Wudtone Honey Finish on Warmoth Swamp Ash Tele Body

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

Dear Warmothites,

How's it going? December is already here, and in the new year, I'm going to be starting on my Broadcaster-esque Telecaster build. I want to make it representative to the actual thing... but I'm putting my own personal twists on it, like an out of phase switch, a non traditional butterscotch finish and a Warmoth headstock logo (which is no headstock logo ).

I need some help with the finish. The one thing I do truly know is that I'm using Wudtone for my finish. The other thing I truly do know is that I'm finishing the beautiful body shown below 

As you can see there's a lot of grain, which I do want to keep.

1st Question: did anyone here ever finish their guitar in Honey Wudtone finish? I'd like to see some pics to see how it looks!

2nd Question: The texture. I'd like for the grain to show, and to be able to feel the texture of the wood, i.e. you can fit your finger nails inside the grain. So I'm guessing satin gloss finish for this would be best? What do you guys say?

3rd Question: The colour. Alright this is pretty hard. I like the traditional "yellow vs blackguard" look of the classic Tele, so I'm going in that ballpark. I definitely don't want it to be true yellow like some of these smiley's here, definitely not highlighter yellow. Not orange or amber either. These are all very nice though! I'm going for something more of a lighter gold, like a sunrise. I'd like there to be some glint of gold in the finish as well. Maybe it's a wheat-like colour but lighter. Of course it's still yellow, "light gold" is a type of yellow. So out of the Wudtone finishes, does Honey capture something like this? In the Honey finish description, it says: "Gorgeous combo of warm glow tint with gold metallic. The gold embeds into the grain, lightening the overall contrast, leaving a gilt like glow to the curves of the guitar." This sounds pretty great! But I know for other finishes, you can select "gold highlight" too if you want, so maybe this effect can be made in other finishes too.
The other finish I was looking at was TV Girl, because it had more yellow, which is something I still want... but I think it may be too much yellow for what I am envisioning.

My worry with the Honey finish is that it won't be yellow enough, as silly as that sounds. Can't find any other words lol. I heard that the "aged" satin gloss version gives a "warm yellow tint". This might be of interest. If anyone can elaborate on this, I'd appreciate it.

Last thing to know: I know nothing about finishing. If anyone would be so kind to give me steps on how to finish with Wudtone, or if they can send me to a place, that would help me greatly! I might make another thread about that. Right now, it's to get that colour/finish found.

In sum: anyone with a honey finished guitar, please send so I can see how it looks! Thanks!!

:bananaguitar:  arty07:  :yourock: :headbang1:  :guitarplayer2:  :turtle:

Honey, Wudtone website: https://www.wudtone.com/product/finishing-kit-honey/

 

[DuckBaloo]

I have no experience with the Wudtone kit, but the Honey looks more like what most companies call "vintage tint", a slightly yellowed clear. I wonder if it will not be enough color for you.

 

[stratamania]

Welcome to the forum. I have not actually seen too many forum members here who have used Wudtone so you may not get a lot of replies, but of course you never know.

Have you checked out Wudtone's gallery? Link below

https://www.wudtone.com/feedback/

Per the grain that would be more a function of to what degree you use a grain filler or use none at all. You could also contact Wudtone via their contact page and I think they may be able to advise further.

Look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

I have no experience with the Wudtone kit, but the Honey looks more like what most companies call "vintage tint", a slightly yellowed clear. I wonder if it will not be enough color for you.

Hey! Thanks for the nice reply! Yeah that was my worry, but you know it might actually be nice! I don’t want a heavily saturated yellow, and I like a nice golden glint, which this stain claims to have. I was thinking that the aged satin gloss finish might add some yellow, but anyone who used it, please tell me if it would.

Sorry for not knowing about these things so question: can I just add more base coats to get the yellow deep enough? Because if I can, I would be pretty set on purchasing the Honey— I could just add as much yellow as I need.

And about this golden glint stuff, obviously I don’t mean gold metallic sparkle, like the one Warmoth offers, that’s pretty cool though. It’s still a light golden yellow but with a golden “aura” or glint to it (like some gold highlights and sparkles periodically).
Maybe I can get this golden effect though with the gold highlight addition, and that’s available with any finish. What exactly did the gold highlight do in your experience?

Thanks!

 

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

Welcome to the forum. I have not actually seen too many forum members here who have used Wudtone so you may not get a lot of replies, but of course you never know.

Have you checked out Wudtone's gallery? Link below

https://www.wudtone.com/feedback/

Per the grain that would be more a function of to what degree you use a grain filler or use none at all. You could also contact Wudtone via their contact page and I think they may be able to advise further.

Look forward to seeing your progress.

