Veneering and Staining

[Michael0211]

Hey guys. I'm going to start a new project soon. I have a cheap Harrier tele copy and i want to veneer it with flame maple veneer. Then stain and finally clear coat it. So i have a few questions.
First of all is how thick would the veneer have to be as i'd be staining it your supposed to sand the veneer right?
Secondly whats the most suitable clear coat to use?
And thirdly which looks best.
Dont really want a plain flame

Green

Blue

Blue with headstock

[Colt W. Knight]

One issue with veneering an existing body is the roundover portion on the edges, and another issue is that glueing veneer is a complete PITA. It takes some trial and error. I would highly recommend you use a peel n stick veneer.

Veneer is typically about 1/42", while you can sand it very lightly, you want to avoid sanding as much as possible, as you you can sand through very easily. But light sanding with high grit isn't an issue.

Instead of staining the veneer itself, you can simply tint the lacquer, and get the same effect. I would recommend a nitrocellulose lacquer and transtint dye.

[Michael0211]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah i thought of the round over thing and was going to put binding on the edges. But the peel and stick sounds like a good idea. If i bought ready tinted nitrocellulose lacquer could i then get a clear lacquer to go over this to get a thicker finish or would there be no need?

[Colt W. Knight]

Originally Posted by Michael0211

Thanks for the reply. Yeah i thought of the round over thing and was going to put binding on the edges. But the peel and stick sounds like a good idea. If i bought ready tinted nitrocellulose lacquer could i then get a clear lacquer to go over this to get a thicker finish or would there be no need?

If it has an existing radius, binding it going to be tough, but still doable. If its a greater radius than 1/8", its not going to be fun. You will need some wide and thick binding. I would reccomend the StewMac router bit and bindings to do this mod.

When applying tinted lacquer I would follow this schedule

1. Finish sand
2. Apply sanding sealer, allow to dry, lightly sand with 220 grit.
3. Apply sanding sealer, allow to dry, buff with 000 steel wool.
4. Apply several coat of clear lacquer,
5. Apply as many coats of tinted lacquer as required to get the color you want. The color gets darker and more robust as you apply coats.
6. Apply numerous coats of clear lacquer.
8. Wet sand - 800, 1000, 1200, 2000 grit.
9. Buff with rubbing compound.
10. Buff with swirl mark remover.
11. Apply a wax or glaze.

The above will yield a high luster, mirror like finish. It will have the appearance of wet glass.