muttley600
Banned
At some point I will be making a maple neck for this as well. I have the blank already roughed out. I intend to use it as a tester for stuff.
What to finish a strat with?
- Thread starter muttley600
- Start date
At some point I will be making a maple neck for this as well. I have the blank already roughed out. I intend to use it as a tester for stuff.
Here's my Tele in Natural
You've got some nice straight even grain there. I recently did the same with a Tele of great swamp ash and birdseye maple neck. I kept it natural with Acrylic lacquer and it wasn't good!!!! It turned dark where my right arm rests on the body from moisture. My grand son suggested natural waxed finish so I took it apart and sanded just the top and stained it lightly with Min wax Windsor Oak and started rubbing in old car wax Simonize. I applied it with an old T shirt and buffed with the same. It really made a nice finish with no glare in bright lights and no dark stain so far. The back is still full gloss and I think it's beautiful. ps. This tele has a Fishman acoustic bridge also and I built in a pre amp and 9V battery box in the bottom butt. I used a seperate jack (yes 2 jacks) to keep the electronics simple but can blend at the amp with 2 cords if wanted. My 1st set up was the Nashville style which is really just a Strat in a Tele body. I believe I will go back to that as it's more versatile plus the acoustic sound it gets. I LOVE IT! Good luck on your strat but hopefully you don't completely cover that nice select wood grain with paint. Shade the edges and let the grain show a little or natural & light stain. Use a crappy blank if you are going to paint it.
You've got some nice straight even grain there. I recently did the same with a Tele of great swamp ash and birdseye maple neck. I kept it natural with Acrylic lacquer and it wasn't good!!!! It turned dark where my right arm rests on the body from moisture. My grand son suggested natural waxed finish so I took it apart and sanded just the top and stained it lightly with Min wax Windsor Oak and started rubbing in old car wax Simonize. I applied it with an old T shirt and buffed with the same. It really made a nice finish with no glare in bright lights and no dark stain so far. The back is still full gloss and I think it's beautiful. ps. This tele has a Fishman acoustic bridge also and I built in a pre amp and 9V battery box in the bottom butt. I used a seperate jack (yes 2 jacks) to keep the electronics simple but can blend at the amp with 2 cords if wanted. My 1st set up was the Nashville style which is really just a Strat in a Tele body. I believe I will go back to that as it's more versatile plus the acoustic sound it gets. I LOVE IT! Good luck on your strat but hopefully you don't completely cover that nice select wood grain with paint. Shade the edges and let the grain show a little or natural & light stain. Use a crappy blank if you are going to paint it.
Last edited:
When you decide on a finish, you may change the pick guard for a better match with what you choose. I changed my strat from white to Tortise as it's a tobacco toward reddish hue sunburst and a maple neck. Some how, the white just stood out too much for the color. I am in process switching it to a rosewood neck like yours and taking out the white dots to replace them with some great abalone ones' Like the saying, "You can never have too many guitars" 
I had a white pearl pickguard on a black strat and it worked well as it wasn't quite so blilliant. Whatever you choose, you will have great satisfaction when you get it set up and hear those 1st sounds. Again Best of luck with it. Make it YOUR OWN!
I had a white pearl pickguard on a black strat and it worked well as it wasn't quite so blilliant. Whatever you choose, you will have great satisfaction when you get it set up and hear those 1st sounds. Again Best of luck with it. Make it YOUR OWN!
muttley600
Banned
No the body is highly figured ash.
That is likely because you over coarted too quickly. Acrylic is a finish I wont use..
Whatever I do will be a professional finish. Thanks for you suggestions....
muttley600
Banned
The pickguard you see in the picture is just one I grabbed to use when setting the bridge and the neck pocket. Whatever I end up using will be made by myself and not off the shelf.
I am not switching the neck for any other treason than this will be a way of testing the pickups I make with a variety of options. It's an analytical learning thing... How I've always worked. I do prefer rosewood fingerboards as a rule so if it was going to be a guitar I gig with it would have a rosewood board.
Like the saying, "You can never have too many guitars"
I have far too many guitars....and bits of guitars and stuff that will one day be a guitar....ask the wife...
I always eagerly await the first sounds when I complete a guitar.... even after 35 years in the game and few builds here and there......
CrowsofFritz
Flamingo!
But I love the sunburst finish! 
muttley600
Banned
But I love the sunburst finish!
Sunburst is good. I love a well done sunburst but pretty much only do them on archtops. I personally don't like the way they look on a strat. I was after doing something a little differant. At present I'm favouring a translucent depp colour but not sure which colour. I have done the blue thing before and I think that is a little over done these days. I was thinking green but...meh.
I'm stuck on what colour. Amber is good but pretty common....
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
Damn, that IS insane figuring.
muttley600
Banned
It is for ash. I have loads of more highly figured maple but for ash it's pretty rare. Thats why I want to finish with a striking finish but one that will let it speak out when it's done.
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
Yeah,, Mutt, I've never seen ash that looks like that, with the parallel grain and, especially, the flaming.
Maybe some sort of a blue burst with a bit of black applied first and then sanded back to really make the grain pop? Whatever you do, I can't wait to see the finished result.
Maybe some sort of a blue burst with a bit of black applied first and then sanded back to really make the grain pop? Whatever you do, I can't wait to see the finished result.
muttley600
Banned
Yep, whatever I do I will pop the grain as usual with a black stain and sand back. I've done the blue thing a few times and still have one instrument for show with it so I was hoping to do a different colour. I don't get to do a lot of bold colour finishes as most people want the natural wood look which is cool I guess.
Here's the blue. on the archtop I still have. Did it quite a few years back but still have the guitar as it was a side by side build like this one..........Remember when blue was the thing....?....
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
Orange with a heavy dose of red. Rosewood will look good against that. My first impulse was green but not with rosewood.
muttley600
Banned
I was looking closely at doing something with green but cant find a shade that I like... Maybe I'll revisit.
---------- Update ----------
On a strat? I think if I go sunburst it would be single cloure, which in reality means two shades of the similar colours...
muttley600
Banned
Black the grain, Deep purple translucent. Sharpen the points on the neck and body. GOTHSTRAT.(don't forget the Floyd Rose)
You mean a PRS...
kevin6string
New member
use a nice walnut or cherry wood stain... and finish with polyurithane... 4000 grit steel wool between each coat... ( make sure you blow it off so there is NO steel dust remnants... last step ( believe it or not buff with a dollar bill ) it' like a nuclearactively fine sandpaper that evens out the finish ...IT WORKS... had to do this to a 67 tele with a Fender brand bigsby... that unfortunatly had the original finish ruined by denatured alcohol when the dog ran through and bumped my table spilling it on my nicely aged yellowed white tele but that being said it turned out awesome tho it's value was shot in at least half ... iwas cleaning some inside metal parts carefully "so i thought"
but that being said it turned out awesome tho it's value was shot in at least half ... iwas cleaning some inside metal parts carefully "so i thought"
Last edited: