Wow, most excellent video, I'm doing the exact same thing to a thinline, was hunting around for info on drying time pre clear coat, only 5 more days to wait......thanks for the video, and greeting from New Zealand.
Thanks Lone Star Guitars for sharing this info! This is exactly the effect I was looking for. I tried this method and it works really great. I added a sunburst effect as well, just by rubbing in a black/brown mix of dry pigment powder into the last (sticky) layer of BLO. Starting at the outline of the body and calmly rubbing it in towards the middle, this creates a very nicely ‘aged’ fading effect. A few coats of satin nitro give it a very authentic natural look, with indeed the open pores. I’m very, very pleased with it!
I love natural open-pore finishes on a guitar. I have a mahogany P-Bass body, and have been looking for ages for a tutorial on how to achieve this finish. Yours is the only one I've found. I'd never have thought to apply nitro over oil. Thanks for the tip!!! Great looking guitar!!!
I don’t like gold hardware. Usually. In this case the glow on the body from the bridge is beautiful. It also goes well with the PG. Very nice work. Subscribed.
This is very interesting. I always thought that oils (any oil) would not serve as a previous coat for nitrocellulose lacquer, meaning that the lacquer would not able to stick to it. So any polimerized oil should work? Here in Brazil there’s Carnauba Oil, that is polimerized (cooked), harder than linseed oil in a way that offer better moisture protection, and it’s as easy as Truoil to apply. I recently used in an SP/BR acoustic and I liked it. But visually, I liked your project most. The oil really enhanced the grain of the wood, and the satin finish really make it. It’s a killer guitar, congratulations!
+Ricardo Fonseca That's what I thought, until I did some experiments a few years back. Turns out it works very well. I've tried this with linseed oil and tru oil so far. Both work well, as long as the oil has fully cured. Even after some years there is no lifting or checking in the finish. I can not tell wether or not your oil will work as well, but I can't imagine it won't. Try it on some scrap pieces of wood and you'll know for sure. Best of luck!
@@Georg93 , I ended up not trying it yet. Anyway, after having made and having used on stage some oil and wax only guitars, I think that is definitely better to go with a harder finish over it. Otherwise the finish starts to deteriorate very early.
@@rifosi Thanks for the answer and experience! That was my thought also. For only oil/carnauba finish, the wood probably must be very high density, to be nice for normal use. Will go for a thin, clean coat of nitro. I have a slight suspicion, that very thin layer of nitro over oil/carnauba, will not crack so much as normal nitro.
The result is just marvellous and it looks almost like the guitar that I have in mind. What would I have to do if I wanted that beautiful brown colour with the structure of the wood showing, but with a glossy finish? Would I have to use grain filler before oiling the body? It would be great if you could offer some advice! :)
I've been trying to figure out how to finish a project. Oil is too dingy and doesn't protect well, gloss nitro is a lot of work. This looks like a beautiful finish.
I got the message, but what if you need to remove hair, dust or orange peel after spraying, what is the procedure after sanding? How do you achieve a beautiful satin finish in that case?
Would this be considered a Satin Nitro over CAB? I'm looking for a good cleaner and am cautious as to what you use. I recently bought a PRS with Satin/Nitro over CAB as stated. I would like your thoughts as to a good cleaner. Thank you
Guitar looks nice but how does it feel to the touch - especially the neck? Should you not buff and polish the satin nitro top coat to get a silky smooth touch or is that only necessary for gloss nitro?
I'm using my first Satin nitro finish and it's confusing me. It's a Mohawk product. I'm doing nice light coats, but the finish looks almost dusty and it has a roughness when it dries. It is NOT orange peel, just a fine roughness. I'm heating the nitro; the guitar is 70's warm. I take it outside just to spray for only a couple of minutes at 60+ degrees. Again, quite warm nitro, warmer, but not crazy warmer inside than outside, not cold outside,, for only 2 minutes or less to spray. I am having a rough satin finish. 1) is this normal for satin? 2) Can I sand between coats of satin? 3) if so, what grit and how long should I wait? 4) Are my coats not "wet" enough? 5) can a Satin be sanded and polished to something more like gloss? 6) If i can't sort out the satin, Can I spray Gloss over Satin after sanding and not have issues? Thanks,,, lots of questions here and I appreciate any shared wisdom. Thanks!
Would it be possible to put the satin nitro directly over the prepped wood WITHOUT using a stain? I like the light color of the ash body I have and don’t want to change it but want that open natural look still. And preferably a matte finish
That is a lovely guitar and a very nice video tutorial. Thanks. I just noticed that you lined the pickup cavities with copper foil, but not the control cavity. Are all the wires shielded?
+Craig Roy I haven't found that to be necessary. Just make sure the oil has fully cured before hitting it with nitro. It should be hard and it should not feel sticky anymore. Be sure to use a curing oil such as BLO or tru oil. Good luck!
Hi, really nice job! I need an advice. I own a martin D18 guitar and the original satin finish of the headplate now looks totally glossy (after playing and wrong polish products). Which product should I use to respray the headplate to have the original satin look? Thank you very much
+glfrayt Hi, thanks! You could try two different things. First of all, you could try sanding it very lightly using very fine sandpaper (2000 grit is a good starting point). Don't apply any pressure, just 'wipe' it very lightly with the sandpaper. If the surface is flat you should see a fairly consistent 'flat look' quite quickly. Clean the surface with some finish cleaner (I use mineral spirits) from time to time to make sure the sanding dust (even though there should hardly be any) doesn't 'cloud' the finish. Of course, let the mineral spirits dry out completely before assessing the results.
+glfrayt However if this doesn't give you the results you are looking for, you could respray as well. Try to find out what type of finish is used on your Martin. It's probably nitro, but I'm not 100% sure. If you spray nitro over nitro it will dissolve into the old coat nicely. If the original coat is poly it will not (you can still respray with nitro but the result might not look as good). Either way, sand the surface lightly with some 1000 grit sandpaper. Don't sand away too much, again just wipe it lightly to give the new coat something to hang on to. Clean the surface thoroughly with finish cleaner. Then respray with satin nitro. I like to use the satin nitro by Manchester guitar tech (although I'm not sure if they ship to the States as well). They also offer a 'matt' top coat which is even 'flatter'. Try to match it with the original coat. Otherwise Stewmac also sells a satin nitro, but I haven't tried it. After about three coats you can sand lightly with 1000 grit sandpaper and clean again. Then spray the final coat. No more sanding or polishing after the last coat. That's it! I recommend trying it on some scrap wood or a cheap guitar first. Best of luck!
Thanks! As for the preparation, I sand the wood up to 1000 grit. Even the finest sanding marks should be removed since they will show up after the oil coats. During the oil application, some lint and dust particles will be trapped in the oil coats (this is pretty much inevitable). They won't really show up until you apply the nitro. So after the first nitro coat I sand it very lightly with 800-1000 grit sandpaper. Then I apply another 2-3 coats. No sanding in between coats. Also I don't do any sanding or buffing after the last coat. If the wood is prepared well it should be perfectly flat and smooth.
+Sebastian Kisiel When I'm roughing out I just sand in whatever direction works best (but always in straight lines). As soon as I start fine sanding (400 grit and upwards) I always sand in the direction of the grain (even though it's a bit awkward in some spots). That gives me the best results. Wherever possible I use a sanding block to get the surfaces as flat as possible. I also made curved sanding blocks out wood for sanding curved parts.
+joshxpfp I've done tru oil over stains which works well. However I've never applied nitro after that. I think it'll take if the oil has fully cured, but I can't say for certain. Good luck.
Wow, most excellent video, I'm doing the exact same thing to a thinline, was hunting around for info on drying time pre clear coat, only 5 more days to wait......thanks for the video, and greeting from New Zealand.
Thanks Lone Star Guitars for sharing this info! This is exactly the effect I was looking for. I tried this method and it works really great. I added a sunburst effect as well, just by rubbing in a black/brown mix of dry pigment powder into the last (sticky) layer of BLO. Starting at the outline of the body and calmly rubbing it in towards the middle, this creates a very nicely ‘aged’ fading effect. A few coats of satin nitro give it a very authentic natural look, with indeed the open pores. I’m very, very pleased with it!
That's sweet! Looks awesome. I'm normally not a fan of gold hardware but in this case it's a perfect choice.
BEAUTIFUL
I love natural open-pore finishes on a guitar. I have a mahogany P-Bass body, and have been looking for ages for a tutorial on how to achieve this finish. Yours is the only one I've found. I'd never have thought to apply nitro over oil. Thanks for the tip!!! Great looking guitar!!!
Thank you! Sounds like a great project!
dude!!! amazing work!!! so clean and neat!!!
francisco acosta Thanks a lot!!
the narration of the video, the filming, and focus on the work you do is vital for this kind of tuts or demonstrative videos, Suscribed and liked!!!
Much appreciated!
You did a Beautiful job Sir. I know you are proud & you should be ..... Very Beautiful....
Love the open grain look. Beautiful job.
I love u dude 😂😂. This is sooo good. Never thought i could do satin nitro over oil
I don’t like gold hardware. Usually. In this case the glow on the body from the bridge is beautiful. It also goes well with the PG. Very nice work.
Subscribed.
Great job!!
Thanks for sharing
Thanks!
Nice work! Which nitro brand are you using ? (and totally unrelated, what's up with the bite on your left hand?)
This is very interesting. I always thought that oils (any oil) would not serve as a previous coat for nitrocellulose lacquer, meaning that the lacquer would not able to stick to it. So any polimerized oil should work? Here in Brazil there’s Carnauba Oil, that is polimerized (cooked), harder than linseed oil in a way that offer better moisture protection, and it’s as easy as Truoil to apply. I recently used in an SP/BR acoustic and I liked it. But visually, I liked your project most. The oil really enhanced the grain of the wood, and the satin finish really make it. It’s a killer guitar, congratulations!
+Ricardo Fonseca That's what I thought, until I did some experiments a few years back. Turns out it works very well. I've tried this with linseed oil and tru oil so far. Both work well, as long as the oil has fully cured. Even after some years there is no lifting or checking in the finish. I can not tell wether or not your oil will work as well, but I can't imagine it won't. Try it on some scrap pieces of wood and you'll know for sure. Best of luck!
Was the the nitro over carnauba successful? I have made carnauba + linseed oil mix and now, I am thinking about nitro on top, for harder finish.
@@Georg93 , I ended up not trying it yet. Anyway, after having made and having used on stage some oil and wax only guitars, I think that is definitely better to go with a harder finish over it. Otherwise the finish starts to deteriorate very early.
@@rifosi Thanks for the answer and experience! That was my thought also. For only oil/carnauba finish, the wood probably must be very high density, to be nice for normal use. Will go for a thin, clean coat of nitro. I have a slight suspicion, that very thin layer of nitro over oil/carnauba, will not crack so much as normal nitro.
Great!!
The result is just marvellous and it looks almost like the guitar that I have in mind.
What would I have to do if I wanted that beautiful brown colour with the structure of the wood showing, but with a glossy finish? Would I have to use grain filler before oiling the body? It would be great if you could offer some advice! :)
I've been trying to figure out how to finish a project. Oil is too dingy and doesn't protect well, gloss nitro is a lot of work. This looks like a beautiful finish.
Looks fantastic. So the nitro stuck OK to the oiled wood? no other prep aside from sanding after the grain raised after applying the oil?
👍😊
Beautiful!!! How long did you wait after last coat before you installed hardware and pickguard? Hours? Days?
I got the message, but what if you need to remove hair, dust or orange peel after spraying, what is the procedure after sanding? How do you achieve a beautiful satin finish in that case?
Would this be considered a Satin Nitro over CAB? I'm looking for a good cleaner and am cautious as to what you use. I recently bought a PRS with Satin/Nitro over CAB as stated. I would like your thoughts as to a good cleaner. Thank you
Guitar looks nice but how does it feel to the touch - especially the neck? Should you not buff and polish the satin nitro top coat to get a silky smooth touch or is that only necessary for gloss nitro?
I'm using my first Satin nitro finish and it's confusing me. It's a Mohawk product. I'm doing nice light coats, but the finish looks almost dusty and it has a roughness when it dries. It is NOT orange peel, just a fine roughness. I'm heating the nitro; the guitar is 70's warm. I take it outside just to spray for only a couple of minutes at 60+ degrees. Again, quite warm nitro, warmer, but not crazy warmer inside than outside, not cold outside,, for only 2 minutes or less to spray. I am having a rough satin finish. 1) is this normal for satin? 2) Can I sand between coats of satin? 3) if so, what grit and how long should I wait? 4) Are my coats not "wet" enough? 5) can a Satin be sanded and polished to something more like gloss? 6) If i can't sort out the satin, Can I spray Gloss over Satin after sanding and not have issues? Thanks,,, lots of questions here and I appreciate any shared wisdom. Thanks!
Would it be possible to put the satin nitro directly over the prepped wood WITHOUT using a stain? I like the light color of the ash body I have and don’t want to change it but want that open natural look still. And preferably a matte finish
That is a lovely guitar and a very nice video tutorial. Thanks.
I just noticed that you lined the pickup cavities with copper foil, but not the control cavity. Are all the wires shielded?
