Ok I'm curious. How well does it "patch up". Say you get a scratch and go back and fix the area and reapply the finish, does it blend good. Like a lacquer burns in? Or would you have to sand off and refinish the entire surface? Also do you use any filler or do you leave the pores for that "natural" look

Very interesting, very interesting indeed. I just realized who you are, so next time I get a good bargain on some of your tone wood I may have to give this finish a shot. Thanks for the info.

Is the finish you used the "botanical polymerized tung oil"? looks nice, I really like the look of bocote, but so far have only made a small box as a gift out of the stuff.

thanks for posting, I always like hearing of different finishes as so far thats the weakest part of my builds. Practice will hopefully make perfect

Nice build. I always wondered about Bocote as a B/S material. Looks great.

Side note on the finish. I'm waiting for some Poly Whey water base finish but they can't ship from Vermont till Monday at the earliest - too cold for water based. So I picked up some Uralkyd 500 locally and just put the first coat on over Z-poxy. Very impressed with the workability and initial clarity but that's all I can comment on at this time as there's still only one wet coat on so far - but thanks for the tip I'll post when the guitars are finished with my experience.

I put a second coat of Uralkoyd 500 on the guitar and perhaps didn't wait long enough between coats (5 hours??). It was hard enough to sand and didn't clog the paper but on the top, over shellac, and over a first coat, the second coat bubbled and gurgled pretty badly in a few spots. Back and side were OK over Z-poxy and the whole top was not affected. I'll sand off and try again and will wait 8 - 10 hours before re-coating and see if that's the problem.

I don't want this to be any kind of definitive review of the product as my finishing skills are very poor and 'user error' is my middle name - but wanted to post to add to the knowledge base.

Aaron, so you just wipe on/off, 6-7 coats....1 every 24 hours and that is it, you did no sanding, buffing, etc? How durable is this finish?

By the way, I'm in Dahlonega, noticed you are in Chatsworth, we're close enough for a visit some time.

Okay, so I'm building my first guitar and starting to think seriously about my finishing options. Initially, I had planned to try my hand at French Polish...but I'm daunted by the process to say the least. This product might be what I need.

Question for the OP or anyone who's used this product...

The guitar I'm building has a white spruce top, and I'd like to keep it as bright and white as I can. Does this product have an "ambering" effect on spruce? It certainly looks fantastic on the darker-colored woods that I've seen. But what would it look like on a "white" wood like maple or spruce?

Aaron, so you just wipe on/off, 6-7 coats....1 every 24 hours and that is it, you did no sanding, buffing, etc? How durable is this finish?

By the way, I'm in Dahlonega, noticed you are in Chatsworth, we're close enough for a visit some time.

Hi Greg, after the last coat, I let it cure for about a week, then lightly buff with OOOO steel wool. Then, I buffed the finish out on my buffer with fine, then extra fine compounds. You can actually wet sand the tung oil finish, just like a laquer finish, up to 1000 grit or so before buffing, but I think it looks good with just a once over with the steel wool first. this is a VERY durable finish. It will never check, craze, or delaminate. If you ever need to repair a scratch, you just wipe on, wipe off! Nothing is easier to repair.
Yeah, you're just over the mountains from me! Dahlonega is just about a 1 1/2 hour drive.

I'll probably go ahead and buy some from your Ebay site. I've got a bass that I'm refinishing. Might try it on that. I've got it stained with Watco Danish Oil. Would this tung oil be okay to put over that??

Hmmm. Very interesting. I may just have to give this product a shot. I do plan to eventually go to nitro once my spraybooth is done, but that's turning out to be a long term project...

Beautiful guitar, too, Aaron. I have a killer set of bocote I was thinking of using on my next spec build. Actually have a couple of amazing curly sinker redwood tops I can't wait to build with as well. You're happy with that combo, tonally?

Ken

Aaron, how long have you been using this finish? What kind of issues have you had to date? How hard is it compared to the poly's used today on guitars? You mentioned it was "clear" does it have some tint/ambering effect?