Question for CB about that famous brown shoe polish finish....

[Jeremiah]

I expect everyone has read at some point about CB's Tele that was finished with brown shoe polish, but I'd like to know a bit more about how it worked etc.

Is it possible to get the polish to go onto the wood evenly, with the grain showing but an otherwise even colouration?

What would be a suitable clearcoat to go over the polish?

I'm wondering how feasible it would be to do something similar using another colour of shoe polish, maybe black or black over red, but I think I'll try on some scrap wood before I think about putting it on a guitar.

 

[The Norwegian Guy]

We do this to the tip of our boots.
We sand the skin on the boots down, and feed the tip with shoe polish.

These are my shoes. It used to be "crocodile skin" all over the tip.

You have to melt the shoe polish into the wood. Apply the polish with a piece of moist cotton.
You're not done before the shoepolish kinda floats/runs on top of the body.
Sand it nice and even. After that's finished. You have to use moist/wet cotton with a small amount of shoe polis and rub it in.
Use a moist piece of cotton to rub it shiny and glossy.

I'm not 100% sure if this is the way to go with a guitar finish. ut if you have 30-40 hours you want to spend on your shoes - this is the way.

 

[-CB-]

I expect everyone has read at some point about CB's Tele that was finished with brown shoe polish, but I'd like to know a bit more about how it worked etc.

Is it possible to get the polish to go onto the wood evenly, with the grain showing but an otherwise even colouration?

What would be a suitable clearcoat to go over the polish?

I'm wondering how feasible it would be to do something similar using another colour of shoe polish, maybe black or black over red, but I think I'll try on some scrap wood before I think about putting it on a guitar.

First of all... I was both young, and poor at the time.  Had to "make do" and the body was worse before I started than before.  The finish was a hand painted one - with brush - over black over sunburst and it all showed in the most terrible way.  It got stripped by scraping with a glass slide, razor, and sandpaper.

The body was either alder or poplar... I dont know.  I'll say alder just for grins.  I might say poplar tomorrow.. I really dont know.  I put on Kiwi brown.  Rubbed it in.  It created dark places where it stayed in the grain.  The open grain ends showed more darkening.  It was actually a cool effect.  I put nothing over it, and neither did I want to.  It felt ok, a little waxy... nice, soft... I rubbed it a whole bunch with what used to be white t-shirts to get the excess off.  And thats how it stayed. 

Later, I did the same thing to a pine cabinet we had built at work.  It looked sort of naked, so I hit it with the Kiwi Brown. 

Both the cabinet, and the guitar had this sort of antiqued, old wood look after the Kiwi.  It was a rustic looking sort of affair.  Folks liked it.