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Post your "Money Shot" plain grain finish.

SpeakerBoxxx

SpeakerBoxxx

Apr 13, 2023
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S0CAL
#1
I'm currently working on a build for myself and I'm struggling to decide how I want to finish this build. In the past, I've mostly done paint and clear coat. This time I want to try a stain or dye or maybe even just natural. The body wood I'm using is Paulownia and grain-wise, it's kinda plain Jane. I can't decide how I want to finish this, so I'm turning to you guys for some inspiration. Please post some shots of your "plain grain" finished pieces and maybe even a short explanation of how you achieved them.
I would love to see some interesting dyes, stains, fades, bursts and grain fill.
Here's a shot of what I'm working with...
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#3
Not sure this qualifies as "plain grain", it's a figured walnut drop-top, but it's just TruOil, I think around 12 coats of it IIRC. I tried using the Tru-Oil as the grain filler itself by "wetsanding" with the Truoil, but didn't have much luck with that process. Wiping off the excess seemed to remove most of the walnut/oil slurry in the grain. I wasn't looking for a glass-smooth surface anyway, I wanted it to look like wood. Your body blank looks like ash, which is open-pore, so unless you want all that grain to telegraph through a clear finish, you'll have to fill it. I've tried some of the off-the-shelf grain filers like Timbermate, and they work... eventually. It tends to shrinks a little as it dries, it looks like you are done until it shrinks back. Then it's sand back, grain fill, repeat. I tried one of the new water base ones (Aquacoat) too, which isn't supposed to shrink... but does.
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Another option that doesn't shrink is epoxy as a grain filler, but most of them amber the finish a little. I did that on this one, and it seems to have worked, but again, I was OK with a little grain showing through. I topcoated it with wipe-on poly, which is a stupid-easy finish. I had some trouble getting it to adhere to cocobolo in a couple spots, still trying to sort that out.
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Some of the CA options like Glubooost Fill N' Finish look promising, but I haven't tried them myself. It's expensive stuff, but if you use their accelerator, it's not supposed to shrink back or cloud up.
 
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#4
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Explanatory Edit:
This Ripper is currently raw maple laminate after I removed the awful brushed on flat latex housepaint that was peeling off. I believe it was a beautiful tobacco sunburst when it left the factory and the back of the neck is a translucent brown fade that I've left alone so far.
A clear coat on this will not work as there is a big patch on the upper horn that's a filler of some sort and the body is pieced together from various chunks of wood including some nice flamed maple.
Someday soon I hope to finish my refinish with maybe a hand rubbed tasteful tobaccoburst so I'm open to suggestions too.
 
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#5
If you really want an untinted clear finish, maybe take a look at some of the water-borne finishes like Varathane Ultimate. It dries essentially water-clear, but would keep the wood from soaking up skin oil and grunge. There's a whole Mega-Thread devoted to it, pretty much real-time development on using it for guitar finishing, so skip to the end for most current info. I think you'd still have to grain-fill though, true with pretty much any finish.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/us...d-varathane-wb.1116168/page-115#post-28129395
 
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#6
Here's my Carvin LB70. It originally had a heavy poly finish (no stain/paint), but I stripped it down to bare wood and replaced it with a Tung Oil finish. Several years and a lot of wear later I stripped it again and re-did it in a Tru Oil finish, which is a lot more durable. I specifically did not go for a super glossy finish although that can be done with Tru Oil if you want. There are plenty of good threads here for processes for applying it. That being said, I also have a Kiesel electric guitar with a very plain maple top that is finished in a standard, clear poly with no stain or paint, and I think it looks pretty great too.

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#13
Gervais Cote said:
Alder body from Warmoth with 5 layers of Tru Oil and final sanding with 0000 steel wool for a satin finish :






Alder body with 3 layers of white Saman water based tint and 4 layers of Tru Oil with again a satin finish :






And my next body will still be alder with probably a cherry red Saman tint.
Click to expand...

That white tint is beautiful
 
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#16
Ok. I thought you wanted not plain finishes.

First is a hand done burst over mystery wood although I think a mahogany relative with a semigloss clear.

IMG_1165.jpegIMG_6236.jpeg IMG_6237.jpeg

Black limba again with a semigloss clear.

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Mango over pine.

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Spalted sycamore with a TruOil finish.

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I’ve been working on solid, opaque finishes lately but I can dig up some more pictures of natural or dyed finishes if they’ll help.

IMG_6067.jpeg
 
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#17
@Matt Liebenau I'm down for whatever... but mainly looking for some finishes on plain grain wood, not spalted, flame, quilted, etc. All the exotic stuff looks beautiful, but that's not what I'm dealing with on my current project. I would love to see some interesting dyes, stains, fades, bursts and grain fill (that dog hair that you posted totally fits the bill). Thank you to everyone who has posted, I'm starting to feel some inspiration...
 
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