Stain and epoxy seal test.

Finishing has always been my weak point. After a 400 grit sand, I stained the body. I stained the maple a light red/mahogany followed by a vintage amber. Too red so I wiped and I wiped with denatured alcohol to get most of the red out. Test on a scrap piece? No way, I'm jumping in with both feet first! I masked the mohoagany and sanded the maple only. With the mask still on, I applied a darker mahogany stain and sanded with 600 grit and then applied a lighter stain. I liked it. The neck is just vintage amber and some places took more of a stain than others. Even plain maple showed some figure. Once I was happy with the color, I tried the John Catto epoxy grain fill method as a test. He advised to use small amounts of epoxy at one time. Well, I used a little more than that. He was right. Too much meant that I had to find spots for the epoxy and becasue there was so much, it started to dry while spreading. I did not want to mess with dark filler. The problem is that there are pieces of maple crisscrossed with mahogany. The normal filler would've stained everything. Lesson learned: keep the guitar flatter next time. The epoxy was spotty as I was just trying to get it on most of the face. I missed some areas, but it was just a first coat. I'll give it another coat and things should even-out. Keep denatured alcohol handy as that cleans up the soft epoxy real good.