Mary Kaye over Alder: What Grain Filler?

I am about to attempt my first Mary Kaye finish. I don't have spray equipment yet, and may take the plunge on this project, or perhaps do it with a whitewash stain followed by Tru Oil. I have done several Tru Oil projects, and got pretty good at it out of necessity, as I have yet to find any good space to spray.

Regardless, my body has some reasonable but not spectacular grain, and I would like to get it to pop just a bit more than would be expected from just the whitewash. If I go the Tru Oil route, I suspect that I will put a few drops of blue into the white. Hopefully this will get me closer to a slight green tint once the Tru Oil amber's it up a bit, rather than looking yellowed (too many yellow guitars already).

Assuming that remains the plan, what color and brand of grain filler would you suggest? I'm certainly not looking for a zebra guitar, just something to make the grain a bit more present without having to look for it.

Cheers!

You usually don't need to grain fill alder. That was part of the reason Fender switched to it. A common way to make figured maple pop is to die it black and sand it back. You could try that on your alder.

It strikes me that going with black will get me more towards a zebra look that I'm trying to avoid. All I want is to get a mildly enhanced grain visibility.

Any other thoughts on what color to use?

It strikes me that going with black will get me more towards a zebra look that I'm trying to avoid. All I want is to get a mildly enhanced grain visibility.

Any other thoughts on what color to use?

Birchwood Casey Sealer/Filler. That will pop the grain a bit, and be a good foundation for your paint. If you want to pop the grain more, you'll have to dye it, and sand back a little. Use a dye that is more or less the color of the grain...like a dark brown with some amber mixed in...then sand back with 320 and the dye will remain in the darker grain, and not the lighter parts. It would look great...wouldn't look like a zebra.

Awesome. Thanks!

More thoughts before I begin:

Assuming I do a dye-sandback to pop the grain a bit as an initial step, what kind of spray sealer should I use on this coat to go beneath the whitewash? I did a dye burst with a previous project, had it looking perfect, and forgot to seal it before going for the tru oil. The first coat smeared it all to hell, and I needed to start over. Don't want to make the same mistake twice.

I need something I can spray that will be good beneath the whitewash, and also good to seal that in before the tru oil. Any suggestions?

Cheers!