Over the past month or so I have been adding the finishing touches to the DLP Lap Steel Guitar. The body was progressively sanded with finer grades of sand paper and finally scraped smooth with a cabinet scraper and then fine wire wool.
The body is made of cherry and darkens naturally in UV light so leaving the guitar hanging in the garage for the past couple of months has matured the wood beautifully. I had decided to use gun stock oil to finish the body to give a smooth hard wearing semi gloss finish and started adding thin layers using a lint free cloth.
The fingerboard is made of mahogany and needed several thick coats to fill the grain, I used my finger to apply the finish liberally.
The body starts to take on a natural sheen after a couple of coats. I apply a coat then leave it to dry for an hour or so and then apply another adding about 3 coats a day. After about a week I wet sanded the body to both flatten the finish and remove any dust which had found its way onto the body. I was then able to apply the DLP logo once the face of the head was sanded flat, I used a water-slide transfer and started over coating with more finish once it had completely dried.
After hanging the guitar to dry for a couple of weeks I buffed the finish with a fine abrasive compound and then applied a coat of furniture polish and started re-assembling the finished instrument.
Re-assembly was quick as the hard work was done before the finish was applied.
I'm very pleased with the finish, the fret board has a lovely deep shine and the cream binding I used as fret markers has an antique feel to it now. The green abalone fret dots look deep and shiny as well.
The routing for the P90 pickup looks perfect so no need for a pick guard, it would be for aesthetic purposes only as a pick guard probably wouldn't be needed on a lap steel guitar.
I used Tru-Oil to finish the guitar and I have to give it a thumbs up, it is easy to apply, the odour is not unpleasant or too harmful and the finish can be almost anything you want from a dull matt finish to a high gloss mirror like shine.
A Tru-Oil finish is easy to repair and takes polish well also. I chose not to buff the body and neck too much but did shine the fret board to a slightly higher sheen.
There is a lovely natural contrast in the grain of the wood and I think that adds to the unique personality of the instrument. There certainly wont be another like it anywhere in the world!
I strung the guitar up and tuned it to a basic open E and tested all the electronics before carefully packing it away ready for sale. As much as I would love to keep this instrument I cant do it justice so it needs to go to a good home.
Have a look here on ebay for any of my UK readers who are interested.
