Ash Mosrite: Tobacco Burst and Tru-Oil

Finally some progress on the Ash Mosrite. I filled the deep ash grain with some Walnut Timbermate and then got to work on the creation of a subtle tobacco burst. The burst is a combination of Vintage Amber, Red Mahogany and Tobacco Brown Colortone dyes.  I'm pretty happy with it, although it could have been a little darker on the edges. I probably should have used some black as the last step, but I'm not going to go messing with it now!

With the Colortone dye applied, I got out the Tru-Oil and slapped a couple of coats on to try and pop the grain as much as possible. The ash just soaked it right up, enhancing the grain nicely, and with no noticeable addition of shine.

Successful tobacco burst. The 2 coats of Tru-Oil have helped pop the grain.

In the end, I'm going to add gloss Acrylic clear coats to this sucker. I'm hoping that the Tru-Oil will fill the pores and create a barrier between the wood and the acrylic, without stopping the acrylic clear from bonding to the timber. I did have a few pinhole problems with the acrylic clear coats on the Ash Stratocaster build, so I'm hoping that maybe this is the answer. I guess we'll have to wait and see if it works.

With the Tru-Oil dry I could finally get a feel for the final look with my P90 scratchplate installed. You can see it in all its whiteness in the photo below.

My custom white scratchplate over the burst.

Unfortunately my first impression of the white with the brown is not too positive. The white just jumps out way too much for the subtle body colour. In stark contrast, the original black scratchplate looks much better.

The original black scratchplate.

It looks like black is a winner! Looks like I'll have to go back and get a black version of the P90 scratchplate made. I might even have to swap out the cream soap bar covers with black ones, but I'll wait and see how the cream looks with the black scratchplate before I make that decision. Time to get the White Knight Gloss Acrylic cans out and get spraying!