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Alright so I've run into a situation where I don't know what to do next. I screwed up the binding that I put on my guitar last week by being a little to aggressive with my sanding/shaping of the edge and I'm going to rerout it and start again. So it's given me a chance to take a step back and think about what I'm doing as far as my finish is concerned. I'm using bocote for the binding, fiber purfling and the body is flame maple. I want to do a burst finish on the top which I'm planning to spray on after I pop the grain with dye, and while I had planned on putting the binding in first now I'm starting to worry about having the dye bleed into the binding and purfling.

I've read on here about using shellac in the binding ledge as a barrier to avoid the bleed over but I'm also concerned that if I do the grain popping first that I'll have problems leveling out my binding without sanding off too much of my color. So it's the order I'm confused about. Do I put the shellac onto the bindings after they've been leveled out and then pop the grain with dye?

Seems like the order would then be
1. rout the binding ledges
2. shellac the ledges
3. glue in the binding and purfling
4. level to the edges and top
5. shellac the binding and purfling
6. dye the top, sand back down, repeat #5 if I have to for subsequent dye coats
7. shellac bindings
8. stain base coat
9. seal coat
10. spray burst
11. scrape bindings clean
12. top coats

is this right? I know it's a long list of steps but this is the best order I can think of right now. I've got loads of experience doing wood staining and spraying lacquer but I've never used shellac before and I've never done such a technical finish. Any help is most appreciated.

Now I'll be honest, I've yet to do any sort of binding myself, but I would think your safest bet would be to do your color before you install your binding. I don't know what type of dye you're using but I know water based will get everywhere. Haven't tried the shellac thing but I know the dye will go right through masking tape.

So for whatever that's worth.

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What color is the dye? If it's just a light tint coat, you could consider just dyeing and sanding back the bindings too.

It's black

well I guess I'll just have to figure it out on my own, test pieces it is.

Yea I'm running into the same question. I want to use wood binding and leave it natural while having my top stained. Don't wanna scratch up the stain, and don't want the color on the wood binding, don't know what to do.

I've decided that my original post was not that clear, the list of steps and everything kind of reads like verbal diarrhea so here's the question posed a little more clearly as I just did over at MIMF.

I think I figured it out. I'm going to finish sanding the profile on my top until it's right. Next I'm going to rout the ledge for the bindings, after which I'll pop the grain with my dye that I think I'm going to mix with water(?) so it won't react to the shellac that I'm going to put on the ledge. At this point I don't think I even need to worry about being very clean with the shellac as whatever overage I get outside the ledge will get sanded back off when I work the binding down to level. I'm going to use CA glue to glue in the binding and purfling and then I'll sand it down to level at the same time that I'm sanding off the majority of the black dye. (I may apply several coats of dye to get the depth of pop before I do the binding).

So at this point I should end up with the dye sanded down and ready for my burst stain, and the binding and purfling left natural and ready for finish. Then I should be able to put down my sealer coat before I do the burst. I'll very carefully mask off the binding with frog tape or vinyl auto mask tape and do the burst before doing my coats of lacquer.

The only thing I'm not sure is whether I actually need to mix the dye with water, or if alcohol would suffice. I'm using zinnzer bullseye shellac and I'm assuming it's alcohol based. I guess it's not really a problem if the shellac reacts to the dye in the ledge since I'm using CA glue. Does this sound right?