Official Luthiers Forum!

I got a friend who wants me to finish a guitar body for him. He wants the guitar to look just like stevie ray's, except with all the finish on it, no stickers, etc. Basically a loose replica of the Fender SRV signature strat. I'm not set up to spray nitrocellulose laquer and actually don't care for the stuff myself. The ideal finish to suit my build style would be a hand rubbed three color burst, and then brush some waterbased laquer substitute on it and buff it with micromesh. My friend doesn't want the dye to penetrate the wood. Instead he wants there to be bare wood once he's played it a decade or so. If I put some shellac between the dye and the finish, will it work? I'm hoping to use water soluble analine dye from lmi, and KTM9 waterbased finish on top. Is there something else I can put between the dye and the wood to get the results we want?