Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm putting the finish on my first, as many of you may already know since I keep asking finishing questions .

The back,sides and neck are mahogany which I porefilled and stained. I was planning on using a few seal coats of shellac then finishing with truoil. The stain was alcohol based and I'm pretty sure when I *rubbed* on a seal coat of shellac over my stained neck some of the stain got smeared a little. Does that sound probable? Maybe it was streaky before I just didn't notice it

So I was thinking about just putting the Tru Oil directly on the stained back and sides. This shouldn't cause a problem should it? I still plan on sealing the top(spruce) with shellac then finishing it with Tru-Oil.

Any advice? Can anyone confirm that rubbing shellac (dissolved in alcohol) over an alcohol based stain will smear it? What are your thoughts on the Truoil affecting the tone by being applied directly on the wood of the back & sides?

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Jeremy Douglas

Yes that would smear it. Tru-Oil should be fine. Why not try it on some scrap first? That's what they make scraps for.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Thanks Mike. Yeh, I know 'test on scrap' but the mahogany pieces I have are small and flat. What works on my scraps doesn't necessarily work on the curves of a neck or sides, which I found out by attempting to rub on tinted shellac...worked great on the scrap piece, not so great around a headstock with a volute.

Thanks again

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Jeremy Douglas

No problem, Jeremy. Sometimes I forget that not everyone has the scrap collection that I do. I am a serious packrat. It's a problem.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger