Pore / Grain filling?

Hello All, having a great time staining my ES 2V. Waiting for my rear back control cavity plate to come so I can trace around it for my cut-out; but that's another story! What I like to know now is, I just finished staining my body and neck and I have it just the color I want. I'm going to use wipe-on-poly for this project and I've seen several videos on this. I thinks its the kind of finish I can do, in my situation, with spraying. Anyway I'm still trying to make sure I don't have to grain fill my Figured Maple top or my Basswood body. Some say you do, some say you don't. I want a perfect finish to apply the poly to and I'm confused about this pore/grain filling question. Any suggestions is always most appreciated.

that quilted top looks amazing, nice job
As for grain fill - the maple is usually pretty tight and no need to grain fill it.
The bass wood on the other hand - people usually will, but check my sisters LP thread in my sig - lots of finish sanding, but no grain fill, and it came up fine.
Ash has a more open grain and if you want that glassy effect then you would have to fill that

Nice quilt/flame mix there! Basswood, like maple, is a closed-pore wood, so no need to grain fill. You only need to grain fill open-pore woods like ash and mahogany.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Nice quilt/flame mix there! Basswood, like maple, is a closed-pore wood, so no need to grain fill. You only need to grain fill open-pore woods like ash and mahogany.

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My ES4-B has a basswood back, I think. Maybe sides too. The sides are fine without fill, although I used a primer with filler. The back though... I have decided I don't hate seeing some grain so I am not re-finishing the back, but it's definitely showing grain in places.

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