staining back/sides

[peter havriluk]

I'm trying to arrive at an order of operations for staining a guitar body and installing unstained bindings. What to do, when, is mystifying me. Sort of like a 'who's on first' in guitar land. When to stain, when to rout for bindings, when to install bindings, when to scrape bindings, when to finish sand the body...swirling uncertainty.

Thanks for any advice, comments.

[ken cierp]

In my opinion its best to forget staining.

Make sure you are using a manufacturers complete/chemical compatible coating system which would included the staining product as well if you choose to do that.

Before finishing apply masking to the bindings if the coating has color, make sure to leave a tiny margin and so only the bindings are covered --- remove the masking for clear coat, be prepared to scrape the bindings to assure a clean edge. I use a single edge razor blade.

[peter havriluk]

Thanks, Ken.