ESB4 finish suggestions (bass)

I've done a fair amount of wood finish through my life, but I'm a bit intimidated by the 335 bass kit I have coming to me from Australia. Howdy mates! From Arkansas...

My first thought was to do a sunburst, but I've screwed up some of those. And I don't want to screw this one up. So I'm going mono stain. I've got Colortone Red Mahogany and Vintage Amber on hand. My questions are:

1) Beyond sanding - what prefinish works best with that flame maple (sealer, grain filler, etc)
2) Anybody got an example of a single stain ESB? Everything I've found in google is painted or sunburst...

THANKS! Newbie to the forum, been playing music a long time... as a keyboard player. Gotta play bass in a new country band, want it to look spiffy ;) and I can't ask my guitar playing friends, cuz, you know...

Welcome Agus. If it is a flame maple top, then it is just a very thin veneer so be very careful with sanding the top. Make sure you wet down the top first to check for any glue that may have gotten onto the top.

Yeah, that's why I'm pestering the forum - what grit, what pre finish, anything. Like I said, intimidated. THANKS!!I can research "what to do if you find glue on top" but I can't know to ask that question...

Hey agus, the veneer is only about .025” so if anything I’d leave it and stain then use your clear coats to build up layers to give you a gloss.

If you wipe the veneer down with a little white spirit or gum turpentine it should highlight any areas that are glue affected, you can carefully work on these with “Goof Off” or another type of glue remover.

White spirit should equate to mineral spirits in the US. Gum turpentine is the turpentine artists use for mixing with oil paints, so an art store may be a good place to look if your local hardware/tool store doesn't have any. Turpentine is much nicer to work with than mineral spirits, which have a very noticeable lingering smell, whilst turpentine has a nice pine smell that seems to disappear much quicker.

I've got both on hand! Thanks everybody - exactly what I needed to know.

Mine ended up needing to be a solid color. I am working on a similar one that will also have a solid color top, although I am holding out hope for natural back and sides... If you take a look at the ESB-4 threads you will see a lot of examples that started out with stain but ended up a solid color.

There is hope, however! You may want to look at these build diaries.

Gavin Turner's, I think, was a GOTM as well:

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=2410

This one from Nickosaurus is also great:

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=4635

Thanks!! Look forward to sharing the progress to the forum.