Tutorial - Guitar Finishing Oil on Burled Elm Custom Guitar 

Purchased the High Build oil... have used it on two bodies... excellent product. Working on a 12-coat finish now with this product. The glow is incredible. Well worth the purchase price and following his methods.

Yore are it. You're the guy to come to when I need a real, in-depth lesson from a pro. Thank you for what you do.

This guy's presentation style is genius.

Ben, you are an absolute inspiration to me, as I (at the tender age of 42) embark on a career in lutherie. I am of course terrified, but steady on. I will look to you often for wisdom.

This oil is amazing ! I have done about 70% of my guitar in this oil including the neck. After 6 months of playing, this is the best feeling neck I have. I think I ended up sanding it with 1200 grit or higher after it cured. The result is silky smooth with some grain texture and this helps slide-ability of the palm. I am literally finishing all my necks in this from now on. Also it is a quite thin viscosity which makes it a dream to apply. Not too stinky either

Apologies, yesterday this video had audio issues and a complaint about the video quality. This is all fixed now.

Ben. That finish is absolutely unequivocally stunning.

You might try this oil recipe: 1 part boiled linseed oil, 1 part polyurethane, 1 part vegetable turpentine. Wipe on, wipe off excess and let dry, repeat. Note when you say the oil penetrates, yes it does more than a surface coating but if you cut a profile to inspect the penetration you will see almost no penetration; its less than half a mm. When people say the oil penetrates you get the feeling its goes in quite a few mm but it doesn't. Nice piece of Elm.

I finished my first partscaster with a 1:1 blend of boiled linseed oil and paraffin. American red alder body. 5 coats of oil, left in the hot African sun to soak in, finishing with 1200 grit wet and dry paper. Lovely and warm satin finish. But my application method was very close to what Ben is showing here.

Thanks so much Ben for developing this oil, and for this great tutorial for it! This is the oil that I have been dreaming of finding for years, and my search is finally over now!

ROFL at 1:27 as Ben says "I have a really nice relationship with a gentleman at a finishing manufacturing company" as he's sliding on his blue rubber gloves like a true proctologist lol

I made a tele and I finished it with the Crimson guitar finish and it looked stunning. Thank you Crimson guitars!

What a beautiful piece of wood! There is nothing more satisfying than applying a finish to something like that. Nice!

That's a truly stunning piece of wood to begin with, then when you start adding oil... Wow, I was almost speechless!

Vous êtes connus et apprécié pour votre travail et vos conseils chez nous en France , merci pour tout se que vous faites et un grand bravo pour votre école 😉

I need to give a thumbs up, and leave a comment, because I've learned so much from this video. It explains why my finishes were less than satisfactory. Thanks for the awesome video

Man, both those guitars are so beautiful with the oil finish. It's amazing that you get such an amazing finish with just oil. That's a sweet gloss.

The bits from 17:36 and onward, where the camera pans across the guitars, is amazing. I like it.

I never thought I would say this about another man’s wood, but that is beautiful.

Watco danish oil also suggests rubbing in their oil with fine grit sandpaper,as you have suggested.They said it also allows the sanding dust from the wood to aid in packing the open pores..Although I do not use Danish oil,it is a great tip.I would like to try your oil in the future.I have used your techniques with gunstock oils and have had very pleasing results.Way back in the 80's I teased Stuart Spector for using oil rather than lacquer.Stu finally relented and gave my shop the contract to finish all the guitars from then on until his selling to Kramer. He asked that we use a using a finish.Now that I look back at this,and see how nice an oiled and rubbed finish can be,I must write Stu an apology.

I just ordered a bottle of your finish along with some other tools recently to prepare for my next guitar build. It looks great, so I'm looking forward to giving it try.

Hey Ben, Love your work and your channel I've been watching since you were in the shed. What you have done with your business and art in such a short period of time is inspiring. I'm a full time Tattooer and part time guitar builder and I have learned a ton from your videos. Thank you for posting them and keep up the good work.

That finish is stunning, and I really like the shape!

Staining or oiling is the luthiers reward for all that sanding!

