In order for transparent black to look nice, it needs to be barely transparent, we call it almost black. On Jason's basses, they looked black fromt eh audience, but up close, under some light, you could see the Flame Maple.
Problem with sheer black (or any sheer color) is that it first has to overcome the color of the wood. Since usually we paint colors over Maple, you first have to overcome the yellow cast of the Maple. Hardest of all is the black. Sometimes it looks a little on the green side (when the color is thinner) others, a touch more on the purple (with a thicker amount of black tinted paint). In order to get it so it appears more black - well, it needs more black paint, and that obscures the grain of the wood.
Using a black stain first would probably increase the blackness, but we so dislike doing anything to the wood that is not able to be reversed. We have little experience in staining.
We did a repair of an old Zebrawood Series I that had been painted with a transparent purple paint by another shop later that looked pretty cool. I think with black, again you'll have to combat the overall yellow color of the Zebrawood, just like with the Maples.
Black-ish woods are available like Macassar Ebony and Ziricote.
The illusive Stormburst finish is referred to on
this post, but there is no photo. Maybe the owner can be coaxed into contributing one!
