What type of Shellac for this?

[SnorkelMonkey]

They said they used amber shellac flake but my local Rockler only stocks blond, orange, garnet. Should I order online, and if so what should I get? Links would be great. TIA

Here is a nice natural looking amber color I came up with for one of my steels.
I did a couple 1lb cut wash / sealer coats with some amber shellac flake first, then finished it off in Tru Oil.

[flatfive]

That looks pretty close to blond, to me. You can
mix flakes to get the exact color you want.

Consider shellac.net as an online source for shellac.
In fact, you might want to send your pic to shellac.net
and ask for advice. The guy who runs shellac.net is
very nice and helpful (don't remember his name right
now).

Also, one of the sample packs on shellac.net has
enough flakes for a few guitars.

[Drak]

Why don't you ask him directly, he's a member here! (Quarter)

Just PM him.

[SnorkelMonkey]

I got a hold of him, and he's been helping me out greatly. He said he used Kusmi Orange flake from an ebay seller in Canada. I'll try out some local orange flake on some scrap and see how it turns out.

I'm thinking of using it as a base/sealer coat. In Dresdner's New Wood Finishing book he talks about flooding it on till it stops soaking it up and then a wipe down of any excess with a cloth rag dampened with alcohol. Let dry for 20 minutes. Lightly sand the raised grain and you're done and ready for the finishing coats (tru-oil in my case).

[SnorkelMonkey]

Originally Posted by flatfive

That looks pretty close to blond, to me. You can
mix flakes to get the exact color you want.

Consider shellac.net as an online source for shellac.
In fact, you might want to send your pic to shellac.net
and ask for advice. The guy who runs shellac.net is
very nice and helpful (don't remember his name right
now).

Also, one of the sample packs on shellac.net has
enough flakes for a few guitars.

Thank you for the tips!

[Drak]

The risk you run with trying to flood a body is making a mess with so much product on the piece.
Actually, the whole process sound a bit on the messy side to me, so if you proceed with that, make sure you have all the fringe materials you need at the ready.

Newspapers, towels, rags, gloves, a bottle of alcohol (), things like that...

Other than that, I've never flooded a body with shellac before, I don't necessarily have anything against it other than I find it a little overboard in technique, but there's always more than one way to get there as they say...

Also, if I was flooding a piece with anything, I would be giving that piece a couple of days to thoroughly dry before I hit it with any other product other than itself, there is no good reason I can think of to rush into another step so quickly, and many reasons not to.

[SnorkelMonkey]

I think he means just applying the shellac liberally almost pouring it on with brush or rag. Maybe he does mean to literally pour it on? But like you said that would be really messy and like you said might take a while to dry?

It's for a birdseye maple tele neck I'm doing. I then want to tru-oil over it. I'm not exactly looking for a classic Fender look per se, but more a classy vintage instrument look.

[hackworth1]

Shellac seems to respond best when applied in very light, even coats. It is prone to gumming up when applied too thick. It is also quite prone to absorb in rougher areas and run off smoother areas.