converting oiled walnut to "rosenut" color

Thanks for the suggestions..all good. I've stained & finished enough wood over the years to appreciate the comments about dark wood just getting darker with added stain. I hadn't considered that..yet, but no doubt it's true. Typically on fresh wood I use Transtint dyes and often make several applications of different colors without it going muddy & dark. A "Mission" finish starts out with fresh (qs)white oak getting a canary yellow dye and ends as a glazed golden reddish-brown. Transtint has some pretty pure colors, but hitting the speakers with a straight red dye may not get me there. The Transtint carrier (you mix it up from concentrate) is either ethanol or water. Not thrilled with wiping down the speakers with either, but ethanol would be better. Though any ethanol you can buy contains 5% water and this could raise the grain...requiring a light sanding. I'm sure the veneer is paper-thin.

The suggestion of bleaching and then restaining is actually a very good one that I hadn't considered. There are a number of options to bleaching..the ones I know involve water. Lots of risk with this path though. It could only be done as a shortcut to reveneering..as, if it didn't work, I'd be reveneering anyway. In the end, the "shortcut" may turn out to be going straight to reveneering in the first place.

hmm..nuthin's easy...

I haven't pulled the bottom halves of the speakers out of the closet they are in, but I don't think the bottoms are veneered. I have some walnut in the shop..guess some experimenting may be in order...thanks..

A passing thought..If I put a coat of shellac(universal sealer over nearly any finish) on the existing veneer-finish it would seal it. This would give me control over how much of the gel stain to apply and allow me to back-up to a point where no gel stain remains on the veneer. I'd test first, but I believe mineral spirits doesn't dissolve shellac, but it does remove the gel stain.

hififile..I considered danish oil, probably what is on there now, and watco does have a cherry danish oil(I have some), but the color is very light and wouldn't be enough to get me to the rosenut color. I agree the ethanol might lift the veneer edges. Hard telling what kind of adhesive they used back in the 80's. The veneer on the corners right now are perfect.

I've done some searching on the web on how to do this and I'm not finding anything...not even when you start from unfinished walnut.

yeah..lot to be said for new veneer..short, sweet, & just "pay da man". More than once I've tried 'creative' solutions and found that just pay da man is the better choice. I'll have to beat the local bushes to see if there's anyone around that can do the job. I've done some veneering, but I'm not sure I'd want to take this job on.

Any thoughts on whether new veneer would have any impact on the sound?

Corazon/Theo,

Points well taken.

Why change the color?..the room where I listen has a mix of chocolate-brown oriental furniture and a couple pieces of furniture that are dark wine-red in color. The Snells are the odd-man-out with an oiled-walnut color. This is driven purely by aesthetics. If the Snells were rosenut..it would look very nice.

No doubt I might be unhappy with failed results, that's why I'm looking into options. "Rosenut" is just walnut stained with a red mahogany or cherry stain(or more likely dye..fine furniture is often dyed due to greater transparency). So this isn't odd..just converting from one color to another is odd.

One veneer over another and sound quality..yeah..that's a big unknown & if I mess it up, going back won't be so easy. Top veneer glue raising the bottom veneer/glue..surely possible, but in my woodworking experience, unlikely. Any veneer adhesive these days is high solids(low solvent) and the first adhesive is cured to a brick by now. Telegraphing..possible if the base veneer were flat-sawn oak or ash(ugly wood..to me), but what's there is a very fine walnut surface. Add adhesive and more veneer and it would be fine. Resale..I know & I don't care. We're not talk significant money here. If they were worth 5-10K on the resale market, then I'd care. The sound appraoches 5-10K..which is why I'm keeping them. All the possible reveneer issues is why I leaned toward restain(dye)initially, that and cost. I'll admit, given everyone's thoughts, I'm reconsidering the entire project.

I would be interested in your(anyone's) thoughts on other speakers that have the Snell's sound signature. I'm aware of Vandys, but not of others, first hand at least.