First build: secret model #6 - single cutaway guitar

[brandfbr]

I have no successful experience with these veneers. I have two basses that had veneer tops. Both tops are now painted solid colors. In my defense, only the first one was an unintentional sand through. The second one was always going to get a solid color top because I did a bunch of mods to the top. I was not gentile with my sanding, but with that said, just the sanding I did to get it ready for the paint damaged the veneer.

On the "single cutaway" the veneer is not figured, but it is mahogany and will need grain filling. I am planning to just use stain and AquaCoat and see how little sanding I can get away with.

Did you sand through it while hand sanding it or were you using an electric sander? I did quite a bit of research and was getting more confident with the idea, but you've made me worried now... My idea is that by rubbing the top with a rag with metho after the dye has some time to settle in, I can remove most of the black from the grain that is on top, leaving it in the figured grain, so I end up having to sand very little...

My current plan is: no sanding at all + 2 coats of 1:5 ubeaut black dye. Then try to rub it off the best I can with a damp rag (water or method). Then ubeaut sanding sealer (1 coat) + lightly sand it (240/320), removing most of the black, then concentrated ubeaut red dye.

We'll see what happens