and in-between frets. This also diminishes fret height, rounding all the frets over to be a smooth, close to flat playing surface. My question is, what would be the best method for thinning/removing the god awful lacquer and/or replacing with some sort of thin protection if needed?

Regarding the way PRS stains their fades, they most likely do use an airbrush for the accuracy. The only way I have been successful at it however, using a hand applied technique, is to start with the lightest colors first. You can always apply darker over a lighter color, but not the other way around. But start with the lightest color, let it completely dry before moving on to the next color. Skip the area where you will be blending. Again, let the new darker color dry completely before moving on to the next step, the blended colors. You can either mix the two colors, or simply apply both at the same time, feathering them together and only slightly overlapping your two base colors. Use this same technique all the way down the body until you have complete coverage. Never get the rag too wet. Once everything is dry, lightly sand the whole body down with a super fine sanding sponge. Sanding blocks or hand sanding will cut into the finish, leaving unwanted streaks and areas where the color is simply gone. I use a water based stain made for wood, but I suspect aniline stains would probably work better. It's just terribly difficult to get aniline here in Germany. Good luck!

If you're looking for some good, affordable wood dyes and pigments, Wood Essence in Saskatoon, Canada has a large selection in different size bottles. They have ColorFX Dye Concentrates which are transparent and can be mixed with water or alcohol, and Mixol Pigments which are semi-opaque. P.S.: I'd love to see that guitar all finished.

In the usa we have a company that sells paint and stains they have a wood stain in every color the name ie sherwin Williams you try them

Nothing to blame on Tom this morning. Hard to blame anything on a guy who will bring you coffee... Way to go Tom! When you say Candy Color, Mr. Crowe, is that a brand name or is it just a generic term used for the automotive paint tints in general?

If you live in Australia, theres a great stain called dingotone sold by pitbull guitars. Its 100% non toxic and its a great finish that smells good.

With water based stains you can blend the colors quite well. If you start "thinning" your stain with adding more water you probably make it lighter. Work your way up the body step by step, blending into the previos darker color. I think its managable If you practice enough and use many small steps. You should move quick so that the lighter color would "dissolve" the darker. This will help to create the blend/fade. Also here's a video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YibgjerXPPM.html

Hey Ben, i've always wanted to get on to making my own guitar, would you know a reliable wood dealer that would ship to australia?

I wanted to try to build a guitar body. How do you calculate the position for pickup and bridge? Is there a formula, a fixed distance from the first fret , or something like that? thanks

can we get a link to the candy colour brand or supplier that you guys use

So would something like a House of Kolors, candy concentrate work? Ive done some work (in metal of course) where you mix that with reducer and a clear coat before spraying it.

House of kolor auto paint please use resperater there are also candy color in waterbed but I've never used them just search you tube for airbrushing videos glad your shop is taking off

interior water based wood stain solvent free.safe n east to use from AgWood care..(ebay)) great range of colours .and it in the ukis good iv used on some of my builds

PRS do not use air brushing. Google "PRS blue fade staining" to see how they do it.

A cup of lacquer thinner ,1/2 teaspoon of lacquer paint pigment any color , mix pigment with lacquer thinner this creates a translucent mixture that when applied to wood looks automotive candy when nitrocellulose is applied the color comes alive

Not wanting to be too fine about it but candy colours have always been translucent colours applied over a metallic undercoat. Current C.A.R paint jobs you see are simply metallic red.

The majority of PRS finishes are done by an artist's they have working him , There is a video on here I remember seeing it

Great video I love the PRS stains but there overpriced

Here is a video of a PRS fade stain being applied: youtube.com/ watch?v=YibgjerXPPM

My GOD! It's Anton Lavey!!!

For some reason you remind me of bill bailey ..

I'm no expert,,,, far from it , but I've been using ink as wood stain for a while ,,, it's very cheap and easy to get from any art shop

Hey ben, not sure if you can get this stuff over there from a distro or imported but you might find this stuff up your alley: www.saman.ca/products/2-saman-water-based-stain I used the black of the line on a used 95' mim poplar strat body with some true oil & it came out pretty nice!! =)

You may wanna try Auto airs candy colours, they are water based. www.autoaircolors.com/paints/4600series.html

Awesome work and great informative videos. I do custom leather work and every so often I mess around with the wood, I have ended up using my leather dyes on wood with great results, although I have not been working with the expensive types of woods that you use. I use either the feibings leather dye, comes in both oil based and alcohol based; www.fiebing.com/catalogue/dyes/?product=172. Or the tandy leather Eco-flow water based dye; www.tandyleather.ca/en-cad/home/department/liquids-n/dyes-antiques/2801-514.aspx. Thought it might be worth a look for you, especially if it gets the results you want. Keep up the grand work!

Look. It's bald Bill Bailey!

PRS mostly uses Fiebings leather dyes to do their stained finishes. FYI, there is no shortage of actual videos from PRS showing how they do their finishes. You can get that information right from PRS.

darude does their sandstorm stain

NGR (mohawk)...!!! SPRAYED ... AMAZING....SUNBURST....

..... You're not even close to describing the way PRS does their staining ...

They use je moser's aniline dye. from what I can gather.

Skip to 1:58 to skip the bullshit 😂

This is the third podcast I've tried to watch today,again too much talk about things other than the subject..... I've no doubt you know whats what, but please can you get to the point a bit quicker? even more nice tools...

Ever consider editing down these video to get to the point? With all due respect, you are long winded. It would serve you well to work on that.

Great video I love the PRS stains but there overpriced