Acoustic Guitar Construction

I'm working with a Western Red Cedar top, which is nice and ringy and I think will make a good guitar.

The only problem I'm facing is an aesthetic one; the color is a blah tan. I have experimented with dyeing some WRC with Jeff Jewett's aniline dye and the scraps look good; still, I have no experience with dyeing an entire top.

Do any of you have such experience, and can you give a brother some tips?

I did once try to dye bare wood, but it became very blotchy. After that I always sprayed colored laquer to make some color. So on the bare wood thing (keeping in mind you want to oil the thing) I cannot help you.
But there are you tube vids that can support you.
But what I know is that several light passes work better than one thick one.
Herman

Thanks. I sent an email to Jeff Jewett about this but haven't heard back yet.

If I don't hear from him in a day or two, I think I'll tint some shellac with the dye and then spray it on.

I've emailed 5 different places that sell aniline dye, to enquire about wood prep for torrefied WRC. Haven't heard back.

So I took a scrap piece of the stuff - no sanding - and ran a few different tests. See captions.

Result: what works best is two thin coats of seal coat, let dry. Mix up a batch of shellac (I use sealcoat) and a few drops of dye to your taste. Pad it on fairly evenly, dry, and then add another coat or two to darken the color.
My goal was to make that blah piece of wood get the same color as a nice redwood. IMO I can make it a little better.
I think I'm confident enough to sand the top and apply some nice color.

I mix it with shellac like you are having success with.

When I start dyeing the top, I will make a muneca type pad. I've just been using a rag, so the application has been a little uneven.