Acoustic Guitar Construction

I just completed building a 0000 J and I'm ready to start applying the finish. I would like to lightly stain the spruce top to give it a more vintage look. I plan to mask off the herringbone purfling and the maple bindings. But I'm not sure what to do about the herringbone rosette and bwbwb rings. Any suggestions?
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Gary Palmer

Hey --- Gary how about posting some pictures in the construction section or gallery?

Just my opinion -- don't try and stain or dye the spruce it could end up a horrible un-repairable blotchy mess! -- no kidding. Unless of course you know exactly what you are doing.

I think maybe orange shellac French Polish or spraying on a few light coats of toner after the entire sound board is prepped and "completely sealed" maybe a few top coats too. I think they actually have aging toner.

Ken,
Thanks for the good advice. Since this is my first attempt at guitar building, I'm thinking now I'll just leave it natural. Would hate to end up with an ugly guitar after all the work I put into it. I may have to rethink my whole finishing strategy and try the shellac French Polish. I was planning to wait until it was completely finished and strung up before I posted photos, but I'll try to post a photo of it in its pre-finish state.

Thanks Gary pixs would be great.

I suggest communicating with the members about the finishing options. I must warn you not to try some basement finishing science. Use a manufacturer's completely compatible coating system.

Gary keep in mind that your top will most certainly darken over time, you will probably notice in the first year.
Then you just get the vintage look you want sooner than you thought.

Hi Gary,
If you are shooting lacquer, you can spray a couple coats of clear sealer down on the whole body, let it dry and scuff sand to remove any little bumps. Any little tits will show when you spray a toner if you don't get the top smooth. By spraying the clear sealer down first it makes it a lot easier to clean up any bleed through that might happen where you tape of the binding and rosette. I use a thinned down lacquer and vintage Amber, I use about 60 lbs. air pressure and turn the material nob down. You want a pretty dry coat sprayed a little further away than normal. You don't want a real wet coat, just enought to get an even coat. If you put down a wet coat you'll stand a good chance of pulling up the color when you remove the tape ( use only fine line tape) plus you'll have a bigger ridge to fill with the clear top coats. If you are still thinking about using a aging toner, over time there's a chance that the toner can fade and unless you've done a super job, it will probably be uneven.
Some builders actually use a Black light to cure and age their guitars. They put the freshly finished guitar in a box that has a black light installed and expose it to the UV from the black light which apparently changes the color.