Soft Maple Top

MrSmurfy

Hello all,

New to this forum and guitar building.  I've been working on a thinline telecaster build for sometime now.  The build consists of a Utile back and 6mm maple cap.  I've stained the top and now in the process of applying the finish.

I did notice during the build that the maple cap was easily marked and hoped that the finish would help toughen the surface.
I'm using Crimson guitar's finishing oil.  I've applied somewhere in the region of 15 thin coats, at a rate of 1 every other day but the top is still really prone to marking.  Just running a nail (finger nail) is enough to dent the surface.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received. 

 

mgaw

i know fuck all about building guitars but must say i am surprised that maple is being described as soft

greggreg66

Doesn't sound right to me that maple would be soft like that. 

Jez6345789

Some Maple is softer  than others although this sounds very soft.

probaly oil is not going to offer much protection and it take a good while to dry before it’s really hard I don’t suppose crimson is much different.

i believe you can spray nitro over Tru oil but never tried. One of the finish experts will offer some sound advice but lacquer will protect more than oil.

andy_k

Some pictures would help, but if, as I suspect, you are using a bookmatched flame maple as a top, it will probably be susceptible to marking unless you either spend a lot of time building up an oiled finish, maybe with something else like Tung or Danish oil. I only have experience with Danish but it does seem to build up quite hard.
Or you get a few coats of either nitro or poly on it. I know nitro is the preferred solution, but it is quite hard to get done well as it will require quite a few coats to build up some thickness, then you may suffer cracking issues.
Some woods are more durable than others, and usually the prettier examples are definitely lacking in hardness, I think a poly finish will be your best solution here, but again it will have to be thick to resist indentation.