MIMF

Before i buy materials, i'd love some feeback on my plan. I built a walnut topped maple guitar, and i want to do a black to walnut sunburst. I'm thinking tru oil for the clear coat so will this work-?
1. seal and sand with shellac
2. fill the grain (i want it to be dark/black, and could use a suggestion for what to fill with)
3. seal and sand with shellac
4. spray a sunburst with analine dye powder in alcohol with a bit of shellac to fix it
5. several wipe on coats of true oil

If this is a good plan, then i have a couple of questions. What grain filler should i use (i want black or dark brown)? Roughly what ratio of dye/alcohol/shellac should i experiment with to do a burst with opaque edges?
Thanks in advance for any input, this forum is so helpful!

A sunburst on walnut will be very dark, especially if you use a dark filler. A normal sunburst ranges from a light center (usually on spruce or maple) to a dark edge. Walnut already starts off fairly dark. Do you have any photos of the look you are going for?

Something like this, maybe a bit more black, i want to be able to spray the edges an opaque black and fade to natural in the middle. I also want a satin finish and dark grain fill.

OK, that looks like what I was describing. I use oil-based paste wood pore filler with a dark chocolate brown oil stain or universal tint colorant and that should work for this type of finish.

are you saying mix the pore filler with the stain/colorant? then would i just wipe it on and put more on the edges to get the fade?

I mix the stain/colorant into neutral colored filler to get the right shade. There are some pre-colored fillers that would also work.

In regards to the sunburst your idea for analine dye would work but you would have to use a lot to get it really dark.

ah, any better way to get the edges opaque? by the way, this picture is even closer to what im going for.

Joel,
Practice on scrap until your happy with it. Then go for it.

An opaque finish requires a pigment type of color instead of dye which is more of an ice tea type of effect. Stew Mac makes a good pigment but it is only recommended for lacquer and they state it does not work with alcohol finishes. So you may have to find something similar that is compatible with shellac. I can't help you there.

http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_Su ... cquer.html