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Wood grain filler

Hi Steve,
I recently purchased a mahogany Gibson SG with a white satin finish, I also own a swamp ash Gibson Voodoo SG and I love the 2tone red/black finish. I was contemplating rubbing the new (white) SG with an ebony wood grain filler in an attempt to bring out the wood grain (but I don't want to lose the white finish just give it more of a salt and pepper look. My question is will this work? I know the wood grain will be different because they are different woods, but will I still get the desired effect when rubbing a satin finished SG without doing anything else?
Thanks,
Pat

Pat,
     The Gibson finishing recipe includes a wash coat to seal the wood and then pore filler to fill the grain. There are then sanding sealer coats and top coats. The grain is all filled and the surface buffed smooth. There should be no pores exposed to fill with black pore filler. To get the effect you seek the guitar would need to be stripped to bare wood. The top of the wood would already be filled with soaked in finish and filler, so you would need to scrape off the top 1/64" to get down to dry thirsty wood, with open pores. You would then start with a white wash coat and then black filler. You could then put on a very thin, transparent white, or go straight to clear.
     This would be, if done right, a very expensive project. The scraping will make the guitar slightly smaller and if it is done poorly it can remove subtle ridges and contours and make your guitar look like "not quite a real" SG. On top of this, collectors hate refinished guitars. At least $1000 worth of work, at the end of which your guitar will have less resale value. My strong recommendation is that if you don't like the way this guitar looks, buy another one. But, if you have plenty of money and you want a guitar uniquely yours, I'd be glad to do the work.
 
Steve Mason

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