Dear Stratamania, thanks for your informative reply and I love your profile! I saw that gallery— pretty inspiring huh! There’s something magical about these finishes— or the photographer was just a real good one, but whatever. I’m sure with a bit of questions and answers, I’ll find a great result. The problem with the gallery is that there’s no names of the finish associated with the picture! At least I’m not seeing it. It’s not too big of a deal though because I think I saw only one or two TV Girl and Honey finishes on there, and the same pics are on both of those finishes’ webpages.

About grain filler, I was thinking of using known at all. This would make the grain show and “have texture”, where you can “feel it”. Some depth in the final product of the guitar body wood. Something like this, texture wise not colour wise, is what I’m thinking of:

Thanks again everyone!  :bass: :headbang1:

 

[stratamania]

When I have looked at the gallery before I seem to recall there being names of the finishes etc but it may have changed. I have been meaning to try Wudtone at some point but for whatever reason the right project has not come along yet.

 

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

When I have looked at the gallery before I seem to recall there being names of the finishes etc but it may have changed. I have been meaning to try Wudtone at some point but for whatever reason the right project has not come along yet.

I’ll try on my computer to look at the gallery, may that’s why there’s no names. About the grainy texture finish that I sent (two picture examples), I was thinking of going for a satin gloss finish with no grain filler— what do you suggest?

 

[Rick]

If you do a search you’ll find a couple builds that used wudtone.

 

[stratamania]

When I have looked at the gallery before I seem to recall there being names of the finishes etc but it may have changed. I have been meaning to try Wudtone at some point but for whatever reason the right project has not come along yet.

I’ll try on my computer to look at the gallery, may that’s why there’s no names. About the grainy texture finish that I sent (two picture examples), I was thinking of going for a satin gloss finish with no grain filler— what do you suggest?

As mentioned earlier if you really want a grainy texture you might skip grain filler. As for gloss or satin that is your personal choice but with a grainy texture the satin may be more appropriate.

 

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

If you do a search you’ll find a couple builds that used wudtone.

Great idea, I did not think of that one! I'll look on the forum search to see for some Wudtone information.

 

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

When I have looked at the gallery before I seem to recall there being names of the finishes etc but it may have changed. I have been meaning to try Wudtone at some point but for whatever reason the right project has not come along yet.

I’ll try on my computer to look at the gallery, may that’s why there’s no names. About the grainy texture finish that I sent (two picture examples), I was thinking of going for a satin gloss finish with no grain filler— what do you suggest?

As mentioned earlier if you really want a grainy texture you might skip grain filler. As for gloss or satin that is your personal choice but with a grainy texture the satin may be more appropriate.

That's what I was thinking as well. No grain filler and a gloss satin finish. Should look pretty good! Still deciding on the colour, I'm just wondering if more coats of Honey would result in a deeper more pronounced yellow? I'm waiting for Wudtone to get back to me so I should be getting an answer

 

[stratamania]

Yes more coats of base colour result in more depth to the colour. But it would not alter the fundamental shade. Perhaps also do a google search for finishing ash with Wudtone to see what others may have done.

 

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

Yes more coats of base colour result in more depth to the colour. But it would not alter the fundamental shade. Perhaps also do a google search for finishing ash with Wudtone to see what others may have done.

That sounds good at least! I've seen a lot of people on forums finish in Wudtone and they say what they did, which is great for me, who never finished wood before. Honestly I think the only ones who can help me here is someone who finished their guitar body with Honey or TV Girl to truly see what the results are. I think the folks over at Wudtone can also answer my questions, I sent them an email and am waiting for a response

Thanks for the help Stratamania.

 

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

Also fellas,

By sheer chance, online, I found a guitar that was finished in exactly in the finish I was thinking of! Well at least the left side of it. The picture is posted below. So obviously the smart thing to do would be to see what type of finish they used and then use the Wudtone equivalent of it. The problem is, is that I saw other pictures of this guitar. The finish isn’t this yellow gold, it’s actually a random amber light-brownish tint. Not what I’m after at all, it must look this golden yellow because of the lighting of this one picture. I’m looking for this finish, but all the time, in normal light! Also I’d be adding gold highlights (or the ones that come with the Honey finish) to give it more of a Gold sparkle.

I emailed Wudtone, but do you guys think? How would one get this finish? It would be nice if you guys talked about which Wudtone finishes would best approximate this colour, but any other finishing method/paint you can share, would mean the world as well! Please share basically!

Thanks!

 

[Rick]

Love sparkles.  Get extra.

 

[TheVelvetBulldozer]

Love sparkles.  Get extra.

Yes! Did you ever use any of Wudtone's Gold Highlights before? Or silver highlights? What exactly do they do, how does it look, and how do you put it on? I'm also wondering how it differs with Honey's "gold sparkle" in its base coat, but I'm still waiting for Wudtone to respond for that one.