But I need a darker tint, and, as I recall, maple is kinda tricky
regarding stains, etc.

Would appreciate advice/suggestions about prepping/finishing such a
project.


For curly maple I have good success using water based solutions of
transtint dyes. There is an online movie from FWW showing a guy doing
a guitar body with a great technique.

1. Wet the piece andsand off standing fibers after it dries.
2. Wet it again before dying to slow\control the absorbtion. While it
is wet apply a strong coat of black dye rubbing it in evenly.
3. After it dries hand sand it until just accents of black remain in
and around the figure, accentuating it.
4. I then colored with Vintage Maple and Medium Brown dye. You could
go with Maple and some black. This time re-raise grain by wetting,
sand when dry, wet again beofre applying dye to control saturation.
Multiple coats of dye can darken.

I'll post pictures tonight.