Building my first Tele (Warmoth)

Andy Eagle said:
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Just fitted a set of these, no other brand comes anywhere close to this build quality. Better made than most jewellery.
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+1. These are great machine heads. I put a set on a new build because I liked the look and bought a second set to swap-out on another guitar because I liked the build-quality. The last Taylor acoustic I bought came with non-locking 510s and those are great, too.
 
Staggered 3 and three (works fine) Gotoh 510 magnum lock traditional . And the are no heavier than any other locking tuner so no neck dive unless you have a really poorly balanced guitar to start with.
 
I would like a simple clear finish on this body.
I am thinking of applying a finish such as Minwax Polyurethane, oil based, by hand, not spraying it.
Any thoughts?
 
scottp said:
I would like a simple clear finish on this body.
I am thinking of applying a finish such as Minwax Polyurethane, oil based, by hand, not spraying it.
Any thoughts?
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I have 2 guitars that I stripped of paint and finished with hand-rubbed poly.

One was using Formby's and the other Minwax.

Both turned out great and are 2 of my most favorite. I really feel like they resonate much better with no paint.

This one was done with Formby's on bare mahogany:

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Apparently I have no pictures of the other one that show it in detail. But it is the same model guitar. That one had a failed stain attempt that I removed... And then tried again with "ebony" stain. The resulting finish looks like dark walnut but it's mahogany, too.

Hand rubbed is pretty easy: prep sand the wood, clean it well (tack cloth and mineral spirits), apply a layer of finish with a lint free cloth. Let it dry, go over the whole thing with 0000 steel wool. Repeat until it's where you want. Probably 7-10 coats.
 
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I would use a simple spirit based natural colour grain filler and then clear nitro (aerosol, one can will do). This can be very thin is easy to do and sounds substantially better because it is very thin and hard. This is as easy as a hand rubbed finish. If you get any runs just let it dry for a few days and sand it flat . This finish remelts when you add more coats and you can even leave it satin and it will look like a hand rubbed finish but sound better. Any rub throughs or fixes will disappear with a re-coat.
 
If you want to apply by hand, I would recommend shellac. It's alcohol based so it dries relatively quickly but still flows (smooths out brush strokes), is easy to sand between coats and is thin so multiple coats are possible without resulting in a thick finish. Polyurethane isn't my favorite to work with. It takes a while to dry between coats (almost need to let it cure to sand between coats), results in thicker finishes and isn't the hardest of finishes once cured. Shellac is a nice compromise between Poly and lacquer. I do, however, agree that spraying is the better option but I have a background as a cabinet finisher.

Unless you want to see the grain in the final clear cost, using a grain filler is the best way to a super smooth finish. There are some high fill sanding sealers (lacquer and shellac) that can eventually fill the grain but only after multiple coats.

Whatever you decide, unless you're using the same type of product, keep in mind that you want to use harder sealers/primers under softer finishes. Water, alcohol or lacquer based finishes under Poly, don't put lacquer or latex on top of oil based finishes. The way I remember is to think of how fast the solvent/medium evaporates- the quicker evaporating goes on first.
 
@unix-guy Yes that is the kind of finish I am trying to achieve that I see on your Ibanez.
I appreciate all the comments and recommendations too!

I have been practicing on a nice piece of pine, and documenting my results.
I started with the brush on oil based Poly, starting with a clean surface, applying 1 coat, allowing it to dry for 4 hours.
Then lightly sand the first coat with 1500 grit. Wipe clean, and apply the second coat of poly.

At my 5th coat it was looking real nice. When I sand it, the sanding reveals small imperfections you can't see before I started sanding.

I did a little more research and decided to try some rub on poly adjacent to my first test area.
The rub on, goes on quickly but very thin, which is okay.
I'm up to my third coat of the rub on as of this writing, with very light sanding between coats.
The rub on (at this stage) is not enhancing the grain as much as the brush on.
 
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