I'm about to order a solid Alder Strat body for my Strat. I've finished necks with brushed on gloss laquer (Rustins Plastic Coating), but have no experience with a larger piece like a body. I'd like to add a colour stain of some kind. What would be best to put over the top of that to seal and protect it? I'm not confident enough to use the brushed on, 2 pack laquer I used for the neck. I believe that Warmoth don't require this for body warranty issues, like they do their Maple back necks.
Alder Strat body, best finish that's not laquer.
- Thread starter mystique1
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bagman67
Epic Member
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You could do one of the Minwax wipe-on poly gel and stain products.
For an all-in-one color and hard finish product:
http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/preparation/minwax-polyshades
You can topcoat the Polyshade product with Minwax's Wipe-On Poly product if you want more layers of clearcoat once you've locked in the color you want.
Alternatively, this water-based product looks simple and easy to use, and has a product-specific clearcoat you can put on top of the color (NB: I haven't used this, but if I were starting out, I'd experiment with it):
http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/one-step-stain-and-finishes/minwax-express-color-wiping-stain-finish
I don't know whether these products are available in Merrie Olde England, but this will give you an idea of what kinds of finishes are available to accomplish what you're after.
Note that alder does not play well with thin oil or water based stains unless you condition first with a very thin wash coat of shellac or a comparable product - otherwise you may wind up with disappointing blotchiness in your color coat.
For that reason, perhaps a tinted toner might be a better approach than a stain-with-clearcoat approach.
As always, you will be best served by doing a trial run on scrap lumber of the same species as your guitar body.
Bagman
For an all-in-one color and hard finish product:
http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/preparation/minwax-polyshades
You can topcoat the Polyshade product with Minwax's Wipe-On Poly product if you want more layers of clearcoat once you've locked in the color you want.
Alternatively, this water-based product looks simple and easy to use, and has a product-specific clearcoat you can put on top of the color (NB: I haven't used this, but if I were starting out, I'd experiment with it):
http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/one-step-stain-and-finishes/minwax-express-color-wiping-stain-finish
I don't know whether these products are available in Merrie Olde England, but this will give you an idea of what kinds of finishes are available to accomplish what you're after.
Note that alder does not play well with thin oil or water based stains unless you condition first with a very thin wash coat of shellac or a comparable product - otherwise you may wind up with disappointing blotchiness in your color coat.
For that reason, perhaps a tinted toner might be a better approach than a stain-with-clearcoat approach.
As always, you will be best served by doing a trial run on scrap lumber of the same species as your guitar body.
Bagman
sixstringsamurai
Hero Member
- Messages
- 702
Formbys Tung oil Varnish is my current fave.
Azdistrict
Newbie
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- 1
I just finished an Alder Warmoth Soloist body that I bought in High school (23 years ago) after lots of test runs in scrap alder I ended up going with Tung Oil. 8-9 coats wet sanding every other one with 400 grit. Second to last coat got steel wool them a final coat with just a rag. I couldn't be happier with the results.
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