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here's a picture to show what I'm talking about:

That definitely looks good, exactly what I was going for, except blue on black. For the second time, I've sanded this guitar back down to the bare wood. Last night, I applied my stain, and everything looks good. so I'm getting ready to apply my shellac again, and I'm stopping here to ask advice again. I've decided to forget about the grain filler. The Zinnser dewaxed shellac that I have is a 3lb. cut. Is there any need to cut it thinner than this? Does this have to be cut with denatured alcohol? Can I use mineral spirits instead?
I do NOT have access to spray equipment, and am intending to use a brush, OR wipe on with a cloth... Which would be more recommended? before I apply anything, I need to knock down the grain that raised while applying my stain. I've been using paper towel, which has worked pretty well, but I wonder if using 0000 steel wool would be acceptable, as it will remove the stain from the binding without the worry of marring anything with a razor blade? Would the steel wool bring me down to the bare wood again?
does anything need to be done in between coats? should I wet sand, dry sand, or rub it with the steel wool? And once sanded, I assume the proper thing to do is to wipe it clean with a tack cloth?
Lastly, How many coats of this shellac would one expect to apply before calling it finished?

thanks a lot

If you will be using the shellac as your entire finish, I would seal with two coats cut to about 1#. Yes you need to use DA to do this. With shellac a brush will work much better than a wipe on (unless you mean a french polish). Wiping with a rag will leave fuzzies in the finish and as the film builds you may find you are wiping off instead of on, shellac softens really quick with successive coats. Long flowing brush strokes are the key, put it down and leave it, don't try to brush it out to much. Knocking down the raised grain could be tricky, steel wool does stand the chance of cutting through the stain. The paper towel sounds interesting, I will need to check that out in the future. Between coats steel wool would be good, I prefer scotch brite myself but they do the same thing. Once you get some film build, if you are getting brush or lap marks sanding with a 320-400 grit paper can help. Dry works but the paper will seed up quickly, if you do it wet I recommend some mineral spirits rather than water.. As to how many coats... I don't count coats, I let the work decide. Generally after a coat dries with no more "dry spots" and has a nice even look I would apply another 3-4 if I was going to leave it as is. If you will be leveling and rubbing out you may want to add 2-3 more. That said I usually work with a 2# cut.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Just to clarify, I typically use scotch brite for scuff sanding delicate curved surfaces between coats, but have found the superfine steel wool to be the best thing for removing the layer of secondary color residue, to get rid of cloudiness before I start topcoats.

As I have limited experience with shellac I'm going to defer to Brian on that part of the question

Thanks again guys. I gave up on trying to fill the grain, It just would not work for me. I think I may be starting to figure out why. I restained it black, and after it was dry, I put a few sealer coats of shellac on. I've got five layers on so far, and my cloth is still turning black on the stained surface. By now, I would think that it would be sealed enough that it would stop pulling color out. the back and neck are fine, as they are not stained. My shellac is thinned down to a three-pound cut, from a one-pound premix. the stain is water based dye powder.

Doing trick finishes with a brush is really, really difficult. It's hard enough spraying!

Also, the word "poly" was dropped in passing. It's good to be more specific...as in "polyurethane", "catalyzed polyurethane", "polyester", etc. "Poly" just basically means polymerizing; it is not a specific finish; it's a curing process.

If you used an alcohol based dye stain for the black then shellac is not a good choice for sealer as it will re-wet the dye and pull it back up into the shellac, especially if wiped or brushed on.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/