Nitro over oil based stain

[IOPMatt]

I am finishing my first guitar which is a chambered strat with a swamp ash top. Was following the finishing schedule on the Stew Mac website and was having real trouble with the grain raisling up. Have sanded off my finish and started over 3 times now. Stew Macs schedule says you can use water based dye or stain but now know that it has been the water causing the problem all along.

I'd still like to finish with nitro. Any thoughts on spraying sanding sealer followed by nitro over an oil based stain?

Thanks!

 

[IOPMatt]

Or should I go with a polyurethane finish?

 

[stratamania]

What kind of oil, may make a difference. Testing on scrap is a good idea.

 

[Cagey]

Oil-based stain? Like what? Have you put it on yet?

If you were using StewMac's stains mixed with water, it may be as easy as just not using water as a carrier/dilution agent. Use alcohol or acetone. Their Colortone stains are just rebadged Mixol stains, which are what are known as "universal" stains. All that means is you can mix them with damn near anything. What you mix them with has more to do with their "open" time than anything else. That is, how fast the vehicle boils off. Water doesn't evaporate as quickly as the hotter solvents, so you have more working time. If you're trying to do something like a blend or gradual transition such as you'd see with a "burst" finish, you may want the stain to stay wet longer to allow you time to make that transition as gradual as possible. Water gives you that, while alcohol or acetone might flash off so fast that you leave an obvious line in the coloration. Depends on your application skill. You can certainly do bursts with solvent-based stains, they just need you to be confident about what you're doing.

Once you've got a stain on there that makes you happy, you can seal it, clear coat it, finish sand it and buff it out.