I'm mid-project on a solid-body that will have a painted finish, but I'm looking ahead to the next project.
Left over from the stock I bought, milled and glued-up for the current project, I have two more solid alder body blanks on the shelf. I'm thinking of veneering the face and back and applying a natural finish or perhaps doing some dye under the finish, but I'm not sure about what to do on the sides. It seems my options are:
- Leave the sides natural with a clear finish, though Alder isn't the most attractive wood
- Stain the sides to contrast with the face & back veneer
- Veneer the sides - though I've never veneered a curved surface, so I'm not keen on tackling that with this project
- Apply a solid opaque color to the sides
I was leaning toward the solid-color approach, but I'm having trouble finding examples on the web (other than sunburst finishes) to get a sense of how this would look. While a sunburst finish would be cool (and I have an airbrush that would probably be perfect for doing that) I'm trying to not bite off more than I can chew with the next project by incorporating too many new techniques - I'll be busy enough with the veneering and binding and a clear finish!
Thoughts? Ideas? Examples?
Thanks!