Sanding the Dye

After the dye had dried, I began sanding to hopefully get a subtle tiger stripe effect and to minimize the problem of the dye not penetrating. At first I was careful to lightly sand in the direction of the grain using 400 grit paper. I quickly discovered that wood is a lot tougher than styrene plastic, with which I am used to working.

Before sanding and after - the top has been sanded and the
bottom has not. 

I started using more course paper, more pressure and sanding across the grain to see any results. After quite a bit of sanding the raw wood started to come through. The whole time I winced at the idea that base wood would start to poke through.

Extra sanding was applied to the areas that did
not take the dye well with dubious results.

The blotches where there was no dye remained. I did quite a bit more sanding to try to lessen them with some success but they were still obvious. Perhaps they would fade even more under the tinted clear coat.

Sanding complete.

I could already see that the paining scheme was starting to deviate from my plan. The dye was more pronounced than I had anticipated and it was clear that I was not going to achieve the subtle seafoam look of the Gibson Les Paul. Being completely inexperienced I was not delusional about my chances of getting it right on the first try, but it was about this time I started to think of this project as a prototype with a second attempt after this one.