FYI Closing down sale

SteveRobinson

I've reduced the prices of the less popular or overstocked colours on my website.
https://manchesterguitartech.co.uk/shop/

There'll be more reductions in the coming months.

benvall

Shame to hear this. Good excuse to get some lacquer though. 

Deadman

Indeed, it is a shame. Hope everything works out for you, Steve.

SteveRobinson

Thank you. I'll be trading for a few months yet but looking forward to the freedom.

GuitarAndy2

I've got an ash body telecaster I'm putting together and looking to do some kind of clearer coat 'natural' type finish but not butterscotch or white blonde, basically aiming for something that's as much about protecting the body as visual pop, whilst keeping the wood grain largely visible.

Wouldn't even necessarily want to go all in the preparatory grain filling & sanding sealer smoothing everything out completely, as I quite like the idea of retaining some of the texture. But if this would compromise the application of the finish then I wouldn't want to mess up the overall result in doing so either.

Am I right in thinking I'd need grain filler, sanding sealer, 320 grit and a clear coat? Since the aim is more to accentuate the grain would the clear black lacquer potentially work if kept quite thin? Or would this prove significantly more problematic to apply evenly?

Apologies for the volume of questions, I've scanned through your blog posts and the FAQs already, but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious regarding the process.

SteveRobinson

@GuitarAndy2 if you want to accentuate the grain you could use a coloured grain filler. Use one that contains a pigment, not a dye, as you don't want to stain the wood. 

Otherwise what you suggest would work.

If you'd like to add some colour then my light tint lacquer will warm it up a bit. 

The clear black lacquer will give you a grey guitar but you'll still see the grain.