Well, my fret wire is on order from Gitty. My plan is to cut the slots, finish the neck then fret it. That way I avoid getting finish on the frets. Anyhow, when building other projects I've always used Poly. It works good for most of the things I've built. But I've never built a guitar. And since I don't play a guitar, I don't know what a good finish for a neck is. I assume you want it to be nice and smooth so your fingers will slide. But also durable so it's not coming off in sheets while you play.
So what do you experts like to put on you guitar necks to make them nice but also works well for playing?
Replies
tung oil let dry the buff them with red rouge then buff with white ruge then wax looks like glass
French polish. I usually fill pores by pumicing after the initial spit coats, but if you're in a hurry, you can lay on a few heavy coats and cut them back level with 320 - 400, either dry or wet with naptha (wet-dry paper is only needed if you use with water). I prefer dry sanding, because I can see where the gloss has been cut and move on to the next area. Bodying goes fast with 2 lb. Level with 600 if you start to get trapped lint or ridges that the pad won't take out -- that usually happens when you use too wet a pad, or you try to build too heavy a coat per session. Can or flake? Sealcoat is dewaxed 2 lb, works marginally better than regular 3 lb. No experience with flake, but you can get colors unavailable
in canned, such as garnet or buttonlac. Finish with a couple of glaze coat sessions with 1 lb cut and plenty of alcohol, then spirit off with a barely dampened pad. You won't need Meguire's to bring up the shine.
For fingerboards, Tru-oil is nice, durable.
Right. From what I read you are right that it aids in leveling out the shellac and help the shellac fill pores, not the itself filling pores. Also before we all had sandpaper, pumice was used with the muneca (the pad you apply the shellac wth) to do the work of sanding surfaces.
-WY
Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
From what I've seen, the pumice isn't used so much as a grain filler as it is a mild abrasive designed to break up the shellac itself and work it deeper into any pores that are there. It's possible that I've misinterpreted it too.
John Zant said:
I too use oil (tung & teak oil), usually 1 or 2 coats, then I apply "Antiquax natural". which is a beeswax and carnuaba mix paste wax. I love the feel and smell of it. Makes a very smooth finish and lets the wood remain as natural-looking as possible.
In the theatre we have traditionally used French polishes, or French varnish, in the making of props. You can add alcohol based aniline dyes to the mix to get some very intense transparent colors. Look to Woodworkers Supply. Be careful with the stuff. It's very concentrated and the powder can get everywhere. Wear a mask when you mix it up until it dissolves in the alcohol.
just chiming in for easy access to this information from my page. I have not used anything besides stain in the past. I recently bought a can of tung oil low gloss, simply for the convenience and experience with a finish. Thanks for all this information guys.
Thanks Josh! I think I'll try both methods and see what is achievable. I guess if the grains is hard and tight (maple) then the pumice really wouldn't accomplish much. I can see where if the grain is open and porous (mahogany, cedar) that the filling capabilities would be helpful. Thanks man, I appreciate the insight.
Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
Ive seen a video where they used (colored) joint compound as a grain filler BUT this wasn't necessarily as a base for French Polish. That and it being stained a darker color, they were using it as a replacement for pumice/grin filler.
Darn, I wish I could find that video...
-WY
Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
I wish I could give you a good answer on this but I've never bothered with pumice. I can't give you a very informed answer. What I can say is that I've never felt as though my guitar finishes were lacking because I left out the pumice. The best I could offer is that you try one neck with pumice and one without and see which you like best. You certainly won't have to worry about ruining either one. As I've noted before, FP is extremely easy to repair if you screw it up and sands off very easily with a moderate grit paper.
One other thing: if you go the pumice route, make sure you get it ground as fine as you can. The luthier I learned from (via video) indicated that he had tried medium ground and that it had left small white deposits (although minimal) in some of the more open pores of his body.
John Zant said:
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next