Staining a body?

[leftyguitarman]

Would there be any reason not to stain a blank body to get a nice dark look?

I plan on staining a body after applying wood conditioner, then once the stain dries, I am going to tru-oil the body with several coats.

Is there anything wrong with my plan?

 

[bfcg]

The Mahogany should stain well. Maple is trickier, it tends to blotch. Popping grain on maple where you will sand the surface back to natural works out ok. Color is then applied after by shooting it after sealing.

 

[leftyguitarman]

The body is actually poplar. It's for a Strat build.

I've been testing my method on pieces of scrap poplar and the results have been excellent so far!

 

[bfcg]

Yes poplar could be stained with very good results. In fact, it could be stained to mimmic many other woods.

 

[H.E.L.Shane]

Nothing wrong with your plan.

however... be aware... While i love poplar for the fact that it takes a finish very well...

it also DENTS very well...

The tru-oil will harden it up.. but it will still dent fairly easily as it goes through life!

 

[leftyguitarman]

Here is what it looked like last night about four hours after drying. I put one coat of wood conditioner and one coat of stain. I've since steel wool'ed it and applied one coat of tru oil. The color now is much, much lighter than in the picture.