Guitar Finishing Step-By-Step

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Special offer ends May 9, 2025 at 4:00PM ET

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Guitar Finishing Step-By-Step

By Dan Erlewine and Don MacRostie
Published by Stewart-MacDonald. The definitive book for finishing guitars and fretted instruments.

Learn from the pros: materials, equipment and techniques, plus three dozen recipes for famous finishes. This book helps give you the confidence to finish new instruments, refinish old ones, and perform flawless touch-ups.

The expanded 2nd edition features color stain mixing charts, a color gallery of vintage finishes, and detailed recipes for recreating them with professional results. Guitar Finishing Step-By-Step focuses on nitrocellulose lacquer, the most common guitar finish, but also includes additional information on varnishes, oils and French polishing. Dan Erlewine's color-illustrated essay guides you through the steps of modern waterbase finishing, too. 188 pages, softcover.

A partial list of contents:

Materials and tools
Abrasives • Solvents • Fillers • Colorants • Topcoats • Buffing materials and equipment

Techniques
The basics of spray equipment • Sanding • Buffing • Basic finishing steps

Recipes for popular finishes
Fender blond, sunbursts and solids • Gibson goldtop, cherry red and sunbursts • Basic Martin-style finish • Lots more!

Color gallery
Stain mixing color charts • Examples of vintage finishes • Waterbase finishing steps

California Proposition 65 Warning
Cancer and Reproductive Harm