masterpuppets Posted September 14, 2006 Report Share Posted September 14, 2006 Hey all! I just recieved a black korina explorer body from Warmoth, and it looks so good I think I wanna just put a clearcoat on it, without changing the natural wood color. My thoughts on the process were this: 1.Fine sand body 2.Add grain filler, sand and re-fill a few times until all grain is filled 3.Spray on sealer 4.Spray on many coats of clear 5.Buff to shine after cure time (about a month) Does this sound right? If not please fill me in on the steps. I am thinking of just using regular Krylon gloss clear, but I am unsure what wood filler/sealer is compatible with that. I would use one of those spray guns you can connect to the can. Real primitive, but I can't afford an air compressor and those slick guns to make it really pro. Would I be able to keep the same wood color, or will it change the timbre of that? Here is a pic of the body: Thank you in advance and sorry for all the questions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted September 14, 2006 Report Share Posted September 14, 2006 That, sir, is one of the nicest hunks of black limba (korina) I've seen. Good on you to keep it natural. Bummer that you don't have any scrap you can practice on. Stuff from rattle cans or Preval sprayers goes on very very thin, you end up needing many many coats to build up and lots of scuff sanding in between. My personal experience is with Minwax sanding sealer (which I used as a pore filler) and Minwax Fast-dry Polyurethane (gloss), worked fine for me so long as I shot it with the body lying flat (not hanging) so I could spray a thicker coat. However...I am resolved that the next time I want a poly clear-coat, I am going begging at some of the auto body shops around town. Or break down and get a compressor & gun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugman96 Posted September 15, 2006 Report Share Posted September 15, 2006 this might not give the shine you're looking for but it makes for a nice natural finish http://home.insightbb.com/~jpaquay/oil_fin.txt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted September 15, 2006 Report Share Posted September 15, 2006 Along similar lines as the Danish oil, have you tried Tru-Oil? You can wipe it on with a rag, one or 2 per day, soak in, harden, reapply then after a week you have a really good hard oil finish that can be buffed to a soft shine, not a high gloss. IMO a soft sheen shows natural wood like your beauty off far better than a high gloss lacquer. Tru-Oil is a mix of polymer and bioled linseed with driers so it cures hard relatively quickly. It's great for natural wood finishes. A lot of the pros use it for necks these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted September 15, 2006 Report Share Posted September 15, 2006 My personal favorite is polymerized Tung Oil or plain old Tung Oil. With a buffing system, you can get a really nice finish with either one. You can get the polymerized Tung Oil at Lee Valley (www.leevalley.com) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axesandamps Posted September 22, 2006 Report Share Posted September 22, 2006 Oil finishes are nice. There are a couple of downsides to them. One is they have more of a tendency to pick up dirt and skin oils then any of the other finishes. So you tend to get dirty looking areas where your hands or forearms rest. You can usually take care of this with a little steel wool and reapplication of the oil but after a while you will get a somewhat dingy look to the area. Another issue is that oils do not actually completely seal a wood. This particularly true of Tung oil. So if you live and play in areas that are extremely humid or have very wild environmental fluctuations you might want to keep that in mind. If you dont want the glasslike finish from polys or nitro there are either satin nitro finishes or even satin poly finishes that you could apply also. I am sure you probably know that if you choose to do Nitro it will be months before your guitar is ready to be assembled and played. Finishing in Nitro is a long process. Anyway good luck with whatever finish you choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted September 22, 2006 Report Share Posted September 22, 2006 Oil finishes are nice. There are a couple of downsides to them. One is they have more of a tendency to pick up dirt and skin oils then any of the other finishes. So you tend to get dirty looking areas where your hands or forearms rest. You can usually take care of this with a little steel wool and reapplication of the oil but after a while you will get a somewhat dingy look to the area. Another issue is that oils do not actually completely seal a wood. This particularly true of Tung oil. So if you live and play in areas that are extremely humid or have very wild environmental fluctuations you might want to keep that in mind. If you dont want the glasslike finish from polys or nitro there are either satin nitro finishes or even satin poly finishes that you could apply also. I am sure you probably know that if you choose to do Nitro it will be months before your guitar is ready to be assembled and played. Finishing in Nitro is a long process. Anyway good luck with whatever finish you choose. That hasn't been my personal experience with Tung Oil. There are several brands and formulations out there. I use Circa 1850 Tung Oil and the Lee Valley polimerized oil. Both harden as they cure over a period of 1 to 4 weeks, therefore, do not attract dust or dirt. I understand that it doesn't completely seal the wood, so if you're under the lights, sweat even a little and use the guitar regularly, I'm sure that it is possible that the thin finish could wear off and skin oil and sweat could eventually discolor it. I have never had that experience personally. The thing with oil is that it should be re-applied regularly for the first year if you want to build up a layer of finish that won't wear off too quickly. I wonder... Zachary guitars uses a light natural finish that I believe is tung oil. I haven't hear any bad reviews from users of his guitars. Maybe he's got a trick. Has anyone else here have good or bad experiences with tung oil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted September 22, 2006 Report Share Posted September 22, 2006 My personal favorite is polymerized Tung Oil or plain old Tung Oil Careful, I have heard that plain tung oil will take months to dry properly, it will stay horribly sticky for ages. Tru-oil is a blend of polymer and polymerised linseed very similar to polymerised tung oil. I believe Polymerised Tung oil will be fine. I've used Tru-oil on a number of occasions, that sinks in to the grain and dries hard pretty quickly. I have a walnut/alder bass coated 5 years ago and never had to retreat it, I just wax it every 6 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted September 23, 2006 Report Share Posted September 23, 2006 (edited) My personal favorite is polymerized Tung Oil or plain old Tung Oil Careful, I have heard that plain tung oil will take months to dry properly, it will stay horribly sticky for ages. Tru-oil is a blend of polymer and polymerised linseed very similar to polymerised tung oil. I believe Polymerised Tung oil will be fine. I've used Tru-oil on a number of occasions, that sinks in to the grain and dries hard pretty quickly. I have a walnut/alder bass coated 5 years ago and never had to retreat it, I just wax it every 6 months. There is no such thing (as far as I know) as "pure" tung oil. We're not talking about linseed oil here. When I said plain old tung oil, I meant circa 1850 brand tung oil . Watco Oil works OK as well but doesn't seem to dry as hard. Sorry about the confusion. Edited September 23, 2006 by guitar2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digideus Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 What about Rustins Plastic Coat? I hear a lot of people rate that product for clear coating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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