That guitar is an amazing looking instrument. I've see a couple of the vids on this and it's a beauty.

Wonderful result here. A pal had his worse-of-wear Spanish guitar renovated and French polished. He was thrilled, so that's alright then, but I thought it looked as though it had been made out of a display cabinet.

Unbelievably beautiful ! Thanks for sharing this wonder of nature with us and all the hard work it took to bring out the best !

I used the oil on the neck of my latest build, this time a canjo, and am incredibly pleased with the results. I shall never use another oil again.

clicked on this because your guitar looks a lot like my burl maple strat-style guitar. Great looking guitar!

definitely getting my hands on a bottle of this and the fretboard oil, along with some ren wax for my figured ash & ziricote guitar. I'll be using it as a resume piece for applying to a custom guitar company :D thanks for all the great videos Ben, I know I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am now if it hadn't been for all these tutorials and crazy one off build videos

I wish i could afford a guitar like this one. I cant play for an inch, but this is pure art.

As an amateur luthier, I am usually pretty particular in what I consider a perfect guitar design. But honestly, there is not ONE thing I don't love about this guitar. I absolutely love this design!! And that wood grain is incredible!

BTW that is one absolutely stunning guitar. Looking forward to seeing its completion!

One of my favorite videos.

Wow -- both gorgeous guitar finishes!

Thanks for the video, the wood on that guitar body looked sick , ''that means good'', where i come from. After you were finished working on the Body, That Guitar Looks Like a MILLION BUCKS, just awesome, Cousin Figel

Your finishes are amazing as always. I think I will go back to my guitar body and try the wet dry snadpaper thing.

I just bought me a buttload of crimson toys, and I love the behind the scenes action in the emails! Showing me that it's actually a pack of llamas who assemble my stuff, and a fifth army's worth of eagles bringing the goodies from Middle Earth (Europe) to America, where they belong!

Absolutely Beautiful Timber, excellent advice, Thank you. Melbourne, Australia.

Just received my first bottle of oil. really looking forward to using it.

Ben how timely. I just in fact applied my first coat of CG Finishing oil to my home build the other night. Unfortunately it partially dissolved my underlying green dye job and now I am having to reevaluate my gameplan going forward. You previously made the video based on my comments/questions and I took cues from your 12 hour build as to how to proceed but I am an amateur after all. I am now considering a wipe on gel in either green or white which might hopefully salvage the results of my color scheme before I apply the remainder of the coats from my bottle of my CG Finishing Oil and then Renaissance wax. Wish me luck! If it is halfway decent, I'll send you some pictures. Cheers! -Matt B

Absolutely stunning Burr

stunning work on them . thank you for sharing

Thanks for fixing the audio issue

Wow. Im a drummer who has done some nice things in my little carreer and i always love the woodfinish. The guitar you are workibg on and show at the end is fucking awesome. What a nice looking finish is that🤘🤘🤘

YOUR OIL FINISH APEARS TO BE THINNER THAN TRUE OIL WICH I LIKE, I ALWAYS THIN DOWN THE FIRST COUPLE COATS ANYWAY SO IT WILL ABSORB DEEPER INTO THE WOOD, SPECIALLY ON SOFTER WOODS I'VE NOTICED IF YOU DON'T GET GOOD PENETRATION WITH THE FIRST COUPLE PASSES THE BODY WILL DENT AND SCRATCH MUCH EASIER. AWESOME GUITAR, I LOVE THIS VIDEO, YOU ARE RIGHT THERE IS NOTHING BETTER IN A BUILD THEN THE FIRST PASS WITH WHATEVER FINISH YOU ARE USING. ALL OF THE HARD WORK IS FINALLY SHOWN. HA, JUST NOTICED I WATCHED THIS VIDEO A YEAR AGO.

That is a gorgeous shape!

I love this oil! 5/5 Will Use again

Beautiful finish Ben.