He put a strip to the bridge, which is grounded later. Clever.
Beautiful work! Did you even have to sand the finish?
Can you tell me what is the brand of the Satin Nitro Finish?
Hi, that's exactly what I'm looking for also on my LP Junior. Question, should the dried oil be hit with a shellac before the nitro?
+Craig Roy I haven't found that to be necessary. Just make sure the oil has fully cured before hitting it with nitro. It should be hard and it should not feel sticky anymore. Be sure to use a curing oil such as BLO or tru oil. Good luck!
too bad you covered up so much of the beautiful wood on the front with p-gaurd . as good as yours looks I like the traditional control plate
Hi, really nice job! I need an advice. I own a martin D18 guitar and the original satin finish of the headplate now looks totally glossy (after playing and wrong polish products). Which product should I use to respray the headplate to have the original satin look? Thank you very much
+glfrayt Hi, thanks! You could try two different things. First of all, you could try sanding it very lightly using very fine sandpaper (2000 grit is a good starting point). Don't apply any pressure, just 'wipe' it very lightly with the sandpaper. If the surface is flat you should see a fairly consistent 'flat look' quite quickly. Clean the surface with some finish cleaner (I use mineral spirits) from time to time to make sure the sanding dust (even though there should hardly be any) doesn't 'cloud' the finish. Of course, let the mineral spirits dry out completely before assessing the results.
+glfrayt However if this doesn't give you the results you are looking for, you could respray as well. Try to find out what type of finish is used on your Martin. It's probably nitro, but I'm not 100% sure. If you spray nitro over nitro it will dissolve into the old coat nicely. If the original coat is poly it will not (you can still respray with nitro but the result might not look as good). Either way, sand the surface lightly with some 1000 grit sandpaper. Don't sand away too much, again just wipe it lightly to give the new coat something to hang on to. Clean the surface thoroughly with finish cleaner. Then respray with satin nitro. I like to use the satin nitro by Manchester guitar tech (although I'm not sure if they ship to the States as well). They also offer a 'matt' top coat which is even 'flatter'. Try to match it with the original coat. Otherwise Stewmac also sells a satin nitro, but I haven't tried it. After about three coats you can sand lightly with 1000 grit sandpaper and clean again. Then spray the final coat. No more sanding or polishing after the last coat. That's it! I recommend trying it on some scrap wood or a cheap guitar first. Best of luck!
question for anyone who will listen: can you check/crack a satin nitro finish? or does that only work for gloss nitro?
how did you prepare the wood? was there any sanding after the nitro?
the guitar looks stunning!
Thanks! As for the preparation, I sand the wood up to 1000 grit. Even the finest sanding marks should be removed since they will show up after the oil coats. During the oil application, some lint and dust particles will be trapped in the oil coats (this is pretty much inevitable). They won't really show up until you apply the nitro. So after the first nitro coat I sand it very lightly with 800-1000 grit sandpaper. Then I apply another 2-3 coats. No sanding in between coats. Also I don't do any sanding or buffing after the last coat. If the wood is prepared well it should be perfectly flat and smooth.
do you make circular movements with sanding paper?
+Sebastian Kisiel When I'm roughing out I just sand in whatever direction works best (but always in straight lines). As soon as I start fine sanding (400 grit and upwards) I always sand in the direction of the grain (even though it's a bit awkward in some spots). That gives me the best results. Wherever possible I use a sanding block to get the surfaces as flat as possible. I also made curved sanding blocks out wood for sanding curved parts.
Thank you very much!
Can you share the link to the spray can for the nitrocellulose? Thanks 🙏🏾. You’ve done a remarkable job
Hey there I've been combing ebay can't find any decent diy kits any advice. Pls and thanks:) great job btw
Does the wood have to be bare for the oil and nitro to take or can a stain be applied for before the finish is applied..?
+joshxpfp I've done tru oil over stains which works well. However I've never applied nitro after that. I think it'll take if the oil has fully cured, but I can't say for certain. Good luck.
Hi brother, I have a question. Can I paint nitrocellulose with wood dye stain?
Are you referring to applying a stain over nitro? Or applying nitro over a stain?
Thanks brother, I do not have a good language. But I use it over a stain
No worries. Applying nitro over a stain works just fine. Just make sure the stain has fully cured before applying the nitro. Good luck!
Would this turn gloss after playing it for a while?
Which linseed oil brand do you use?
The one in this video is actually just a generic local brand. Usually I will use tru oil (which is a blend of different oils, including linseed).