Matte stain finish?

Not an expert, but I'll share a bit of info I learned from my own past projects. The answer to "is a clear coat necessary," is no, but yes. Once you have a stain on, it's not like your guitar isn't going to work if you don't give it a clear coat, but the clear coat serves 2 purposes. Firstly, and obviously, it will protect the surface of the guitar, and second, it will seal the wood, protecting the wood from various environmental factors, and sealing in the stain you just applied.

Now, I want to point out that there are TONS of finishing options. Some people think "clear coat" automatically means lacquer or polyurethan, and that's just not the case. There are various oils and waxes that will give you a clear coat, without having the same overall results as lacquer, or a poly finish. I finished a bass neck recently with Tried and True Wood Finish, and it gave me a nice matte finish that I was very pleased with. I also recommend you look around, because there are TONS of resources on finishing guitars and basses around. Good luck!

 

Also not an expert, but have had good experience using satin finish clear coat for this kind of thing

 

Not so long as you don't mind your hands, arms, and clothes being blue!

You should do a clear coat.

The easiest sturdy finish to apply, and it's not a bad looking one, is a couple of passes of "wipe-on polyurethane". Minwax makes one. I'm an experienced finish guy and could have done the wood mantels over my fireplace in anything you care to name, but I had a time limit and a need to use something fairly non-toxic. So I used that. You can still see all the pores - looks a lot like a shellac sealer coat or something similar - but the wood is covered and protected and frankly I'm looking forward to using it on an instrument, as I like the look. And it can't be easier to use: clean up the wood, get a clean piece of cloth that won't shed lint (old t-shirts are perfect), soak the shirt and wipe it on. Let it dry for an hour and do it again. Done.

Watco and other oil finishes will give similar results but can take a while to dry out. The poly - let it hang for a day and you're done. The finish will look matte, unless you do ten coats or something unnecessary like that.

 

Also, you might want to test on a piece of scrap before committing to the stain if possible. Blue on mahogany in my experience comes out looking more black than anything else.

 

Can you tell us the specific product you have for a stain? Lots of products get passed off as "stain" that behave differently, it's hard to give recommendations without knowing the specifics.