When Ben got that glove out with a flourish I had flashbacks to the colonoscopy I had 2 weeks ago….

that is the best grain i have ever seen

Wow! Your shop looks as good as your guitar,both super nice, right on 👌

Might be useful to have a dropper/cap thing on that oil bottle. ;)

Great finish Ben. Does your finishing oil have VOCs that should be vented during use? I love finishing oils, but I have noticed nasal irritation when working in a confined space. I'm embarking on my first guitar build soon, a little early since I can't play for toffee, so thanks for all the tutorials you've put out.

I'd be interested in seeing how it'd finish if you put it in a vacuum chamber covered in oil, draw all the air out and then slowly depressurise the chamber. The oil would replace the air in the wood and go in really deep. Alternatively, straight up pressure treating it instead.

Very beautiful! Just a theoretical question. If you do an oil finish and for some reason you change your mind later and you want a Lacquer finish instead. Can you just lacquer over the oil finish?

I'd like to do a mandolin in this & do some pyrography on it & then do the oil finish over that...

Hello, I must comment on your Shop area, it is very nice, very well put together , everything in it's place, i wish i had a shop like yours, Cheers, Cousin Figel

I would love to get some birdseye maple and use your oil on that, it would look spectacular. The guitars that you had on looked great and with a little wax would last for years and years of use.

Love the videos! I have some oil on the way, but I was wondering what grain you recommend sanding to before applying the finishing oil?

Here for the oil aspect. Ben is obviously a master at what he does. I wish I could "work" with wood even a 1/10 of the skill level as he has. It's amazing how only after 5 minutes of watching this video, I could tell he has so much talent at what he does. Thanks! I am going to question Elm as a tonewood however!? Burled elm? It looks really heavy IMHO. I don't like the attack of a guitar that is really heavy. I've never played an elm guitar so I did some quick research here. I guess they make chairs out of that! And lovely English tea carts? LOL! It's probably the client's choice? Would a veneer elm top would work as a tonewood since it is really beautiful? Does elm resonate nicely if used in an Archtop design? On another subject, I did like the red hued brownish Stratty guitar - what wood was that? Elm? Peace

I'm sure its already been said....but are you a bald Bill Bailey? I've only discovered you in the last week but absolutely brilliant videos. Thank you

Really enjoyed this video. Thanks for posting. Question: on the additional coats do you use the same method, with the sandpaper and tissue... or just the tissue?

I found two quarts of elbow grease, but just can't find any headlight fluid for the puma.... Ugh, I mean warthog.

Do you normally finish in a clean room?

Questions: Why didn't you plug or close the pickup holes so the oil didn't go in there as it looked messy when it is unevenly dripped into the cavities ? Why didn't you just leave the cover on at the back when oiling the back so you have the same amount of oil on the cover? When you oiled the body, why didn't you tape off the neck connection part as the oil on the neck will also leaving some sort of uneven "stains" or difficulty to polish out at the end?

All those deep fissures and checking are only going to end up being dirt and dust traps. I know it wouldn't exactly make the instrument "all natural" but I'd have filled them with matching shades of epoxy. With care you can get great results that way.

Thanks for this tutorial, the finish looks fantastic! If I was to use this technique on a straight grained wood instead of a burl would I still be ok to use a circular motion with the wet/dry or would I run with the grain only?

A Really nice job, Thanks for the video. Very helpful.

Thanks for creating these amazingly informative vids. After seeing your upgrade of a nasty kit guitar, I'm now INSPIRED to get stuck into a similar project using a £40 guitar off eBay (because I love it's neck) and a nice slab of figured maple. It's frets are shot beyond dressing sadly. Fretwork is the one area that scares me. I'm torn between ripping out the frets and cobbling together or buying some kind of fret press to match the radius, or using a compound radius slotted stewmac board I have acquired and one of those little hammers. Any advice for someone that will probably do a guitar only once? Would Crimson be able to quote for this one aspect of the project?

Tru-oil is nothing more then Stand oil with Stoddard solvent (mineral spirits). What's Stand oil? Stand oil is linseed oil set in a vacuum and heated to approximately 500°+ for an extended period of time. It's thick, more clear and dries unlike any other linseed product - it doesn't yellow with age. It’s not to be confused with any other linseed products like raw or boiled linseed oil. It's been used by artists for years and is available online or at good art supply stores, I’m an art conservator and I've been using it for years - it's less expensive then Tru-oil. Unfortunately, so many people have been snowed by big companies and their "proprietary formulas."

