Bakelite pick guard finishing?

I ordered an unfinished bakelite pick guard from ebay for fairly cheap. I have some wipe on oil based varnish and I think some water based varathane as well. Wondering if anyone has experience with either finish on bakelite? Or should I just get some lacquer?

Thanks,

Jeff

I have never used anything but lacquer on bakelite. Hard to predict how well other products would adhere and hold up on the bakelite. I would imagine that most wood working polyurethanes would chip off.

Thanks, yeah, I was wondering how varnishes would stick. Maybe I'll be a guinea pig and try it, I guess I could always sand it off... :)

make sure you clean it off with acetone before spraying lacquer. I've had my lacquer peel off in one big sheet when I didn't wipe it down first.

I would use the BAKELITE as is...

Actually, yeah, unfinished is an option... I'll see what the pick guard looks like when I get it. I am going for simple, just danish oil on the body. Unfinished might fit in well with my (simple) plan.

I ordered an unfinished bakelite pick guard from ebay for fairly cheap. I have some wipe on oil based varnish and I think some water based varathane as well. Wondering if anyone has experience with either finish on bakelite? Or should I just get some lacquer?

Thanks,

Jeff

What are you using to shape/cut the bakelite material? Just an exacto knife or box knife and some finer sandpaper for the edges?

Thanks,

conorb

I have used Minwax Wipe On Poly on a Bakelite pickguard - no problems at all. I did notice that the poly seemed to dry very quickly - whereas on wood you may get "an extra wipe" if you put it on wet - with the Bakelite wipe and done. It worked fine.

What are you using to shape/cut the bakelite material? Just an exacto knife or box knife and some finer sandpaper for the edges?

Thanks,

conorb

Hi, the pickguard is cut to shape, it just doesn't have any lacquer or varnish on it. $16 on ebay :)

I'd leave it nature finish .... IMO it looks better.
I took the stock pickguard on my Squier Tele and xxxx steel wooled it to make it look like the old bakelite pickguards (flat finish)

If you leave it natural, you can wet sand it, and make it look not so grainy. If you have a high speed buffer, you can even buff it out. But you need a lot of pressure and heat to buff bakelite.

Hi, the pickguard is cut to shape, it just doesn't have any lacquer or varnish on it. $16 on ebay :)

Thanks for the clarification, I misread your original posting as to unfinished pickguard.

conorb

Here`s what my unfinished bakelite pickguard looks like, I really like it. I just wetsanded it.

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

Thats a nice looking guitfiddle

Thanks Colt. My first build/assembly - plays great :)

With a little luck, I'm hoping mine will look a lot like that. A bit darker finish, though. Very nice