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Would anyone here have a suggestion as to how to get a spruce top this colour? Usually associated with the Conde guitars from Madrid, it is also seen on guitars by a number of other prominent makers.

I personally prefer the look of woods left unstained, but it seems that many want this flamenco-orange look and I thought it might be fun to try. I imagine spraying a finish like this would be akin to applying dye under a sunburst. The part that has me stumped is how to avoid tinting the rosette as well. Could it be as simple as blue masking tape?

I'm also curious if the same effect can be done with french polish.

Thanks,
-Jake.

shellac? I believe it comes in orange.

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French polish yes.
Because spruce gets splotchy if you apply a heavy color at first, I'll do a seal coat with super blonde, and get the rosette filled with shellac well. Then go with the orange all over.

You'll need a strong orange and maybe mix it with some dark amber and red. Because shellac is a pretty thin finish, it takes a deep color to make a bold color statement.

Once the finish color is to your liking, you'll have to scrape the rosette and any other parts, such as purfling lines, that you don't want orange, and apply blonde coats over all.

There are other finish schedules that will do the same thing, such as colored dye in thin shellac, or just alcohol, over an initial seal coat of blonde shellac.

Also a water-borne dye, but I don't know how that is prepared for the spruce not to take the dye unevenly.
Do several test samples on a similar spruce, or spruce cutoffs from this guitar.

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