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Stew Mac is wonderful but I wonder if there is a brand of rattle can nitro that is equivalent to color tone. I need to finish my 000 kit but I am reluctant to drop $120 on their colortone finish kit.

Can anyone recommend more cost effective products ? Or should I just suck it up

Thanks.

What about wipe-on poly, TruOil, or shellac - pretty easy and good results.


Ed

Minwax lacquer, which is available from Home depot or Lowes, is in a rattle can and is a good product. I believe John Hall posted a thread about it a while back. It's an economical alternative.

Here is the link to the thread:

http://www.kitguitarsforum.com/board/vi ... ax+lacquer

I used Minwax rattle can satin lacquer on my last two projects. Both turned out very nicely.

Yes -- Tru-Oil is quite easy to apply. Even an idiot like me can do it, and the results look good. Just keep the coats t h i n and allow adequate drying time between coats.

One thing about Tru-Oil to be aware of is that as soon as you open the bottle and use some so there is an air space in the bottle, the oil will tend to skim over in the bottle. One way to minimize this is to drop marbles into the bottle as you use the oil to keep the airspace to a minimum. Another thing to do is put the bottle away upside down. It will skim over, but it will be at the bottom of the bottle when you turn it right-side up to use it.

Shellac (French polishing) takes some practice, and some work, but it can yield a knock-your-eyeballs-out finish, and if you screw it up you can wash it off fairly easily with alcohol. It gives a visual depth to the finish that other finishes can't. A luthier friend explained it to me once. The lac molecule is quite small compared to the long-chain molecules in synthetic finishes. Because of that, shellac penetrates the grain more deeply and gives a richer-looking finish. With the right piece of wood and a good French polish job you can bring out the grain so it looks like a mountain range.

Here is a photo of curly yellow birch and shellac. The picture doesn't really convey the sense of depth you get actually seeing it, but it gives an idea.

Brilliant! Thank you so much

Diane Kauffmds wrote:Minwax lacquer, which is available from Home depot or Lowes, is in a rattle can and is a good product. I believe John Hall posted a thread about it a while back. It's an economical alternative.

Here is the link to the thread:

http://www.kitguitarsforum.com/board/vi ... ax+lacquer

ruby@magpage.com wrote:What about wipe-on poly, TruOil, or shellac - pretty easy and good results.


Ed

I'm going to investigate truoil - a quick internet search shows that a lot of people really like it. Does it produce a glossy finish?

What I would do, is put 2-3 wash coats of shellac on your guitar first, to seal the wood and provide a beautiful depth that only shellac can provide, followed by pore filler. From there, use your choice of any finish, including TruOil. I know TruOil is shiney, but I've never used it myself, so I don't know if it's as shiney as shellac or nitro.

most finishes can be tinted. Analyne dyes work well
best advice is experiment a bit first. Amazing how little dye it takes.

Here is a Tru-Oil instrument I did recently. Click forward and back for more shots of finishing, and text is below

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 458169080/

Ed