stain neck to match rosewood sides?

[tnt2002]

My proir kits were mahogany sides and neck, now I have rosewood sides and a mahogany neck. I'm new to staining, so any advice would help. like do I put on a wash coat a shellac first (I will be French Polishing), then fill then stain? Any recommendations on stain?

Thanks in advance.

[B. Howard]

If you want to stain wood it must me be done on bare wood, prior to any sealer. You did not mention the type of pore fill you are using so I will assume pumice for now. Normally this would be done on the bare wood and would fill and seal at one time. Since you will be staining you can't really do this as it will likely cause the satin to get blotchy. In this case you will need to put down a few good spit coats of shellac to protect the stain prior to filling, you can then fill with pumice as usual. One difference here will be that the pore fill will take on the color of the shellac and not the wood so the pores will likely appear lighter or perhaps yellow. On the rosewood, or any wood you do not stain, the finish process would be as normal. For work like this a dye based penetrating stain works best, I like Behlen's Solar-Lux. But others will work just as well, Oil based Minwax is also a good choice and easy to find. Thicker stains such as Zar and Sherwin Williams Wood Classic should be avoided as they tend to lay on top of the wood rather than penetrate.

[tippie53]

Martin used to use a 2 color process , I personally like Minwax Special Walnut. It was a good match. I use a mineral based filler Pore o Paq and get it in natural color and then I can add the stain to the filler. Seal and finish. So as you can see there are many ways to do this. Zpoxy is a clear filler and you can do that over the stain .