Dye vs Stain: Definitely experiment on your wood samples!

I'm not sure on the differences between dye and stain (I did look on google and it seems to make sense!).

I built 2 STA-1HT kits last year. Both were given a coat of ebony timbermate to highlight (and raise) the grain.
The first was finished with red alcohol ink.
The second was finished with green water based dye.
The link is https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post221745.

Both ended up with visible grain patterns on both. The body with water based dye was rougher - I assumed the grain raised even more.

This year I have tried one (without the timbermate and it was not watered down first!) with a coat of the water based dye only. This was very rough and needed quite a bit of sanding. Note - I would not try this again!

I have experimented a bit with sanding sealer (oil based and shellac (alcohol based)) before the stain - but have not had success with the dyes or stains taking afterwards!