Bejeweling a bass

[a.blue.wave]

I'm finishing my bass (as of yet I have done nothing but I have all the materials) and I got the idea of making a design out of a bunch of small diamond-shaped cubic zirconia and glue (like those glitter pictures in kindergarten). I'm not doing any inlaying but I don't know how I should do it, i.e stain and sealer first, then the design then gloss over all of it, or I could mark it off with painters tape after every layer, peel it off, then apply the design. I don't think putting the gloss over it would turn out well, but if it would, it would make it a lot easier (it's nitrocel. clear gloss, btw). Could anyone tell me how to make this work?

[ldervish]

Can you try out a bit your plan on some spare material? You'd hate to screw up on the axe and have to redo it.

My feeling is anything covering the "gems" will cut the sparkle to nothing, so they should be last. I would look to stain/seal/finish the body, then mask out the design and apply it. But again, if you can test run, it would help with things like handling the cz and the glue, learning how to keep the pieces in place and clean, etc.

[Hookus]

Look at these.

http://www.grizzly.com/sbguitar/sbguitar.aspx

The president of Grizzly Industrial has some of the finest inlay work I have seen.