First time poster here, and relative newbie to the intricate world of finishing a guitar. To say I suffer from "analysis paralysis" is an understatement in this matter, so I hope to garner some wisdom from the PG community will help me get over this hump.
I bought a "zebra wood" explorer from guitarkitworld.com to tinker around with:
Upon further scouring of the interwebs, I deduced it's likely cottonwood/poplar that has been color treated to give it a zebra wood look. Anyways, the body, neck, and fretboard all have this same wood. The fretboard is not separate either; its integrated into the neck wood itself, much like a maple neck would be on a Fender. It's a closed-grain wood from what I can tell.
My conundrum is how to finish the beast. More specifically, would it be necessary to finish the body with something different than the neck/fretboard, or is there a silver bullet concoction that could be used for the whole thing? So far, I've tested out Arm-R-Seal (semi-gloss) in one pickup cavity, and tested a 50/50 Pure Tung Oil & Mineral Spirits mix in another pickup cavity. The different oils have different effects on the color of the wood, so sticking with the same finishing oil would be ideal. I was gung-ho with putting Arm-R-Seal on the whole thing but then I started reading more articles that made me second guess it, which has led me to write this post in hopes of calming my mind and minimizing my heart palpitations.
I'd like to keep it as natural looking as possible, with a little sheen (hence the semi-gloss I've bought, but am not opposed to getting a satin finish ARS if I need to. The wife won't need to know haha). My main concern is screwing up the neck and fretboard and having to sand off a finish that is too sticky (either once or multiple times), especially with this being an obscure type of wood AND my first attempt at putting a finish on a guitar I've built/assembled.
Any insight/advice/routines would be incredibly helpful and appreciated.
Need finishing advice for a "Zebra wood" explorer
in Inlays and Finishing Chat
Posted
Hello everyone-
First time poster here, and relative newbie to the intricate world of finishing a guitar. To say I suffer from "analysis paralysis" is an understatement in this matter, so I hope to garner some wisdom from the PG community will help me get over this hump.
I bought a "zebra wood" explorer from guitarkitworld.com to tinker around with:
https://guitarkitworld.com/products/zebrawood-exp-guitar-kit-with-white-pickguardUpon further scouring of the interwebs, I deduced it's likely cottonwood/poplar that has been color treated to give it a zebra wood look. Anyways, the body, neck, and fretboard all have this same wood. The fretboard is not separate either; its integrated into the neck wood itself, much like a maple neck would be on a Fender. It's a closed-grain wood from what I can tell.
My conundrum is how to finish the beast. More specifically, would it be necessary to finish the body with something different than the neck/fretboard, or is there a silver bullet concoction that could be used for the whole thing? So far, I've tested out Arm-R-Seal (semi-gloss) in one pickup cavity, and tested a 50/50 Pure Tung Oil & Mineral Spirits mix in another pickup cavity. The different oils have different effects on the color of the wood, so sticking with the same finishing oil would be ideal. I was gung-ho with putting Arm-R-Seal on the whole thing but then I started reading more articles that made me second guess it, which has led me to write this post in hopes of calming my mind and minimizing my heart palpitations.
I'd like to keep it as natural looking as possible, with a little sheen (hence the semi-gloss I've bought, but am not opposed to getting a satin finish ARS if I need to. The wife won't need to know haha). My main concern is screwing up the neck and fretboard and having to sand off a finish that is too sticky (either once or multiple times), especially with this being an obscure type of wood AND my first attempt at putting a finish on a guitar I've built/assembled.
Any insight/advice/routines would be incredibly helpful and appreciated.
-T