It's curly maple dyed using a product from www.Constantines.com. They call it a "water soluble stain", but it's just a dye powder that you mix with water. They sell a sampler set of 7 colors for about $18. The one you mentioned was red mahoganyzoooh said:
Some rules and an alternative
I've been involved in finishing some high end guitars which come out glorious/perfect.
To start, you need lots of build - 5 coats from a spray can is not even close. The thickness per coat from a urathane gun can be probably 5x what you can get from a spray can because of the %solids. Sand between coats with a block and 600 grit. For a speaker box I would select catalyzed urathane because it has a big damping (its plastic, after all) effect and its very durable and dries fast. This is actually bad for guitars tone (but sometimes it is used anyway). This would be difficult with a spray can.
Finally, the key is buffing. You can't just use a buffing wheel on a grinder - you need a big muther pedistal buffer which will build up some heat. I suppose you could try it with a grinder or drill but I have, and it didn't work well. Now you are close - but its still is not right. Then you take 2000 grit buffing powder and rub with a rag and water. Wash it off and bingo - mirror finish. Not easy but that's how its done. Then wax it. 🙂.
Now, if you are looking for the local experts in urathane spray go to the car painting shop. I have not tried this (I'm dying to ask) but I think a local body painting shop would be happy to take 50 bucks to put a beautiful (and damping) finish on a speaker box. If they can do a car for $300 how bad can a speaker box be?
I've been involved in finishing some high end guitars which come out glorious/perfect.
To start, you need lots of build - 5 coats from a spray can is not even close. The thickness per coat from a urathane gun can be probably 5x what you can get from a spray can because of the %solids. Sand between coats with a block and 600 grit. For a speaker box I would select catalyzed urathane because it has a big damping (its plastic, after all) effect and its very durable and dries fast. This is actually bad for guitars tone (but sometimes it is used anyway). This would be difficult with a spray can.
Finally, the key is buffing. You can't just use a buffing wheel on a grinder - you need a big muther pedistal buffer which will build up some heat. I suppose you could try it with a grinder or drill but I have, and it didn't work well. Now you are close - but its still is not right. Then you take 2000 grit buffing powder and rub with a rag and water. Wash it off and bingo - mirror finish. Not easy but that's how its done. Then wax it. 🙂.
Now, if you are looking for the local experts in urathane spray go to the car painting shop. I have not tried this (I'm dying to ask) but I think a local body painting shop would be happy to take 50 bucks to put a beautiful (and damping) finish on a speaker box. If they can do a car for $300 how bad can a speaker box be?
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