Easy first time finish with pictures

[e66984]

Hi Guys, I though I'd throw up some pictures of the Tele I finished using a water based stain from Home depot and a water based self leveling satin poly. I took 15 coats of the poly and I was pretty pleased with the results.

The photos on flick have pictures of the process, of wiping on stain and sanding etc.


20080513 022 by e66984, on Flickr

More Photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markbetsyliam/sets/72157594563914176/

 

[e66984]

Here is the clear coat poly that I used.

http://www.generalfinishes.com/retail-products/water-base-top-coats-sanding-sealers/high-performance-polyurethane-topcoat

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

I don't know if I'd characterize 15 coats as "easy" but I like the results.

 

[e66984]

Thanks. Easy in the sense of no major equipment needed. Just a foam brush and lots of time.

 

[Tonar8352]

Great job! So tell us what you learned from your experience.

 

[stubhead]

I've used wipe-on poly for a number of things, if you thin it a bit there's hardly anything that can go wrong. And, poly is only as thick as you want it to be.... My oldest is gonna hit ten years old this summer, with no problems whatsoever. Another nice thing is that like varnish, any repairs to the finish are as easy as can be. Chemists who know what's in these things can't even distinguish between a specific "nitro" or "poly" formula anymore, and anyone realistically has to know that Fender and GIbson were spraying whatever worked the best in 1957, not something chosen through arcane tone comparisons.

 

[buckallred]

That really looks nice, and it sounds like even *I* might be able to do it. . .

questions:

1. is that an alder tele body?

2. did you fill the grain first?

3. what type of stain? Just brush on one coat?

4. the poly. just brush on a coat and let it cure 24 hours or what?

thanks.

 

[e66984]

yes it's Alder and the best thing about Alder is you don't need to fill the grain like other woods

The stain was a Minnwax water based stain from home depot. Go look at my pictures on flickr (the link is in the first post) to see a picture of the stain.

I did about 3 wipe on coats of stain with fine sanding in between but not after the last coat

Poly, was put on with a foam brush and let to dry overnight. Once I had 4 coats on I then lightly fine sanded between coats until the final coat

15 coats is still a realitively thin clear coat by guitar standards. It's not thick like a fender.

 

[e66984]

What did I learn?

Patience is a must, this took forever and even then I made a couple of mistakes. Every mistake that I made was because I was rushing.

You can always sand off the stain and re-do another coat; at least until you start doing the poly.

Accept that only you can see every imperfection in the guitar. Everyone else can't see the 1mm spot on the back that I sanded through the stain.

There is no better feeling thing having a guitar no one else has.

 

[Jusatele]

What did I learn?

Patience is a must, this took forever and even then I made a couple of mistakes. Every mistake that I made was because I was rushing.

You can always sand off the stain and re-do another coat; at least until you start doing the poly.

Accept that only you can see every imperfection in the guitar. Everyone else can't see the 1mm spot on the back that I sanded through the stain.

There is no better feeling thing having a guitar no one else has.

great post

I agree totally

 

[Watershed]

Turned out great, nice work.
:kewlpics:

"Accept that only you can see every imperfection in the guitar."
That's a tough one.
:icon_biggrin:

 

[Orpheo]

nice result for a first time job! I had my inauguration last summer A friend did the stain (though I can do that too, I think) and I did the spraying of the nitro. can't even remember what he had me do. once every hour, or once every day. I suppose once every day till the can was empty, with more on the top than on the back. Now I only have 6 layers on the top and 4 on the back. the coats are so thin, I don't  dare to polish it (to a higher glossy finish) cause I'm afraid I'll rub through the coats. my mistake was that I sprayed too close, so it got bubbly, and I wasn't able to get rid of it at first. 3 months later I took a fine sanding paper, sanded as far as I dared to go, took some clear nailpolish from my girlfriend, and did some spot checking. now only I can see it, versus the entire world


anyway: doing the finishing of your guitar is really fun to do. except, I don't like to fill the grain, so most of the time I don't fill it haven't done that before, maybe I should?

 

[stubhead]

For some reason, for my own guitars I prefer the non-grain-filled, plain wood board type of finish? I can look at glossy guitar porn pictures and say "woo" but the few glossy guitars I own l wish they were boards.... I guess it comes from the times, when I was a kid I didn't want Jimi's Strat or Jimmy's Les Paul, I wanted Phil Lesh's mad scientist Alembic bass with all the knobs or Ted Greene's 335's and Les Pauls with all the extra switches and coils and stuff. I like guitars that scratches don't make look worse.