How to remove water dye from wood?

[Oleynior]

Hello,

I'm doing my first refin. At the top of the guitar (Gibson LP Standard) is a yellow stain from the water based wood dye, made by the previous owner. I have sanded it many times - it doesn't disappear.

1. Is there a way to remove it?
2. Top will be painted nitro, without water dye (wood -> sanding sealer -> colored lacquer -> nitro top coat). The finish is honey burst / iced tea. Will this yellow spot be visible?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Skyjerk]

Well, chances are that sanding enough to remove the dye will alter the shape of the top, so that's probably not a good option.

Multiple treatments of two-part wood bleach followed by light staining of the entire top to an even color is what I'd try

 

[the great waldo]

Wet the top with alcohol or water and see what colour it goes. You will have a good idea of how the patch will look after some laquer is put on it.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[fti]

how about a goldtop? Then you can bypass this issue.

 

[Freddy G]

doubt you'll notice that under a burst...you might notice it because you know it's there and your eye will be drawn to that spot, but to anyone looking at the finished product they would not see it.

 

[Oleynior]

Wet the top with alcohol or water and see what colour it goes. You will have a good idea of how the patch will look after some laquer is put on it.

Cheers
Andrew

Before:

After:

 

[straightblues]

http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/how-to-remove-dyes-from-finished-wood/

http://forums.finewoodworking.com/fine-woodworking-knots/finishing/removing-aniline-dye-maple

 

[the great waldo]

Hi Oleynior

That looks like maybe there was some rough grain or wierd grain direction. Try rubbing a white cloth with acetone on it over the patch to see if some of the colour comes off on the cloth. It could be that the original stain was fixed in the wood grain with the clear lacquer that was sprayed on top. If that was the case you could probably leave the patch and stain the rest of the top (if you're sunbursting it) with the base yellow. If the stain you have is lacquer sealed it should not absorb any more stain. I would probably go with a spirit stain as it would bite a little bit into the patch and even out a little better than with water dye. It's pretty much a suck it and see situation. I think the yellow base coat dye applied with a cloth or sponge would probably hide the patch. Good luck.

cheers

Andrew