Oil & Wax

[whyachi]

I had a friend with a Warwick Corvette Proline with a nice flame maple top. It had an oil finish on it, but it wasn't tinted like most oil finishes I see. The body looked naked unless you touched it.

I've heard Warwick does this with oil and wax, but how does it work?

Would this be a suitable finish for a solid maple body? If I can keep from doing a $200 clear coat I'd be able to order this thing sooner.

I want the wood to look as naked as possible.

 

[Keyser Soze]

There are as many ways to do an oil & wax finish as their are wood finishers.  At it's most simple you apply a few coats of your oil finish, allow it to dry then rub out with fine steel wool and past wax, followed by final buffing.

If you are looking for variations or specific product recommendation I'd suggest a trip to the local bookseller/library.  There are a number of decent books on wood finishing available, Jeff Jewitt is a well recognized author.

Oil & wax can be quite beautiful but is not exactly durable.

 

[whyachi]

There are as many ways to do an oil & wax finish as their are wood finishers.  At it's most simple you apply a few coats of your oil finish, allow it to dry then rub out with fine steel wool and past wax, followed by final buffing.

If you are looking for variations or specific product recommendation I'd suggest a trip to the local bookseller/library.  There are a number of decent books on wood finishing available, Jeff Jewitt is a well recognized author.

Oil & wax can be quite beautiful but is not exactly durable.

My local library has one book on guitar building and it only covers staining mahogany. I know its not too durable but I'm not afraid of battle scars.

 

[NLD09]

they'll probably have a few books on woodworking though. Treat the body like a piece of furniture, then wire it up.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Yeah, sorry I wasn't clear.  Guitar books are a good source for guitar specific finishing technique (candy color, etc.) but for any of the more traditional finishing techniques (including things like lacquer, shellac, oils, etc.) you will get more, more varied, and more useful information from woodworking/furniture finishing/refinishing sources.  If you are into metallics, other fancy pigments, or airbrushed art then one of the best sources of info is the scale model crowd. 

The vast majority of finishing products are not formulated nor marketed with guitarists in mind.  Doesn't mean they are not appropriate for guitars, just means that the manufacturers are distributing their info mainly into other markets.