Recommendations on finish and finish process for pine body

I picked up this nice pine body and I'm looking for some tips on how to finish it, and some suggestions as to what to use.

I've refinished a maple and and ash body in the past, but never done one from scratch. Pine doesn't need any grain filler, correct, but I'll still need a sealer of some sort?

As of right now I'm not dead set on any specific type of finish (can be lacquer, poly, wipe on, or spray) or color, but I would like to keep it at least partially transparent because I really like the grain. I guess the only stipulation would be that I prefer not to mess with dyes. I'd probably prefer to stick to a natural or somewhat tinted finish, or maybe a whitewash or late '50s style blonde with plenty of grain showing through. If I go more along the white/blonde should I try to go almost with a burst to downplay the end grain a bit?

All tips and suggestions are welcome.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j109/milocj/Pine%20Tele%20Body/DSC00488.jpg

My suggestion would be to start with a wipe-on oil finish, like teak or tung oil. It will make the grain pop and seal the wood. Pine seems to like oil finishes. From there you can decide if you want to keep going or leave it as is.

The last pine body I finished was sealed with Watco teak oil, which is my personal choice because it was the most unadulterated oil finish I could find. Some "oil" finishes are mostly varnish.

From there I applied a barrier coat of Zinsser Seal Coat Shellac followed by a can of ReRanch tinted nitro. The pics in this thread aren't the best but it'll at least give you an idea: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/319883-sneak-peek-pinecaster-build-progress.html

Another vote for an oil finish. Plain old boiled linseed looks really nice on pine.

If you want straight simple, I subscribe to Arlo's method of Howards' Feed-N-Wax.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff215/voodoostation/SANY0135.jpg

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff215/voodoostation/SANY0137.jpg

I just reapply every few months. It's cedar in this case, but i remember Arlo using this on his Pineys, so I thought why not.

I prefer lacquer finishes.

Here is what I would do.

1. Finish sand through 220
2. Wipe it down with a damp rag or a rag damp with alcohol. allow it to raise the grain and dry.
3. Lightly sand the raised grain with 320.
4. Apply a sealer.
5. Apply numerous thing coats of lacquer.
6. Allow to dry.
7. Sand flat
8. Buff with automotive rubbing compounds.
9. Apply wax.

Just finally getting around to starting on this. What would you recommend for a sealer? I'm definitely going clear or something with a little bit of color that is translucent, and probably lacquer of some sort.

Just finally getting around to starting on this. What would you recommend for a sealer? I'm definitely going clear or something with a little bit of color that is translucent, and probably lacquer of some sort.

Zinsser Seal Coat Shellac which can be tinted.

I can really recommend tru-oil. I`ve got two teles that I`ve finished with T-O, the last one was a lovely old growth redwood body from Marc Rutters. I think it looks really good with T-O.

Here`s the first one I finished with T-O ( I actually tinted it a bit with stew macs amber liquid stain, worked fine ) Swamp ash body.

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/431666_10151199501160363_783167054_n.jpg