Matching Colors

I found many articles and videos showing how to dye a guitar. None of them was attempting the same sort of finish I was looking for. I assumed that the Seafoam Gibson used some amount of grain-popping. Someone online said he was quite sure the color was mixed into a clear coat and just sprayed on without dying the wood. I was so committed to the grain popping technique that I ignored this advice. Amazing how the brain works.

The blue and yellow dyes prepared and ready to mix

I bought powder blue and yellow dyes from Luthiers Mercantile International. These were much cheaper than the pre-mixed bottled dyes found elsewhere. I made solutions of yellow and blue making sure I had more than enough to do all of my experimentation and to finish the guitar. I experimented with various ratios on a piece of plywood with a maple veneer. I improvised a pipette dropper by marking a drinking straw with a Sharpie. By capping the end of the straw with my finger I could get a similar amount of liquid each time I dipped the straw.

My green mixture. Notice the laboratory quality tube dropper.

The sample board. 

Finding the right color was tricky because the color of the wood would greatly affect to final color of the dye. Additionally, the wood I was using for tests was a bit darker than the veneer on the guitar body. I  made several samples on a piece of plywood with a maple laminate, and then tried it on a maple board. I sprayed the sample with lacquer. This made the results darker still.

A maple board dyed and with lacquer on the upper half. 

In the end my color choice was really more of a guess. I realized that matching the exact color of the Gibson would require not only knowing what technique was used but having an identical piece of wood to the kit body to experiment on. After several weeks of research and head-scratching (mostly head-scratching) I was ready to take my chances.