jmkratt Posted June 1, 2022 Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 Hello everyone! I have been lurking for a while learning a lot but this is my first post I am working on finishing an Explorer shaped guitar. It's currently unfinished mahogany, which I took a pic and attached. I am still trying to finalize my finish plan and was thinking of grain filling with brown or black grain and sanding back to contrast the wood. I would like to also stain part of the guitar and leave part natural and top coat the entire top. Am I on the right track here? My plan was to stain, grain fill, top coat...with lots of sanding in between. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 1, 2022 Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 well... imo if you are going to leave part natural... to get clean lines you should tape off everything but the natural part and spray sealer/clear on that first. then when you stain it shouldn't bleed through and will leave a nice crisp line. grainfill is always a winner on mahog! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmkratt Posted June 1, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 3 minutes ago, mistermikev said: well... imo if you are going to leave part natural... to get clean lines you should tape off everything but the natural part and spray sealer/clear on that first. then when you stain it shouldn't bleed through and will leave a nice crisp line. grainfill is always a winner on mahog! That's really good to know, thank you. Am I on the right track with the dark grain fill for a nice contrast? I appreciate your help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 1, 2022 Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 Just now, jmkratt said: That's really good to know, thank you. Am I on the right track with the dark grain fill for a nice contrast? I appreciate your help. well... imo dark grain fill on mahog is lovely... hard to go wrong. I don't know that I'd go quite black... but dark red or blue or brown or other color that fits into the scheme... it's a winner. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmkratt Posted June 1, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 Just now, mistermikev said: well... imo dark grain fill on mahog is lovely... hard to go wrong. I don't know that I'd go quite black... but dark red or blue or brown or other color that fits into the scheme... it's a winner. Perfect, thank you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVA Posted June 1, 2022 Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 28 minutes ago, mistermikev said: well... imo if you are going to leave part natural... to get clean lines you should tape off everything but the natural part and spray sealer/clear on that first. then when you stain it shouldn't bleed through and will leave a nice crisp line. grainfill is always a winner on mahog! I am also trying to learn more in this area. Do you follow the grain sealer with the grain filler and then stain? Or do you color the filler? Or sometimes one or the other method? Thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 1, 2022 Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 i think generally you mix dye with the grain filler... sealing it before filler would just kind of be wasting sealer as until that grain is filled it's not going to make a continuous seal... but I am no authority on the subject and wouldn't be surprised if there are other takes on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVA Posted June 1, 2022 Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 4 minutes ago, mistermikev said: i think generally you mix dye with the grain filler... sealing it before filler would just kind of be wasting sealer as until that grain is filled it's not going to make a continuous seal... but I am no authority on the subject and wouldn't be surprised if there are other takes on that. I only have internet knowledge on this at this point, but I read that you seal before applying colored filler to prevent the color in the filler from spreading. Sealing before filling....filling and not having the color spread...none of this is intuitive to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 1, 2022 Report Share Posted June 1, 2022 well... all i know i have learned from google and rarely steers me wrong as long as I get at least 2 sources. that said... a while back I did a tele, used "mocha" dye in the grain fill, and then sealed... this was on ash for a 'butterscotch blonde' finish, did not have any problems with the grain fill spreading. You'd think that'd be a real problem there given how light the final finish is/was. I guess what they probably mean is "bleeding" if you used a very dark dye it could bleed into the surrounding grain... but even then you are going to sand back after so... can't imagine it would matter. would just end up looking like a dye sandback. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 No expertise here... I just wanted to say that there's several ways and materials to fill the pores. Lacquer type fillers tend to shrink so multiple applications are needed for a glass smooth finish - although a well polished grainy surface can have a more "woody" feel! Once I saw someone fill the grain of an ash body with ebony dust and either glue or lacquer. Wood dust should fill more effectively as you can control the solids content. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVA Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 4 hours ago, Bizman62 said: No expertise here... I just wanted to say that there's several ways and materials to fill the pores. Lacquer type fillers tend to shrink so multiple applications are needed for a glass smooth finish - although a well polished grainy surface can have a more "woody" feel! Once I saw someone fill the grain of an ash body with ebony dust and either glue or lacquer. Wood dust should fill more effectively as you can control the solids content. I have done the slurry method with Tru-Oil and it worked well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted June 2, 2022 Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 20 hours ago, jmkratt said: Hello everyone! I have been lurking for a while learning a lot but this is my first post I am working on finishing an Explorer shaped guitar. It's currently unfinished mahogany, which I took a pic and attached. I am still trying to finalize my finish plan and was thinking of grain filling with brown or black grain and sanding back to contrast the wood. I would like to also stain part of the guitar and leave part natural and top coat the entire top. Am I on the right track here? My plan was to stain, grain fill, top coat...with lots of sanding in between. Thanks! Looks familiar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmkratt Posted June 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2022 4 minutes ago, killemall8 said: Looks familiar Yeah it probably does! Can't wait 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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