What are considerations when to apply oil-based / water-based finishes? I wonder about hydrophilic and hydrophobic types of woods and issues about their stability when finishes are applied.

Damn that's nice wood. I had a Jerry Donahue Tele and the laquer started chipping off, but the more it fell off, the better it sounded, so I chipped it all off. Some chips took the paint with them, some never. It looked like shit and prolly lost over £1000 in value, and I couldn't be happier...well...unless it could have sounded that good and still looked nice

Crazy beautiful piece of wood. I have (sparingly) used a hair dryer on a piece of wood that was sweating oil to help get the excess to the surface. Can you ship your oil to the states?

btw Renaissance wax is good,i recommend dodjuice crush lines of caruba wax for cars its not cheap but tough and shines awesome..

Ben it's a really old video I'm sorry but I have a question : how do you manage when the guitar has been stained before the oil ? just the oil and 1200 sand paper rubes off a lot of pigment on my project...

I developed an allergy to Tung oil. It’s crazy!

i use tru oil for my knife making and read that you can thinner it out with mineral oil

Can we use this technic with sanding if we used water base colours? I’m scared sanding the colours…

Ben , Im a first timer building a spalted maple LP kit ( sorry not from you ) but I did purchased your Crimson was high gloss finishing oil ( it’s on its long journey to the states as I write this ) Can this application also be used here to the spalted top ? The sanding with the 1,200 paper and oil application ? Or should I use the “ standard finish oil “ from Crimson first , or any other ideas ? Willing to purchase whatever and time is not an issue . Just want it right ! Thanks : Great luck with the guitar build off and will buy Crimson raffle tickets and watch your videos religiously and wonder bread ha ! also .

Awesome finish. How long do you wait between coats?

love that wood

I just bought the LP kit from Crimson, and also the set of stains, I did buy a bottle of the oil as well. Can you and should you use the oil on a stained body for a high gloss finish? or is it only for natural wood?

Gorgeous!

Hello, this is the first Guitar that i have ever seen made out of Elm Wood, how long have you been making Guitars out of Elm ? Cousin Figel

If you have you oil in a soft bottle squeeze all the air out of the bottle after use you will find that you oil will last much longer

Holly amazing pieces of wood :)

Hi Ben, with the finish this oil gives how do you decide whether to use finishing oil or lacquer on a stained guitar?

I doubt that this will be seen- suppose I might have to email- can this be done over the top of your Stunning Stains in lieu of a traditional lacquer? I have just order the stains and the oil (I'm planning on doing a natural back and a coloured front) for my first build. Can I oil the front as well as the back, or will I need to go elsewhere for a nitro spray?

Do you not do any grain filling, since the knots and natural character of the wood seem to be very much a part of your brand's aesthetic?

Could you use lacquer or something similar over the top of that to make a more protective finish whilst keeping the same quality of finish?

Wow! Awesome guitar. Would your oil work on a Warwick bass with their 'proprietary' wax finish?

What is the recommended curing time once all applications are complete? Is it wise to leave it a week or so to fully cure?

Ben, would you recommend using 1200 grit sandpaper with the oil on a wood that doesn't need to have its grain filled?

How much oil U needed for all those coats ?? Will one bottle be enough ???

How often do you apply this finish to a neck?

I ordered some of this oil today, I'm looking forward to applying it. I was wondering how long I should leave it to cure between coats. Hours or days?

if after a long dry time its a tad sticky....very light tacky.....is it best to re oil and wipe completly dry again and dry...?....will that re activate the pre oiled body and sort the tackyness? thnx

Is the oil ok to use on a headstock veneer without binding ? Awesome videos by the way 👍🏻

Ben - can you advise how I remove any residual sanding dust after extensively rubbing down with 400 grit, before applying the oil (which arrived yesterday, thanks).