What Finish?

dean2371

I'm just getting into my second build, a Tele with a Poplar body and maple neck. It has a slightly "eccentric" shape in a couple of places such as the lower bout and the lower part of the headstock thanks to over-enthusiastic routing requiring some heavy-duty sanding. That said, i'm quite pleased with it so far.

Anyway, what finish should I use? I have several guitars with a Tru-oil finish and fancy a change. I have some black hard wax oil and a couple of types of wood stain. What do you reckon?

http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l512/dean2371/photo_zps1b29d958.jpg

dean2371

its very unusual for folk on here not to have a view!

Corvus

I read it, but there's so many choices and folk like certain things, plus Teles look great in so many things. Wax & stain sounds good. I like 'em all ways from straight ash in lacquer to flaked & candied to hell, it's all good. Keep the progress pics coming

TTony

To my eyes, the grain pattern on the body isn't wonderfully striking and looks a bit multi-coloured (unless that's shadow on the bottom section?).

How about considering a veneer (there's a great tutorial on veneering in the theFBChallenge sub-section) or maybe Wudtone to even out the colour variation and accentuate the grain pattern that you've got.

Gagaryn

Since you are looking for opinions, I'll give you mine - good old fashioned paint in a colour of your choice. :-)

ICBM

Black.

What was the application again…? Oh a guitar. OK. Still black.

dean2371

Thanks for the views. I had thought ao veneer having read the thread in the Challenge section. I have in fact bought some , so maybe I'll go for that. Black has been my second choice as I have some black hard wax oil. I guess I simply need to take the plunge

WezV

take the plunge.... and sand it off if it doesn't work!

Andyjr1515

dean2371 said:

Thanks for the views. I had thought ao veneer having read the thread in the Challenge section. I have in fact bought some , so maybe I'll go for that. Black has been my second choice as I have some black hard wax oil. I guess I simply need to take the plunge

I think it's most probably my fault ref the veneer threads - I'm being crossed off the christmas card lists of FB members at an impressive but alarming rate  )

If you go this route, feel free to ask if you get stuck.  I have other threads on other forums in a bit more detail too - I can post if you need them

Andy

Andyjr1515

WezV said:

take the plunge.... and sand it off if it doesn't work!

Been there...done that... 

dean2371

Thanks Andyjr1515. I've been following your thread and the link so perhaps I'll give veneer a go. The poplar is not very inspiring, and I have some swamp ash on the way for another build which should benefit more from an oil finish.

TTony

Andyjr1515 said:

feel free to ask if you get stuck

Or if the veneer doesn't ...

BilliBob

Tung Oil

imalone

Shellac! Maybe not. Veneer sounds fun. Would be interesting to know what the black wax turned out like, is it like this http://www.restexpress.co.uk/acatalog/Fiddes_Hard_Wax_Oil.html ? If so it might even out the colour but leave a grain, or (again) maybe not.

dean2371

It's Blanchon hard wax oil, sounds very similar. I've got plenty of stains and oils and a load of veneer, so may do some experimenting over the next week or so