varnish,polish or bare wood

I'm chuffed to my latest pinky plonk ukukele, however the mahogany neck is bare, should I varnish, polish or leave bare. I did use diesel on my last but im not sure.....any advice

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Permalink Reply by Primitive Acoustics on July 1, 2015 at 10:28am

In my experience Tru-Oil is awesome!  Easy to work with and provides a beautiful, durable finish. 

The link below is to a video by Luthier Dave Bagwill showing in great detail how you finish an acoustic guitar with Tru-Oil.  I'm working with Dave on a project right now and think he is a terrific guitar builder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6zmitxywKU

The guitar in the photo has a Koa top with five coats of Tru-Oil on it.  I used steel wool between coats and a final light steel wool rub down to give it a soft sheen.

Permalink Reply by Rooster on July 1, 2015 at 5:15pm

Beautiful work Tom......and thanks for the video link. I always enjoy learning how others use a product or method that I use, ..............you can always pick up a pointer or two :)

Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on July 1, 2015 at 7:51pm

Ok, so I just finished my first Tru Oil job. I like the way it turned out. I'm going to let it cure for a little longer before giving it a buff with some old denim or something. It looks nice and feels pretty good. I will probably use it going forward.

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on July 2, 2015 at 8:54am

looked sweet b4 Richey,even be

Permalink Reply by TN Twang on July 2, 2015 at 9:34am

I don't know what jump started this discussion after 6 months idle, but I agree with ALL of you--including Brown Water Jerry.

Like he says, use pre-mixed shellac diluted 50/50 with denatured alcohol. "Bathe" the wood in it before the final sanding to harden it up, fill the end grain, etc. Then sand with 220 grit and/or steel wool to get a really wonderful feeling surface.

After sanding, you can use whatever finish you want (or none at all), but Tru Oil is great. Personally, I've been using Minwax Antique Oil Finish (but it's not available in Lowe's or HD). Having the shellac wash on first will probably reduce the number of coats of oil that you need.

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