francis
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Location: Saintes , France
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soundboard tint
Hello.
I recently begin to work on some adjustements on my cheap Khalifa oud.
I read with a lot of interest Jameel's post, on his website, about such an instrument he restored a few times ago .
I have thinned the sounboard which was too thick and before I removed shellac covering it.
Yesterday I removed the pickguard, for two reasons: first it was a very large one that I want to change for a smaller, second I wanted to thin the
soundboard at this place.
That's done now but the print of the old soundboard is very obvious. Spruce is very pale at this place, as it must be on all soundboard when the oud
is new.
May be someone can tell me how to process to get it deepen.
Could it be a valuable idea to boil old oxydize spruce chips , recover the mixture and take it as a pigment to restore the uniform color?
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francis
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Sorry,
I write "soundboard" instead of " pickguard" in the middle of my post above......everything stays complex with the english language for me...
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jdowning
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Seems to me, francis, that you have a pretty good grasp of the complexities of written English - we all make typographical errors!
Matching the colour of stained surfaces in restoration work is possible but it is a skilled operation and not easily done to perfection - particularly
when the offending surface is clearly defined as it likely is in your case. It is all a matter of careful trial and error. 'Ordinary' shellac that may
have been used to coat the sound board has an orange tint so one quick solution might be to apply orange shellac to the area previously covered by the
pick guard and then remove it as you did with the shellac on the rest of the soundboard and see if that results in a better colour match.
Another solution might be to disguise the problem by covering any exposed mismatched area below the pick guard with, say, a piece of veneer cut to an
appropriate and 'tasteful' fretwork design that compliments the profile of the pick guard.
These are just suggestions that may or may not work.
Good luck!
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Dr. Oud
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Stewart-MacDonand sells an Vintage Amber stain that can be mixed for ligter or darker tones. You can try also tea o coffee to stain the wood. You
can use the center of the pickguard area to test various tints until you find a good match, then tint the area outside the smaller pickguard up to the
darker area. There may be a noticble transition, but you can soften this by wiping the tint irregularly over the transition edge to make it look more
natural.
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francis
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Thanks jdowning and Richard for your help.
I realised a mixture with red pine ships and yewtree bark. The result gives a colour closed to the soundboard tone, with a touch of pink which stays
after the shellac is removed.
I tried it today and it seems that it will be possible by this way to get a uniform color...and probably with no noticible transition.
Thank again.
Richard: I suppose I'll find informations about rosette making in your book.....Ijust have to wait now.
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rojaros
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Hello Francis,
intersting project. Did you also remove the bridge?
I'm really curious about the results of your work.
Maybe when youre fiished you could post some pics of befor and after as well as some sound copare files?
BTW, don't get stuck in the esthetical details - when you play you don't see the soundboard that much ;-)
best wishes
Robert
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