Finsh Decision

[KYChucky]

With much excitement my build is underway. First, the body. Nothing exotic, USACG alder strat. Deciding on finish, here's how it went. OOoo vintage cream, reRanch sells that...I can just spray it on... OOOOooo transparent white with gold anodized pickguard.. I can just spray that on. Yes! rubbing and buffing, I dont mind that.. Then the realization of, its cold and damp out, and nitro would stink up the house and I have no spray booth. Then I found out about Tru Oil. That sounds cool, wipe it on.. easy.. I balked at ordering it on line. I like to support the locals. So I went down to the gun shop. They were closed for the next 3 days to go duck hunting. So I ended up at Lowes. I decided on a pine stain (body looked a little too Ikea) topped with Formby's Tung Oil Varnish. I was unsure about my decision, but put the stain on (over stain prep) and dove right in. After 3 coats of the Formby's, I'm doing more research and actually feeling more confortable with my decision. Tru Oil is apparently a oil varnish blend, lots of people us it with much success. Formby's is a wiping varnish. The wiping varnish is better for my situation as the body has stain on it and the wiping varnish will block UV (damages wood, fades stain). It should also hold up better. Tone, who knows, I'm shooting for as thin a finish as possible, so I should be on par with most.

If you are thinking about putting an "oil" finish on your neck or body (guitar) you should read this.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/features/finish2.html

An oil finish sounds like a good idea but functionally...? Dont know. I would have rather stuck to the original nitro idea for the body, but not practical in my case at this time given the limitations.

[Gravity Jim]

An oil/varnish blend, like tung oil or Watco Danish oil, is only half the finish. You have to cure a finish like that by regular and liberal application of beeswax. My oil-finished guitar is quite beautiful, and completely sealed against moisture... you can pour water on it if you feel so inclined, with no damage.

Once all coats are completely dried, you have to wax the finish about once a week for a couple months, once a month for a year, once every three months after that... and after a couple of years, once every six months seems to be enough (although the guys who sell you the wax feel that once a week forever is a better idea).


I'm no expert, but I've been told that the beeswax bonds to the varnish and eventually vides that microscopic layer sealing you get from something like poly.

The result give the guitar a kind of antique look. Mine's a mahogany body, and it looks kind of like an old violin finish.

[KYChucky]

Yes, I had seen text describing the wax step with oil/varnish. Thats what I like about the Formby product - it has very little oil in it at all. They say that it does, but there is more text out there that says that it does not, or at least not a significant amount and when you do the test that is in the link above....it shows no evidence of having much oil in it...and that is cool with me. So what I will have is a super thin layer of poly, or what ever this stuff is.. I love the idea of bees wax and the natural direction. But for some reason the forces of the universe sent me in this direction.