Official Luthiers Forum!

So I've got a question about finishing. Do you put a few coats of shellac on a solid body electric guitar before applying the lacquer? I'm pretty sure that it is common practice to put some shellac on an acoustic before applying the lacquer but I'm not sure. If this is true, why is it necessary to start with some shellac?

I never used shellac on solidbodys.
Sanding sealer, then lacquer.
Other folks may have different habits.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Couple of questions....
What kind of wood are you using. Assume there's no paint on the guitar - just natural wood? Are you using pore filler? Do you need to? (depending on the wood).

Shellac is great for providing a barrier between the finish and what's under it - and a barrier that nearly anything (nitro, waterbased finishes, etc.) will stick to. I think I've heard of people putting a coat of shellac on top of vinyl sealer, before shooting nitro, for that reason (good adhesion to the shellac), and it's also good for preventing woods like cocobolo from "bleeding" when solvents hit them. One sprayed coat of shellac will seal the (pigment?) so that nitro sprayed on later doesn't cause the color in the wood to bleed into bindings.

I love shellac - it's magical stuff. But I've got zero experience in finishing solidbodies - other's will have advice, I'm sure.