DYI guitar tung oil finish

September 22, 2005 9:56 PM

DYI Guitar players: anyone finish a mahogany soildbody with tung oil? Any tips for the virgin?

There's a lot of info on the web, but some of it contradicts itself. I'm looking for firsthand experiences here.

posted by dong_resin to sports, hobbies, & recreation (4 comments total)

DIY, I meant of course.
posted by dong_resin at 10:12 PM on September 22, 2005

It's not hard. Work in a well-ventilated area, use hand protection (it's an irritant), rub it in with a cloth. Let it hang to dry (soak in, really) overnight before applying the next coat.

It brings out the natural grain of the wood and affords some protection against moisture and weathering.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:32 PM on September 22, 2005

I like tung oil as a finish. For a guitar, not sure I'd recommend it. You will be reapplying it quite often I think, since it is not a very resistant finish.

There is a product combination I like that is a mixture of tung oil and poly. It's called Seal-a-Cell and Arm-r-Seal (something like that). I never remember which is which but one is sort of an undercoat and the other is a more durable over-coat. You don't necessarily need both but the overcoat increases durability. David Marks uses this combination on much of his furniture.

Most tung oil available is already a mixture of oil and some kind of resin to make it more durable. Pure tung oil is rare, but it is findable. If you don't mind spending a week finishing it, and an hour or so twice a year renewing it, then go for it. The reason it needs a week is that you do several coats in one day, and then maybe one coat every other day and then maybe one more coat a week later. You have to modify the schedule to fit your humidity and temperature. It's not hard to tell when it's fully cured and ready for the next coat. Don't put on more if it's tacky or sticky to the touch at all, give it time to penetrate and cure.

Never used tung oil on a guitar but I use it regularly on furniture that I build for myself. For others... well most people don't like to hear that they're going to have to renew the finish on a regular basis.

Love to see any pics you have of the work in progress or the finished product! Building a hollowbody is on my "list"
posted by RustyBrooks at 6:54 AM on September 23, 2005

I've used pure tung oil on acoustic instruments, but for a solidbody there's no problem using the polymerized stuff RustyBrooks described -- you'll probably appreciate how much quicker it dries. With mahogany, you are probably going to want to use a grain filler first; oil doesn't really fill up the pores that well.
posted by transient at 8:16 AM on September 23, 2005