Guitar finish suggestions

M.M.

Member
I'm building a custom guitar as part of an apprenticeship, and I'm coming to the phase where I need to decide on a finish for the body (neck will be natural wood).

We're leaning towards something metallic, or metallic but a bit translucent with the wood texture coming through, tell me your ideas!

It'll have black hardware, and a tele style control plate.

Also, please don't copy it :sweatsmile:

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That wood is nice enough that you could do something transparent.
Or maybe, since the fingerboard has a bit of a purple cast, you could swing it in the other direction with a metallic Caribbean blue.

That shape would also take well to body binding. Can you do that?

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That wood is nice enough that you could do something transparent.
Or maybe, since the fingerboard has a bit of a purple cast, you could swing it in the other direction with a metallic Caribbean blue.

That shape would also take well to body binding. Can you do that?

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Yup, the wood being nice is complicating things a bit :D

Binding is an option, but I'd prefer to simplify things to the maximum
 
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I love to use Danish oil on necks. 3 layers will give you a nice finish that doesn't feel sticky and still feels like bare wood. And 4 to 5 layers on a body also feels and looks really great. You get this look and feel. Which reminds me off a nice Gibson SG.
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I also got some wipe on lacquer from Crimson Guitars that feels really nice on a neck. Also great for creating a glossy almost pro like shine finish on the body. If you want that nice pro looking gloss finish don't be skimpy on the gloss coating. Apply a LOT of lacquer or poly. Because you will need to sand it down repeatedly until there are no more blemishes. Because those will stick out like a sore thumb on a gloss finish. And then it helps if you applied enough layers so you don't sand through to the paint job. Use wet sanding paper, grit 400, 600 is probably better. And once everything is great, a couple more layers, then use 1200 for the final stretch and then polish it with a polishing agent. It will look so nice and shiny you can use it for a mirror. Do remember to give the guitar plenty of times between spray and sanding jobs. Water and acrylic spray paints dry quicker then oil based paints. I use a week for the former. Also don't mix your water and oil based paints and finishes, cause weird things might happen. Stick to one for everything for the best result.
 
If you want the wood grain to pop out you can do the dye then lightly sand back thing. I never mastered that though. I settled on BLO first coat to pop the grain.
 
Thank you everyone for your recommendations!
I've been busy and away from the forum, but would check on this once in a while.

The guitar will go to the painting booth next week, I'll reveal the choice then :D
 
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