Question that I am I am struggling to find the answer for....

Living in Houston we are always dealing with high humidity and sweat.

I stained my poplar necks with Minwax oil based golden oak - the necks fuzzed up and came out really dark which I didn't anticipate. Not terrible, but not what I was after... I hit them with a finish sanding and the smoothed up nice. I plan on leaving them exposed to direct sunlight for a few days, the idea is to just kinda try a fade age them a bit. My thought is the sun will be more natural as opposed to using mineral oil.

My question comes to finishing the necks - I bought Minwax Poly, but am reading that it may be actually remain somewhat tacky and not be a practical finish. Reading several other places about different finishes I have not quite found an answer to the question posed like this....

1) I love the "natural feel" of smooth wood

2) the humidity down here can get ridiculous, so I desire a finish something that will not feel sticky yet keep the neck from getting to impacted by sweat as well as other environmentals... then again maybe that's what I want since I play a lot of smokey nasty bars.

3) I also want to consider protecting the paper and label on the boxes themselves within reason, I am not certain shellac is what I want to do.

As an aside, both necks stained completely different, one really darkened the grain rather nicely and the other neck every imperfection in the wood seems to be seen which doesn't bother me too much.

All that said I am looking for recommendations with these considerations.

Thanks!

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And a good looking build it is, too! Couldn't help but notice that you have a Java build going in the background. That was my first build too, except I went with a natural oak neck - no stain, just a couple of coats of spar urethane...

Sweet - i like the oak, the java box is an odd duck, color wise, I was thinking out using that now badly stained neck on another box but I might just finish out. I have black java box that I think a natural oak would look good with.

I have a black Java box too - I just haven't gotten to it yet. I think I decided on using an antiqued oak neck on it, but I really don't remember. It's in the rack someplace, waiting it's turn...

Just my opinion, and take it for what it's worth, but especially if you know that a build is going to be a wall-hanger (like in that bar you mentioned) there's absolutely nothing wrong with using polyurethane. Lots of people use it on builds that aren't going to be wall-hangers. Spray lacquer works very well too. The big brand of spray lacquer is named Deft, and it can be found at most home improvement stores. Lots of people use it as well. I'll bet most of them don't even realize that Deft is nitrocellulose lacquer - the same stuff used by the big guitar makers like Fender...

Good point - I'm learning so much doing this and having fun at the same time, thanks for the tips :)

Tru-Oil is one of the easiest and safest finishes to apply.

Poplar is a painting wood not a staining wood.

Shellac is not as water resistant as other available products. 

Krylon has products specifically designed to preserve paper artwork, check art supply stores.

Nice tips, thanks! I did like how the stain came out on one of the poplar necks, but do need to look at an acceptable alternatives - appreciate the reply.

To use poplar without worries you have to be very discerning in selection.

Pick only straight quartersawn pieces that are dry.

If you do that poplar works well and has the advantage of lighter weight.

The tone with a properly tensioned poplar neck tends to be bright.

The mahogany used in lower grade guitar necks isn't any harder than poplar and is one heck of a lot more expensive.

The biggest negatives against poplar are the odd colors it has and unpredictability when staining. Oxalic acid bleaching will even out the color for bare wood applications.

On the plus side it is inexpensive, readily available in most places, and carves well.

Oak has needs to be grain filled before staining.

One thing I like about oak is that you can age it by ammonia fuming or wiping with iron acetate. Both processes are simple, with iron acetate being a little easier on the craftsman.

What Robert said. As a general rule, poplar is used mainly in painted or upholstered pieces. If you have a box spring, sofa, or upholstered chair made in the US after say 1950, I can almost guarantee you that the wood substructure is made of mostly poplar. It's cheap because the trees grow very quickly and are as common as belly buttons.

I know that this is completely off-topic from your original post, Jim, but let me throw an idea at you. Step out of the big box home improvement stores. Look up hardwood suppliers in your area. You can do a google search for suppliers by typing "hardwoods" and your zip code or postal code in the search box/bar. Of course, if you're old school like me, you can just look up "hardwoods" in the phone book (remember those?) You should have a retail supplier somewhere nearby that has a wider variety of woods at usually a lower price. Do know, however, that the majority of the woods they sell are surfaced (planed) on only 2 sides (S2S,) so you'll need to have a way to straight-edge the board you select. Some do carry woods that are surfaced on all 4 sides (S4S.)

Another place to look is at local cabinet shops. Unless you live way out in the sticks, you most likely have several nearby. One of the standard cabinet face frame sizes is 1.5" X .75", which is exactly what you're buying at the home improvement store. They usually have lots of scrap and drop-off that they'll either sell at a cheap price or just flat out give away. Either way, it doesn't hurt to ask. I've found that if I offer to buy it first, they'll usually tell me that I can have it if I don't make a mess. They also use some wood species that you won't find at the big box store. I've gotten lots of sepele, walnut, and especially cherry and maple from cabinet shop scrap. They usually don't work much with the real exotics like purpleheart, rosewood, or ebony - they normally run with domestic hardwoods. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, so your mileage may vary...

Think outside the big box, do a little online research on finishing techniques, and most of all, have fun with it. Don't be afraid to fail! It's no big deal - really. Think about it - even if you completely destroy that Java neck, you're out what, maybe $5? That's a cheap price for a valuable learning experience. Experiment on small pieces of scrap to find what works for you and what doesn't, and you'll quickly find a "favorite" method. I'm willing to wager that the vast majority of folks here who build went about it that way, or something very close to it. And remember that, with very few exceptions, if you like the result, you did it right. If you want to use a clear enamel and you like it, you did it right. If you want to use tung oil or teak oil, and you like the result, you did it right. 

Thanks guys for the responses!

Poplar offers me one real major advantage, it's cheap and I can learn with it. I just cut out one more neck and one more 1x2 left. I have destroyed 2 necks with my cheap tools not working so well. I have noticed since the staining fiasco differences in the boards I didn't notice before. In the case of the current Java box neck, if it plays well it'll just become my gig cbg - like the girls at most the bars I play it looks good from a distance

My wife is advising me to go buy new tools and move up to oak which is really what I'd like to do.

I can't believe how much great advice and tips I got on my first post here. I like ammonia fumed oak - been around antiques my whole life, just love that look. 

Great advice on hitting the cabinet shops, there are a couple of places that come to mind I am going to check out. I am heading back home (Nebraska) in another week and there's a store up there that has several different hardwoods I'll be checking out when I get there for fretboard wood and some oak 1x2s, last time I was there they had 2 or 3 different oak varieties.

Good stuff - thank you much!

As you kick around on this forum, you'll find that this is the home of some of the friendliest, most helpful folks you'll ever meet online. Lots of folks are more than willing to help with any question you may have. If you have a question, do a quick search for it. If you can't find anything on it that way, drop into chat and ask, or post the question in the forum. There are some true artists here (both in the building and the playing department,) who will gladly help you out. Simply put, there isn't much the builders and players here don't know when it comes to guitars in general and CBGs in particular. This truely is the home of the pros from Dover...

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