Staining mahogany...

[tadol]

Frequently stain is used to even out the color, making sure the back & sides are a close match, even when cut from different billets. Color could be more red or more brown, but usually is chosen to either highlight or downplay the grain filler and grain pattern -

[jimmy bookout]

FWIW,
The first pic of the Leo Kottke B/S is in the shade so it looks darker:


THIS picture is more representative of the color. If it is stained, it is very lightly stained.

[justonwo]

I think it depends on the overall aesthetics of the guitar. If you have a very dark rosewood body, I think an unstained neck looks awkward. If the body is really light, it might look better unstained.

[DukeX]

Originally Posted by yaharadelta

I'd agree with that, and I like the look, nice golden brown color, the grain and figure of the wood really pops, nice in contrast to a spruce top.

Yessir, love the Larrivee look!

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

No, they don't, and neither did the Tacoma Guitar Company when they were in business. It's interesting, though - I happen to have my little Tacoma Papoose hanging on a stand here beside my computer, and it's darkened and reddened up quite a bit since I got it in 1997. Back when I got it it was a pale tan, barely any color to it at all, and its cedar top was darker than the back and sides.

Now the top is a bit darker but the back and sides are considerably darker and redder than the top is.

Interesting. I don't think I would have specifically noticed that if we weren't discussing the color of mahogany in this thread.

These changes DO have a way of sneaking up on you!


Wade Hampton Miller

That is interesting, and those little Tacoma Papoose guitars were/are very cool!

[Methos1979]

I prefer darker stained mahogany, especially on mahogany topped guitars. And then I REALLY like the edge burst finish that Santa Cruz does on their 1929 series. I bought a standard one and then almost immediately an edge brust one popped here so I bought that one and sold the plain one. In my opinion the top one is far better looking than the bottom. There's just something... classy, elegant and old looking about it. I guess that's why they sell both. Different strokes for different folks!

[Scotso]

Who cares? If you like the sound you get along with the color.

[justonwo]

In this case, I think the natural neck is a great match for the unstained mahogany back.



In this case, I think the stained mahogany looks more harmonious.

[Tnfiddler]

I’m a big fan of the color of my Banjo Killer!

[Wade Hampton]

First, the fiddler from Tennessee wrote:

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

I’m a big fan of the color of my Banjo Killer!

Personally, I think it's inhumane to actually KILL banjos. Either a gradual re-introduction to the wild or an adoption by compassionate, socially responsible people is vastly preferable.

You'd have to insist that they be spayed or neutered first, of course...

Of course, before Tnfiddler wrote his post Juston wrote:

Originally Posted by justonwo

In this case, I think the natural neck is a great match for the unstained mahogany back.



In this case, I think the stained mahogany looks more harmonious.

I agree one hundred percent with both of your assessments.


Wade Hampton "Hey, You Got A PERMIT For That Banjo?" Miller

[Pura Vida]

Mahogany looks good in its many different forms, and the stain (or absence of it) adds to its beauty. And it's a type of wood that looks good, whether it's red, brown, dark brown, natural... depending on the application, location, etc.

[Wade Hampton]

After I mentioned that the unstained mahogany back and sides on my 1997 Tacoma Papoose had darkened and reddened considerably over the years without me even noticing, DukeX - ignoring the perpetual misbehavior of his older brother Duke of Earl - wrote:

Originally Posted by DukeX

That is interesting, and those little Tacoma Papoose guitars were/are very cool!

Yeah, it surprised me, too, that it could darken so much without being out of its case all that often. I used it a lot when I first got it, especially when I started playing in a Tex-Mex band where I played a Danelectro baritone guitar as a substitution for a bajo sexto, and the Papoose as a requinto. The Papoose uses the same tuning as a requinto, A to A like a standard guitar capoed at the fifth fret, so essentially it's just a steel string requinto.

But I haven't had it out of its case much in recent years, until I decided last week to give it a turn as my "reachable from the computer guitar" on the stand by my computer desk.

Mexican Bajo Sexto



Mexican Requinto



Danelectro Baritone Guitar



Tacoma Papoose

Incidentally, one of my best friends Duane Waterman was the Tacoma Guitar Company R&D luthier who, along with John Walker, designed the Papoose.

It was George Gruhn who suggested to them that Tacoma make a steel string requinto and market it as a travel guitar, and for many years he let it be known to one and all that it was him who had "designed the Papoose."

Which is hogwash. I've seen his "design": it was a scribbled drawing of a normal-looking guitar with a normal-lookin soundhole on a cocktail napkin with the caption "Little Guitar," then "Tuned A to A."

It was Duane and John who came up with the offset soundhole design because that gave them the fullest tone when they built the first prototypes. They also made the decision to make the standard Papooses in mahogany with cedar tops because, again, the prototypes with that combination of tonewoods sounded the richest and fullest.

So George Gruhn suggested the idea of a steel string requinto, but it was Duane and John who actually designed it.

I know that almost twenty five years later it no longer matters, but still....

Anyway, I benefitted from my buddy working in management at Tacoma Guitars because employees were given a generous discount on instruments with minute cosmetic flaws to them. Those were called "Artist models" and were put aside for either employees or musicians that the company wanted playing Tacoma guitars in public.

When Duane learned that I wanted to get a Papoose if possible, what he did was inspect a group of recently finished and strung up Papooses and picked out the best-sounding one. Then he stealthily pressed the blade of a screwdriver lightly along the edge of the top and called out: "Hey, we got an Artist model here!"

I didn't ask him to do that, but I got a very nice price on my Papoose, and it does sound terrific.

Plus the mahogany sides and back have darkened and reddened in a very handsome way since I got it, and thanks to Jimmy Bookout for starting this thread because otherwise I might have let ANOTHER couple of decades slip by without noticing that!


Wade Hampton Miller

[jseth]

Seems that mahogany has colors that are all over the map... that, when coupled with the wood's natural inclination to darken with age and exposure to UV, actually makes a lot of the older dark mahogany guitars make a lot of sense...

I know my little Goodall Grand concert wasn't stained at all...
[img]



...and I liked it that way!!! Funny, though; by the time I sold the guitar, the redwood top had gotten much darker in it's 8 years of age, while the mahogany had only faintly gotten darker...