Finish Options FAQ

[renegadetele]

Hopefully this gets a sticky because I'm about to ask a bunch of n00b questions that will probably get asked many more times. I would hope the rest of my n00b bros chime in with their questions as well.


#1
How do I know how to finish what wood? I was thinking of getting a new tele body and finishing it myself but I haven't a clue as to what method/material to use.

#2
What is tru-oil and what's it good for? Can I use it on Alder or Ash?

#3
What are the easiest woods to finish?

#4
What are the easiest finishing methods?

#5
What are the CHEAPEST (but good looking) finishing options?

#6
(this one isn't much about finishing, but)
When you order a floyd routed body at the same time that you order a floyd bridge from Warmoth, will they install the posts for a small charge the way they will for a wilkinson? Also, do most people finish the interior of the recess?

#7
Is it worth it to just buy a body that doesn't need finishing than to invest the time and money of having a body finished (or doing it yourself). Obviously this depends on which wood and which finish you are going for, but we all know Warmoth is expensive (just, but expensive) and some of us need to cut costs, and since paint and finish don't equal tone, then...you know.


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Feel free to add more n00b questions and answers as needed.

 

[-CB-]

#1
How do I know how to finish what wood?
You ask here

#2
What is tru-oil and what's it good for? Can I use it on Alder or Ash?
Its a varnish finish, good for gunstocks.  You can use it on your Korn Flakes too, and its about as good there as on yer guitar imho.

#3
What are the easiest woods to finish?
closed grain wood like maple

#4
What are the easiest finishing methods?
let Warmoth do it

#5
What are the CHEAPEST (but good looking) finishing options?
get a wood that doesn't need finishing

#6 Floyd who?

#7
Is it worth it
only you know the worth of your money

 

[Alfang]

#7  if you have never finnished a neck and body before, let warmoth do your first one, get a little taste of success before you venture into unknown areas

Sounds like yor looking for cheap, be forewarned. Warmoth is all quality, the only way you will save money with them is by doing your own finnish.

The end result may be this, a piece o crap looking guitar that plays and sounds awesome. it's up to you

 

[guitlouie]

I used to have a job at a company that advertised through these mailings to different zip codes in the area. We paid this company to handle everything about these mailings, from generating the art on to labeling each peice and sending them out.  So one fine day my genius of a supervisor decides to "cut costs", a term I have heard all to much in my life.  So now, all of a sudden we are labeling these ads with address labels "whenever we had spare time".  I got the unpleasant duty of going to the post office bulk mail ceter twice a week, filing all the paperwork (trust me there was a lot of that) and then driving to the post office of each zip code that needed to go out that week to drop off the mail.  So now in an effort to save a couple of cents for each piece of mail going out, we are actually paying three different hourly employees between 8.00 and 12.00 per hour, several hours a week to get a result that was not as effective, due to the fact that we were learning all this stuff, whereas the company we used to pay to do it, did it all the time and knew all the ins and outs.  This is my very longwinded way of saying that your time and convenience are commodities worthy of a dollar amount, a factor to be considered when trying to "cut costs".  If you think you would enjoy finishing a guitar do it!  If it is merely for saving some cash, you might be fooling yourself!  Just an opinion!

 

[-CB-]

Ya can have good and/or fast and/or cheap.  Pick two.

 

[jackthehack]

If you're just getting started and have reservations about using lacquers/more advanced finishing techniques, you might want to consider a nice looking Black Korina body and a Tung Oil finish; CB will immediately respond with everything related as to what kind of tung oil to use...

If you look through the Gallery/threads on this site you'll find several examples of how amazing a Korina body with a Tung Oil finish can look like.

Next, a Korina finished thusly will always look/sound great with a lot of different neck wood that do not require any finish, like wenge/rosewood/etc.

 

[-CB-]

CB will immediately respond with everything related as to what kind of tung oil to use...

