I refurbish donated furniture for a furniture bank in my area. I started using Targets HSF 5000 primer white along with their EM6500 pigmented lacquer for pretty much all I do. All of my rebuilds are pretty much beyond a repair that would allow any type of staining or the use of a tinted clear coat.
Per Targets advice, I do all the necessary sanding and filling to achieve an acceptable surface and apply 2 light primer coats of Zinsser BIN primer thinned 50/50 with DNA (thinning a must to prevent the possibility of crackling) . A couple of coats of their HSF5000 high build primer will fill and hide any remaining imperfections. I then 320 sand the project and apply 2 more coats of their EM6500 bright white lacquer tinted with CalTint UTC's to the color I want. I have had great results turning unwanted and ugly pieces of furniture into something that is fully usable and not ugly anymore.
I have also used the same process in the past on pine furniture I have built for other non-profits with great results.
Target Coatings are competitively priced, their shipping is extremely fast and have yet to have a shipment arrive with any kind of damage. Their customer service is above and beyond what you would expect.
I am currently ordering EM6500 tinted to match the color swatches I supply. I mailed swatch on Saturday and it's Thursday and the shipment is on the way.
This review is for the EM6500 but would also highly recommend their EM1000 sanding sealer as the color vehicle for UTC's. Have had great results doing this with EM6000 as a topcoat over the finished product.