Can spalted maple tops be painted?

[Chromatic]

I have only seen natural finishes on them... would love to see a burst archtop spalted maple top.

[gravol]

Never seen one either.
I have a CS Warrior in the works which will be transparent black on a spalt maple top

[dg]

Somebody else will probably be able to give a better answer, but to my knowledge spalted wood is usually stabilized with something like a plastic resin so it can be worked with. Otherwise, it's got areas that are soft or crumbly and will fall apart, and some areas would soak up finish like a sponge and others wouldn't. I don't know if you could stain stabilized wood, but I don't see any reason some kind of transparent color couldn't be sprayed on.

[shreddermon]

From what I've heard, dg's got it mostly right. I've seen some transparent colors applied to SM, but have been told they were actually trans color-tinted clearcoats. So the wood itself was not stained, in the typical sense.

[Mr Metal]

With the right process everything is paintable........You should check with a reputable guitar (or furniture for that matter) paint pro.....We may have a few on JCF!!!

[krimson]

Yes. Here an example from PRS. It's Danny Spitz guitar.

[Mr Metal]

Beautiful!

[Wylde06]

That PRS looks awsome

[Shawn Lutz]

I've seen them only in trans finished. I have a blue one that has some spalting