clear satin finish on Mahogany?

[kalamari]

Good Morning to all,

I am contemplating building a Mahogany Telecaster and am thinking that I want a clear satin finish (natural)

I have finished 2 guitars in the past but they were not mahogany bodies

My questions are:

How many coats/applications of grain filler? (water base or oil) - I have read that water base shrinks????

Do I need to apply sand & sealer if I am only clear coating?  If so, how many coats and any recommendations - 3 or 4 coats?

What would be the best choice of satin clear.  Spray or brush/rag?.  I just pruchased some Clear Poly that you apply with a rag to touch up spot on a guitar neck heel that I sanded. (do you think this would be sufficient)

In the past I have used auto paint and auto clear - TOOK WAY TOO LONG TO CURE, but came out nice in the end.

In the end, I may just pay Warmoth the 170 to finish if I feel the process is too long and involved but it seems like this type of finish would be pretty straight forward and reasonably priced do it myself.

Thanks for your help and recommendations,

Kurt

 

[jackthehack]

Mahogany can be very frustrating to get properly filled; note I usually use StewMac water based filler.  Given the amount of time/effort getting a mahogany filled and finished, if you were going to do a satin poly finish anyway, the $180 Warmoth charges is pretty cost effective when you figure you are going to spend at least 10-15 hours finishing and a lot of time in between waiting for filler and top coats to dry....

 

[kalamari]

Thanks

You are probably right.... As much as I would like to save a little money - when you figure the amount of work and the time required to get it right for an amateur like me.... it is probably worth the cost to have professionally finished by warmoth....