Some of you have seen WICKED 3D-looking tops on such guitars as Vigier, Tom Anderson, and McNaught. It almost looks like you can dip your fingers into the quilted top! Getting this look is not difficult. Here's how:

Materials:
-1 pint of your color stain (blue, pink, brown, gray, "honey", whatever).
-1 pint of black (or VERY dark brown) stain.
-2 sponge brushes (1" width is fine). I use sponge brushes, but regular hair-type brushes can be used as well. Your call.
-1 sheet of 200 grit sandpaper
-1 sheet of 400 grit sandpaper
-1 Cleaning cloth (something with little or no lint residue)

You can do this either before or after the top is attached to the guitar body. The wood should be attached to something firm and flat, so as to prevent the warping while staining. (Special Note: "99.44% of the time, the veneer will already be attached to the body")

1. Select a nice piece of figured wood veneer. I personally LOVE quilted maple with a nice medium spread to the pattern.

2. Make sure to handle it gently if it's not attached to the body yet. Most veneers are VERY fragile and brittle. Keep it on a flat surface as often as you can.

3. Open up the pint of black stain. We're going to use this one first.

4. Using one of your brushes, give the veneer a nice thorough coat of the super-dark stain. Two coats can be used if the wood soaks up a bunch of the stain on the first round. Use your discretion with this.

5. Let that first application dry according to the stains instructions. Put the cover back on that black stain can, and clean that brush. We're done with them.

6. Get out your 200 grit sandpaper. Attach it to your sanding block (we want to keep it flat, right?) Sand the veneer VERY LIGHTLY!!! I can't emphasize this enough! Go EXTREMELY slowly. Don't sand "through" the veneer. That always sucks, but usually only happens to someone once. :-) What's happening here is you're taking off the high spots of the veneer with the sandpaper. Those same high spots contain some black stain. Well, we need that black stain to go away- but not all of it- just the high spots. The low spots will retain the black stain; we want that to happen.

6a. OPTIONAL- Do two or three passes (ONLY!) with the 400 grit paper to smooth out the top a bit more.

7. Use your cleaning cloth to remove the wood dust you've just sanded away. Make sure the veneer is as clean as possible.

8. Open up the pint of color you've chosen (blue, pink, brown, gray, "honey", whatever), and grab that other brush.

9. Apply one coat to the veneer. Yes- apply it over the black stain too. If one (dried) coat is enough to make you happy, you're done. If you think it needs to be a bit darker/fuller, apply one coat at a time to get your desired look. Be sure to let the coats dry completely before passing judgment on the true color. Stain tends to go on darker, then dry lighter.

10. Now that the 2nd color of stain has dried, you're ready for it to be attached to the body, or clearcoating (if the veneer is already attached to the body).

You can do this with as many colors as the thickness of the veneer will accommodate- thicker pieces can take more sanding between colors, but will also require a BUNCH of black stain coats (so the black soaks nice and deep).

As with any project, practice these techniques on some pieces of sample veneer. Once you've got them perfected, go to it on your "real" piece of veneer.

Good luck, be safe and HAVE FUN! Please send Project Guitar pictures of your killer tops! We'd love to see them!