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I am currently building a mahogany dreadnought with adi top and was thinking of using z-poxy as a filler. My question is, how well does it take stain? Will it repel the stain where it fills the pores? I am going for a dark d-18 look on this guitar. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark L.

I have never tried to do what you are proposing, but I suspect that staining after applying z-poxy will not work. Others will have to chime in here, but I think you want to do any staining first.

Steve ,
If I stained first, I'm afraid of sanding through the stain when leveling the filler. What method have some of you guys used to avoid this?

I don't think this will work well at all. To do the stain you need the wood fiber exposed. Theoreticaly you could fill and scrape bac to wood but to get to the wood well enough to stain like this I suspect you would uncover some pores.

If you want the Martin look, this works:

stain
wash coat sealer
dark filler
seal coat
finish coats

Choose your own materials, but make sure they're compatible, like no epoxy over shellac.

Here's a neck I did that way.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Michael, that is exactly what I suspected, thanks for your input. Burbank, that is the look I am going for, thanks for posting your procedure.

I believe Martin uses Behlen's Por-O-Pac tinted filler. (not sure which tint)
I have been to the pore filling station at their plant and it looks like someone blew up a 5 gallon can of dark stain. Two people in Tyvek suits and brushes fillin' necks!

I highly recommend the free tours if you ever get the opportunity to get to Nazareth.

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Guitar Building = Continuous Improvement Process

I use alcohol based stain under z-poxy on necks all the time. Just apply the stain, let it dry overnight, then pore-fill with z-poxy(scraping off as much z-poxy as you can). I use a razor blade after the zpoxy is dry to level. I then hit very lightly with a fine synthetic steel wool (do not use real steel wool if you're using water-based finish). I've not had any problem with any stain coming off, but if you do, just touch it up and wipe a thin wash coat of z-poxy over it.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com