Ha, just for that, I won't!~ :laughing7:

 

[tfarny]

This is exactly the kind of thread I was about to post. I've got a one-piece swamp ash tele on the way and want a super-simple natural-type finish, but looking at what some of you guys have done makes me more ambitious. 
I guess tung oil finishing is as simple as 'wipe on, let dry' multiple times, until it gets shiny enough for your taste. That's my default.
But I'm considering doing that dark grain-fill step (once or twice, I hate sanding) to highlight the grain,  and then tung oiling.  Jack's ongoing post is super informative, thanks. A good idea?
Alternatively, how about a simple amber wipe-on wood stain B4 tung oil?  Does this work?
How about grain fill, then wipe-on amber wood stain,then tung oil? Are these compatible?
The point is, no way do I have the equipment, space, interest, or patience to do a dozen coats of nitro with all the requisite sanding and buffing. Above are a few possibilities I was mulling over.  I'd like to hear (and the original poster might too) if these are reasonable ideas.

 

[Ted]

I think if you hate sanding don't bother finishing your own guitar.

If you finish your own guitar there seems to be a lot of hard manual work, dust, fumes and waiting time... :-\

I'll stick to the showcase... :icon_thumright:

 

[jackthehack]

Actually StewMac has some concentrated transparent stains they claim that you can add to "almost anything"; don't know about Tung Oil, but it wouldn't cost a lot to experiment with such. I think I've seen some Tung Oil products that have some stain incorporated, try Googling for it.

If you don't like filling/sanding, swamp ash wasn't the best choice; ash will suck more filler down into the grain than any other wood I've worked with; be prepared to fill at least 3-4 times and you need to wait longer between fills as it can look like it's leveled out, but a couple days later it's shrunk back into the grain some more...

I've got a quilt maple on korina body coming I'm going to try the Woodburst transparent stain on, there's been a couple of nice guitars finished using that, like this one from M4rko:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=30.0

 

[Shmoopie]

holy shit!  i just realized my basement is the best place to do finish work!  i can hang stuff from the ceiling and spray away.  :icon_biggrin:
and its 10 degrees cooler down there.

 

[jackthehack]

Till the Lacquer Fume Fairy does you in....

 

[Shmoopie]

i'm immune to that shit, i grew up in the 90's, as the son of a painter no less.
and its sweet, if i don't feel comfortable spraying he'll gladly step in. and we have the means (an hvlp) to spray other than rattle can. 
jeez i might have a future job if i can learn to spray.

 

[-CB-]

Oh... definately grain fill ash.  And grain fill... and grain fill...  till is filled.

Once its filled, it can be stained.  If you "dye the tung oil" the results will not be the same, and you'll have to account for the amberness of the oil, and that the dyed oil will build more color as the coats go on.  Better to dye the filled wood if you must have a color.  Then oil over it.  (search here on PURE Tung Oil).

Oil finishes go well on properly prepped wood.  That is - the PREP part is the same no matter what finish you are going to apply.  If you dont fill the grain its gonna look like poo.

 

[tfarny]

Okay, sounds like multiple grain fillings is not an optional step for ash, even if I'm just going for a natural look.  And the stain or dye step goes between grain fill and oiling, ideally, I guess. I had thought about just coloring some of the tung oil, using that till I'm happy w/the color, then continuing with clear tung oil. I do like that kind of amber look on ash telecasters; there's a 'valley arts' guitar in my local shop that's just beautiful with it.
I don't really "hate" sanding, but I'm not a particular fan of it, just to clarify. I have refinished an old desk and a table which came out okay, but not 'guitar quality'. Maybe this'll be the first and last guitar I finish.  I'm definitely not about to replicate CB's telecaster projects!
ps - are the Gibson special fadeds (jr, dc etc) that are the new hotness for < $1000 not grain filled, then? You can definitely see unevenness (from woodgrain) under the finish.
pps - for the neck of this order (maple w/Brazilian RW) I'm just planning on spraying a can of satin lacquer on it, a couple / few coats. Masking tape to cover the fretboard. Maple doesn't need prep or grain fill, right?  I want the thinnest, closest-to-unfinished feeling I can get in the neck. Is that gonna be a disaster, too, or am I on the right track?

 

[Phrygian]

CB will immediately respond with everything related as to what kind of tung oil to use...

Ha, just for that, I won't!~ :laughing7:

lol... just use the forum search tab and look for tung oil.  You'll find several very informative posts by CB

 

[guitlouie]

Better yet,  search for PURE Tung oil!