Official Luthiers Forum!

Do I need to put a sealer coat of some kind over the stained top of my electric before I do the Nitro? And what about the back? I am planning on doing a grain filler and then Nitro after that. Do I have to seal before the Nitro?

Thanks!

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Barron Wesley Guitars

Rusty,

Yes, seal after the stain, before the nitro.

I also seal before pore filling, if I'm using a colored filler, such as LMI's Micro-bead water-based. Doing so keeps the filler from coloring the wood and provides more contrast to the pores. If you're using something un-colored, such as System3 or Z-poxy, the seal coat isn't needed before pore filling.

With a colored pore filler, I'll do stain, then sealer, then pore filler, sealer, then final finish coat, which for me is Behlen's Rockhard.
If I'm pore filling with Zpoxy, then it's just the epoxy -- coupla applications, then final finish. On one piece of EIR I couldn't get it to wet consistently with Zpoxy, so I did a very dilute shellac first, but only on that one guitar so far.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Thanks Pat. What do you recommend sealing the top, back, sides, and neck with exactly (if not using Z-poxy)? I'm using McFaddens mahogany colored filler on a mahogany back, but was hoping to keep the darker color of the filler because the mahogany is a little too light for my taste.

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Barron Wesley Guitars