Testing . . . testing . . . testing . . .

I knew I will stain the body before putting on a finish and some of the photos already show a test strip of mahogany.

So I've tried 3 wood stains (so far):
- Minwax, Red Mahogany
- Minwax, Red oak
- Rustoleum, Cabernet
Yes the object was to bring the red out in the Mahogany of the body.

I started with the Minwax stains. The red oak was discarded after the first tests . . . and I didn't bother to take a picture (sorry) . . . I really don't know why it's called RED oak, the color on the mahogany was brown with some 'grey' tones, not much red there, maybe it shows different when it's actually on oak or maybe pine . . . haven't tried that yet . . . hmmmmm, I've got some pine laying around somewhere I think . . .

Here is the red mahogany on a piece of mahogany next to the finished headstock, I agree it's not the best lighting for the picture, but this has the same brown as the 'red oak' but none of the grey.


Below is the same piece with some unstained mahogany showing on both sides of the test stain next to the neck. This was finished with the OSMO oil.

So I thought that I wanted some more red which is why I got a can of the Rustoleum Cabernet.

Which turned out to be interesting . . . if not exactly what I was after . . .

Here are two pictures of the cabernet color test, the end has 2 'coats' the next section 1 'coat' and the third from the end was fist stained with the red mahogany and then with the cabernet. The final section in the right photo has a single 'coat' of the red mahogany. Now these seem to show a bit redder than the actual color and not quite what I was after . . . in the right picture in 'real' life some of the tones are 'purple' rather than red especially in the section with a single 'coat' but they are definitively still there after 2 'coats' . . . however . . . they ONLY show pink/purple under certain angles and lighting conditions, not what I'm after but very interesting never the less . . . I don't know if the same would happen on a piece that was grain filled prior to staining as it would have much less (if any) surface texture (I'm NOT going to fill the grain on the body as I like the 3D effect of different 'colors' / 'tones' when turning the piece) but it would make for an interesting conversation piece . . . . . .

Here is the red mahogany end of the test strip under similar lighting conditions as the cabernet. Again it shows a bit more red / orange than my eyes saw it an hour or so ago.

So at this point I'm 'stuck' with the red mahogany stain as the best option. There is a cayenne stain in ??? - sorry can't remember the brand - but this is a stain / poly wipe-on single step finish and at this point I think I want to go with the OSMO oil for the body as well . . .  maybe I can use some red dye on the body prior to the minwax red mahogany . . . . still debating that one and it WOULD add one more thing to screw up, doing a test strip IS slightly different from doing a whole body after all.