Official Luthiers Forum!

I was watching the owner of my local hardwood store finish some curly maple with it.
does bush oil work well for instrument finishing?

Jonathan - a few builders use oil finishes, mostly for necks. Most think it is a bad idea.

Many discourage the use of oil finishes - although that is a broad category - for instruments and give different reasons. One is that oil tends to penetrate and thus, tends to add more weight than a film finish would. Another point is the tendency for oil to not fully cure and it seems to have the property of damping. Oil does not provide any real protection for the wood, either, since it does not resist dings, abrasion, etc.

Oil varnish and those kind of hybrids are a different matter. I have never heard of bush oil, myself, so I have no idea of its properties.

I am sure others will weigh in, but this is not a totally settled matter according to my readings and experience building both furniture and guits.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck