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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on February 6, 2012 at 9:20am

First off, some of the best varnish can be either lacquer or ... well, lacquer. I have use a few in my time here and I can say there are three that REALLY do a great job.

Tru-Oil Gunstock Varnish - This was suggested to me by John Maw aka RoadKill and its great. Makes a really good oil based finish. Easy to apply and polishes up REALLY well. You won't have any problems. I love this stuff for easy builds.

Nitrocellulose lacquer - This is the stuff if you wanna have that 'showroom guitar' finish. There are a number of brands out there but the best for me was Behlen Stringed Instrument Lacquer. Dries REALLY clear, hard and fast. Next would be Deft brand clear wood finish. Dries slower and is prone to marring but still very good. Leave yourself some time using this to make a really great finish. There are others from Stewart-MacDonald and they are evenly as good. TIP: DO NOT mix brands on a build. This is BAD news.

Shellac - NOT Zinser shellac (unless its the wood filler). Use 100% wax free flake shellac and do french polish. TAKES FOREVER and IS NOT FOR THE BEGINNER, but makes a really great finish when you do it right.You have to master this technique and use Everclear, not denatured alcohol. Read up on this and how to do if you are so brave.

Else, I have use spar varnish, polyurethane (never more), even clear spray krylon. All of these are useless IMO.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on February 6, 2012 at 9:24am

And I hate to insult you, but anything urethane based will work but the finish will be rather 'sticky' in your hand when you play. By this I mean your hands will feel like they are grabbing the finish like its a non-slip surface.

My suggestion is to remove the urethane and try something else. Some lacquer that is not acrylic or urethane based.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Rob T on February 6, 2012 at 10:20am

no worries!  never built anything like this so I have alot to learn, thanks for the suggestions.

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Permalink Reply by DeltaglowBoy on February 6, 2012 at 9:20am

You could put 10 coats of Poly on and it will not effect your sound ... but it will dramatically effect the appearance and feel of your wood. An additional benefit is that the wood is sealed from taking in moisture.  I would suggest a minnimum of 3 coats ... me personally, I would probably do more ... but that's just me ... I want to do it right and only once.

Your choice of Polyurethane is really not a varnish. But you could actually use varnish, better yet Lacquer or even poly acrylic. They will all work. Just be consistent and do not mix applications.

I have had good success using Teak oil as well.

 

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Permalink Reply by Rob T on February 6, 2012 at 10:22am

Thats good about the coats, end game I'd like to build something that properly shines :)  Interesting about the teak oil, a lot of fretboards on guitars I believe are just oiled, that would be interesting.

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Permalink Reply by Rob T on February 6, 2012 at 9:54am

Thanks all for your help!  Learning alot, thought the build was going too well :P Will definitely invest in some better stuff to finish off my next one(s).  

It sounds like the more I put on the flatter / better but stickier the surface will become. So I will just try keeping this one coat and polish it up as best / wear it in and hopefully it wont be too sticky, otherwise I'll have to sand it off and do it properly.

Yeah, not going for showroom type finishes yet, just want something to stick on it to make it keep, bring out the grain a little.  Experimenting with this all, going to build a few and play with electronics and also fretting and when I get something good going, invest a little more time / money.

Thanks again,

Rob

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Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on February 6, 2012 at 2:56pm

My 2 cents is that #1 lacquer is fast drying, quick to build up a finish and my favorite is Mohawk brand High Solids Pre Catalyzed lacquer. This stuff builds really fast and will fill grain on oak!!!!  It does not come in gloss but can be polished to any level of gloss you want.  It comes in aerosol cans.  Not to be found in stores.  Mohawk is the gold standard in the furniture repair industry, http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=762  

When using oils as finishes I strongly suggest whiskering before applying the oil and the feel of whiskered oil finished wood is exceptionally nice.  Repairing is really simple. The down side to oil finishes is the slow cure time.  I heat my oils for application thinned with turpentine or OMS.  I put it on really heavy and let it sit for 30 minutes and wipe it off and repeat.  TruOil gunstock finish is not included in this group as far as oil finishes goes.  It is more like a urethane.

Urethanes are very tough and don't generally feel all that good unless they have been sanded and wooled.  If you have a urethane finish and you sand it with 320-400 and then buff with 4-0 steel wool it will feel very fast.

You can make them all work and be happy with any one of them.  Pick one and have at it.  It's all fun.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on February 6, 2012 at 8:32pm

Rob...I see that you are in the UK...here's my suggestions.

In future, don't use polyuethane - it never dries hard, it's always a soft finish. Don't use linseed oil it will never fully dry either, don't use teak oil, it won't build to a finish.

Rattlecan clear spray acrylic from the local car or DIY shop works just fine.  

My favorite is TrueOil gunstock oil..rub it on with a cloth..and that's it.  Danish oil is very similar, tho' I find it is slower drying.  Wipe in as many or few coats as you like, you can sand and buff it to a gloss or knock it back with 0000 steel wool for a nice satin finish. It's really easy and quick.

How many coats of whatever you are using will depend on the wood - some wood is very absorbent or open-pored. One coat will only seal the timber, but maybe that's all you want or need...just enough to stop it getting dirty. Don't worry about it affecting the sound..it's a stick in a box not a Stradivarius.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on February 6, 2012 at 9:41pm

I'll have to try the Wickes stuff...I bought some Blackfriars Danish Oil to do some oak furniture, and it seemed to take an eternity to dry!  Another great thing about these catalised / accellerated drying oils is that as well as being easy, it's economical too.

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Permalink Reply by Rob T on February 7, 2012 at 2:51am

Will give it a go thanks, my varnish last night was tacky after 6 hours just before I went to bed.  This morning it was fine.  Definitely see the stickiness is there, but just rubbing it down with a cloth seemed to solve most of it, good enough to play / for a first attempt!

I like the sound of the oils, will definitely use something like that on my next build.  

Think what I will do is buy a few of these and sacrifice one of my raw necks and patch varnish it up / down the neck with different things to see what works.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Rob T on February 7, 2012 at 2:58am

lol yes it is.  Its one of the things that drew me to trying to build a few of these, its just a lump of decent wood so just trying to interfere with it as less as possible.

I do like the sound of gunstock oil.  I'm planning to build several, my local timber yard sells cheap offcuts of ash/beech/maple/ash/oak and various other hardwoods.

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Permalink Reply by Rob T on February 7, 2012 at 3:04am

Thats a great help thanks. 

Hmm, I had a problem with whiskering on my ash neck (if I understand the terminology correct).  I 320 sanded it then stupidly I used a damp clothe to get rid of the excess dust, but it whiskered up.  Sanded it again and used white spirits that got it nice and smooth.

Yeah its been good fun making this.  The help here has been great ands probably going to save me a good few poking around in the dark with different varnishes.

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