Unfinished Stained Body?

[Danley]

So my father's '81 F100 was originally black, but someone (not in the recent past) took it down to the wood and stained it.

Is a bare/stained finish 'safe,' or ideally is a top-coat necessary to protect the wood from delamination/warping? Is Tru Oil best for that purpose or is there another suggested product/method?

[Craig]

So my father's '81 F100 was originally black, but someone (not in the recent past) took it down to the wood and stained it.

Is a bare/stained finish 'safe,' or ideally is a top-coat necessary to protect the wood from delamination/warping? Is Tru Oil best for that purpose or is there another suggested product/method?

I can't answer directly as I have no experience with Tru-Oil, but there are some past posts of some members here that used it.
I suggest you Search using "Tru Oil" as the key words and check those posts.

How about posting some photos this F-100, too?

Hope this helps.

[Danley]

Sure. I'm less interested in Tru Oil in particular, and more interested whether anyone thinks it's a bad idea to leave a guitar finished with only the stain, or if that can create moisture/humidity related issues.

[DanDoulogos]

Sure. I'm less interested in Tru Oil in particular, and more interested whether anyone thinks it's a bad idea to leave a guitar finished with only the stain, or if that can create moisture/humidity related issues.

Stain doesn't seal/protect the wood, all a stain does is colors it. Moisture can still penetrate the wood, which to a greater or lesser degree can/will affect the color, and in the case of swelling and shrinking, it can even do some damage (say to a finished neck, that is being pinched by a swollen body, etc.).

Some people use Oil as the "stain" - keeping the finish as natural as possible. That'll look more or less a wet version of the same wood - but it will protect the wood to some degree - but the oil will need to be re-administered periodically to maintain the protection. It'll typically build up too, in the corners etc, and dirt will stick to it making the whole look dirtier over time (unless one is diligent and careful). That's why most guitars are covered in a hard sealant: It's less maintenance.

I say these things, but I'm not a guitar finish guru. I certainly wouldn't leave it with just the stain - that's asking for headaches. At the very least I would use oil, but I'd probably go with Nitro (for the tone), or if that proved to be too difficult to do, I'd go with poly (for the convenience).

That's my off the cuff two cents. Perhaps someone with greater knowledge and experience can wade in.

[y2kc]

I stain and seal wood everyday for a living and have been doing it for almost 40 years. In my opinion that guitar is still sealed and the wood is stable. Applying an oil at this point will not do anything.

If this guitar had been stripped and then sanded down to bare wood then you would worry about sealing it. I don't think this was the case with this guitar. I think it was stripped with paint stripper and steel wool. There is still plenty of finish left in the wood. It looks great the way it is and putting an oil on it will just make it prone to finger prints and dirt sticking to the oil.

my .02

y2kc

[DanDoulogos]

So my father's '81 F100 was originally black, but someone (not in the recent past) took it down to the wood and stained it.

Is a bare/stained finish 'safe,' or ideally is a top-coat necessary to protect the wood from delamination/warping? Is Tru Oil best for that purpose or is there another suggested product/method?

I'm behind a firewall at work, so I don't have the benefit of seeing the image, but if KC says it looks fine, I'd trust that.

[Danley]

Must return to this topic- And thank you y2kc. I attached a better/closer pic of the wood below.

I never knew sanding down to the wood or using stripper even had a different effect. If it actually is bare/unprotected I'm getting paranoid enough I feel like doing something about it. But if there's anything in the pics that indicates the body is still protected, I'd prefer to leave it as-is. I may try to find someone local to see the guitar first-hand and get an opinion.