I have used Padauk before in bow risers and coated with oil based poly's. It will darken quite a bit and have only found water-based poly's capable of retaining the bright orange-red hue. I wouldn't recommend putting anything under the epoxy that would prevent the epoxy from bonding to the hull. You need that bond to prevent the glass fabric from seperating.

: I have used some narrow Padouk and Wenge accent strips near the shear of the
: Return I'm stripping. While attaching the outer stem, I noticed that the
: orange color of the Padouk matched the Wenge's black hue after being
: coated with some overflow of the MAS epoxy. Can I coat the narrow
: (~1/4") Padouk strip with Shellac to retain its color prior to
: sealing with epoxy?