Non paint or lacquer guitar finishes...

Slimbert

I've got a lovely natural grain guitar body I'll be doing something with fairly soon.

I really don't want to use paint or lacquer. I'd also like to keep some of the grain showing.

Waxing is an obvious one but is there any other suggestions for finishes? I'm new to anything but paint so really have no idea what's available.

I'm open to any colour type and dont mind putting in a bit of elbow grease. If it makes a difference it'll be sanded down to the bare wood. I also don't mind if the finish changes over time or relics quickly.

lysander

Shellac, tru oil and its variants, tung oil, wipe on poly... plenty of choices out there all with pros and cons. 

Rabs

I use tru oil...  Love it.. 

Theres a good vid here on the subject

Slimbert

lysander said:

Shellac, tru oil and its variants, tung oil, wipe on poly... plenty of choices out there all with pros and cons. 

Genuine thanks for that.

Which is easiest to work with for a first timer?

Is there a wide variety of colours or do most just stick to natural wood shades?

Rabs

Depends on what sort of finish you want..  I can get pretty shiny with Tru Oil  but its never going to quite be that mirror finish..

I did a quick vid about this

And oils are often slightly amber coloured.. Tru oil certainly is..... Which works well with woody colours (in general)

Rabs

One thing to know when using some of these oils (tru oil included) is that when you are done wiping it on, don't just throw the rags in the bin..  Theres a small possibility that if you had a load piled on top of each other it can cause a chemical reaction which can cause a fire...

What you should do is after using the rag leave it out flat to dry, once its dry you can chuck it...  I have taken to using kitchen towels which when im done with a piece I flush down the loo 

And im not saying you should worry too much ive been using this oil for years and never had an issue but I think it worth mentioning. (and I always left any rags out flat to dry).

paulnb57

You could stain then wipe on poly, very easy although you need to be sure you like the coulour by testing in a similar bit of wood..
Wudtone is pretty easy.....
or the above.....

Slimbert

Lots to think about and read up on.

Cheers, chaps!

Jez6345789

A picture of the body would help but you can do some stuff like use a coloured filler on the wood depending on type. Sand back and tru oil it.
you can stain the whole guitar
or you can colour the oil with an oil based dye and build up light coats good for a cherry style junior effect.

google wood finishing loads of stuff there.

you can also make your own wipe on if you don't want a super gloss finish just mix oil oil based varnish thinners and jap dryer. You can adjust the oil ratio heavy oil more sunken in look less oil more on top. Loads of basic recipes online.

all that said there is nothing to fear from the better quality spray cans these days lots of good guitars done first time out with nitro rattle cans. So you might coloured grain fill sand back and pit on a few clear coats to seal it all with out to much grief.

Slimbert

Jez6345789 said:

A picture of the body would help but you can do some stuff like use a coloured filler on the wood depending on type. Sand back and tru oil it.
you can stain the whole guitar
or you can colour the oil with an oil based dye and build up light coats good for a cherry style junior effect.

google wood finishing loads of stuff there.

you can also make your own wipe on if you don't want a super gloss finish just mix oil oil based varnish thinners and jap dryer. You can adjust the oil ratio heavy oil more sunken in look less oil more on top. Loads of basic recipes online.

all that said there is nothing to fear from the better quality spray cans these days lots of good guitars done first time out with nitro rattle cans. So you might coloured grain fill sand back and pit on a few clear coats to seal it all with out to much grief.

That's a great help. Thank you!

victorludorum

Rabs said:

One thing to know when using some of these oils (tru oil included) is that when you are done wiping it on, don't just throw the rags in the bin..  Theres a small possibility that if you had a load piled on top of each other it can cause a chemical reaction which can cause a fire...

What you should do is after using the rag leave it out flat to dry, once its dry you can chuck it...  I have taken to using kitchen towels which when im done with a piece I flush down the loo 

And im not saying you should worry too much ive been using this oil for years and never had an issue but I think it worth mentioning. (and I always left any rags out flat to dry).

You flush them down the loo?

Rox

This one was stain and tru-oil

http://inspireyourdog.com/misc/pp/WNeck03.jpg



Tru oil is as easy as... wiping stuff onto stuff. 

axisus

True oil is easy to DIY, I'm not totally convinced I like the look yet though personally.

Roland

I prefer the organic look and feel of an oil finish to the more plasticky poly or nitro. Tru-Oil works well, but yellows the wood. I'm currently experimenting with adding pigments to Osmo Polyx, which I think is what Wudtone does.

WezV

axisus said:

True oil is easy to DIY, I'm not totally convinced I like the look yet though personally.

Don't forget, just like lacquer, you have a choice over the final feel and finish.   Tru-oil can be left satin, gloss or anywhere in between.  Most other oild can easily do satin to semi gloss too.

obviously that all adds complexity which isn't really needed unless you want it.

Slimbert

Rox said:

This one was stain and tru-oil

http://inspireyourdog.com/misc/pp/WNeck03.jpg



Tru oil is as easy as... wiping stuff onto stuff. 

Thanks for the example. Maybe a little too dark for me but an interesting finish all the same!

lysander

Tru oil is easy but you have to apply it very thinly.
Crimson's guitar oil finish which seems to be thinned tru oil is a bit better I think.
Shellac is quite hard to get right I think, if you want a matte or semi gloss finish it's ok but if you want gloss it requires a lot of expertise.
It's also quite soft and takes ages to cure.

I do like it for quick finishing of woodwork where I don't need a perfect smooth look though, as it dries very quickly ( note drying is not the same as curing ) so 5-6 coats can be put on with a brush in no time.

Lozboy

Looks great Rox.

Rabs

victorludorum said:

Rabs said:

One thing to know when using some of these oils (tru oil included) is that when you are done wiping it on, don't just throw the rags in the bin..  Theres a small possibility that if you had a load piled on top of each other it can cause a chemical reaction which can cause a fire...

What you should do is after using the rag leave it out flat to dry, once its dry you can chuck it...  I have taken to using kitchen towels which when im done with a piece I flush down the loo 

And im not saying you should worry too much ive been using this oil for years and never had an issue but I think it worth mentioning. (and I always left any rags out flat to dry).

You flush them down the loo?

Err..  Yes?

Jez6345789

Oh the one I left out is osmo polyox which is oil based and can be tinted with stuff like oil paints pigments for solid colour or used as a final set of coats over a stain it's available in gloss satin etc and is pretty much a clear coat and not overly yellow like tru oil or danish oil etc.

Jez6345789

Oh the other one I missed and it very similar to poly ox is fiddles hard wax oil. They do a coloured version called onyx that does a good job of providing a translucent dark grey to black depending on the number of coats. As its transparent it shows the grain even if you have not pre colour filled it and looks a lot like trans black you see on a lot of modern guitars