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I'm going to be doing a sand-back dyeing technique to finish the guitar I'm working on. I've stained shelves and a door in the past, but otherwise don't really have any experience finishing wood. I've always used a paintbrush in the past, but I understand a rag is really the right tool for this particular project. Is there anything I need to know about the type of rag? Can I just use an old t-shirt or something? Or do I need a particular type of fabric?

As for the sanding, I'm having a hell of a time finding a sanding block and 220-grit sandpaper that I'm sure work well together for this project. I seriously don't understand why I'm having so much trouble because it seems like it should be simple. Different sandpaper is ideal for different materials, right? Does anyone have recommendations for a flat, rigid sanding block that would work okay for a tele body, along with corresponding 220-grit sandpaper ideal for wood (specifically maple), ideally that velcros or otherwise adheres to the block?

Yeah, you can just ball a piece of shirt up and wrap another piece around it. There are also these dauber things: https://www.amazon.com/GooMart-Finger-D ... uber&psc=1
I like the daubers a little more because sometimes with cloth scraps you get little pills of cloth coming off of them as they get used. It's not a big deal, just annoying.

I've always used a hard rubber sanding block like this: https://www.amazon.com/3M-05519-Sanding ... B002MDHECA
I'm sure mine is cheaper but it's the same concept. The sandpaper is held in place by some tiny nails inside the block. Really, you could use a very flat piece of wood and tack or spray-adhesive the paper onto it. For curved areas you can wrap paper around a dowel, or those flexible, foam type sanding blocks could be handy.

Use aluminum oxide sandpaper if possible and it will last much longer. Other than that, as long as you avoid super cheap sandpaper it should work fine, with varying degrees of clogging
I think a variety pack of paper should be all you need for this type of work unless you need a specific super fine grit. Any big hardware store should have these items in stock.

I'm not sure what type of stain you're going for, but I always use the water-soluble dyes from ReRanch, and here are two tips that help with that:
1) When you're all done sanding and ready to stain, wipe a damp cloth over the wood to raise the remaining wood fibers up and sand them down one last time.
2) When staining, again wipe with a damp cloth and then wipe the stain over that area to reduce splotchiness and even out the application a bit.

There is a lot of juju when it comes to sanding/staining guitars. It's not rocket science. Don't stress yourself out. As long as you prepare the wood well, it will probably look fabulous in the end. But don't worry about the tonal consequences of sanding off like .00003mm of wood.