I have transitioned to garnet shellac recently. I am using the dewaxed version from Brooklyn Tool Co. That is not a recommendation from me, just my first "reach out and grab" choice. I bought a small coffee grinder from Target ($14) which could hold about a half cup of flakes. I started out with a 2 lb cut (12 grams in 50 mL). However, the finish tended to pile up along the edges of the work regardless of the lightness of my brush strokes. If the solution is thick enough, it can pool up along edges and attempt to create as small a volume as possible (theoretically a sphere) before it dries. So I was always having to clean up edges before the next coat. Plus I got evidence of brush strokes which I was unhappy with. I changed the cut by a factor of 4 to a 0.5 lb cut (those same 12 grams in 200 mL of ethanol). This improved my results dramatically. The finish dried in minutes, no pooling up, no brush strokes, etc. The downside (if you are impatient) is that you need more coats to get a decent build-up. However I can recoat 3 times per day with this cut.
Read Stephen A. Shepherd's book: "Shellac, Linseed Oil, & Paint" which came out in 2011 (Full Chisel Press). There is a wealth of detail in there about really basic stuff, plus some amazing appendices and glossaries for anyone reading old texts.