I am new to building guitars. My main interest is strat and Les Paul styles. I have a half-assed Les Paul DIY kit I am currently working on with a really decent tiger stripe maple top which I dyed a light blue and the back being mahogany I dyed a combo of blue and black. Mahogany being a somewhat grainy wood I dyed and hit with a couple coats of Varithane sanding sealer to fill in the grain and there's the issue. This stuff does a lousy job of filling anything and is so limp you can basically sand though it in no time and ruin the dye job below. Can anyone recommend something that works better. I'll probably go with a top coat of poly since I'm working in my basement and even though I have lacquer on hand it seems like a less healthy choice when ventilation is an issue. Note DYI kits usually have really shit components I replaced everyone of them so I want this thing to be more than hack job.
