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I have just been making my first guitar over the last few days from scratch and I have just gotten to the point of needing a finish for it. I was wondering if anyone had experience in oiling a whole guitar body instead of varnish. Pros and cons. Any advice?

Edit: it is a solid body slide guitar

Unknown
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    may be a better fit @ woodworking.stackexchange.com – Yorik Nov 02 '17 at 14:14
  • @Yorik I disagree, unless there are luthiers there. The finish affects the sound, something that I do not think a cabinet maker needs to worry about. – Wayne Conrad Nov 02 '17 at 17:30
  • What type of guitar? I can see the finish affecting the sound for acoustic ones, but probably not for a solid body electric. For drums, the claim is harder finishes, like polyurethane, brighten the sound ever so slightly. I'm finishing my first kit with tung oil and decided to move to polymerized tung oil to get a glossier, more protective finish. Straight tung oil really doesn't make much of a protective coat at all and looks a bit dull. It'll help with sweat, but not much else. Polymerized tung oil behaves a lot more like wiping varnish... – Zalman Stern Nov 02 '17 at 20:41
  • Is there more maintenance on an oiled finish? That would be a deal breaker for me. – Todd Wilcox Nov 02 '17 at 21:52
  • @WayneConrad lol the original Martin was from the cabinet makers guild of his country, but I see what you mean, because my father is a cabinet maker and he mostly knows guitar stuff because of me. Tho it is helpful having someone good with tools... I might as at woodworking SE as well to see if anyone there has experience. – Unknown Nov 02 '17 at 22:35
  • @ZalmanStern I assumed acoustic, but now that you mention it, the OP didn't say. – Wayne Conrad Nov 02 '17 at 23:17
  • I was using pure tung oil originally. (WoodRiver, which is a properly labelled quality product.)"Dull" may not be quite the right word, but it is not glossy. I did a bunch of coats over quite a long time with adequate drying time. Initial coats were mixed with 50% odorless mineral spirits. Finish I got had wood beauty, but not quite right for drums. Sutherland Welles' polymerized tung oil seems to be what it says on the tin. It dries much much faster and makes a coat. Otherwise, about the same as tung oil. The drying makes it less easy to work with. Hard to beat regular pure tung oil for ease. – Zalman Stern Nov 02 '17 at 23:48

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It's not unheard of, it's done a lot. It wont effect your tone much, if at all.

Con:

  • You're going to be re-oiling it from time to time.

Pro:

  • I find an oiled neck to not be grippy like some of those new Fender necks and therefore I can move faster up and down the neck.

Everything else is personal, like just preferring the look of oiled wood over varnished.

Ruxton
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