Thanks for the info.
I plan to use heat to strip. Then see what I find. Ideally I’d like to stain and oil, no spraying. But still in the planning stage right now. I haven’t actually gotten hold of the guitar yet, picking it up next week.
I have an old guitar that’s all maple and originally had a natural finish. Now after 40 years its a nice amber, I guess is the color. Barely any grain, which I like. I can’t stand those flamey bodies. I’d like to replicate that. But if the body looks like garbage, I’ll just go with black. That Butterfly putty is pretty much like bondo, I suppose. So I’ll keep nosing around for some clear sealer first. Learning the proper Chinese for the stuff is half the battle.
Overall though the game plan is for lo-tech so buying equipment will be last option. Final finish won’t need be an iron protective coat. Its a $50 piece of wood so not too worried. 
Actually I was also wondering how much work I need to do on the wood under the poly. Would there still be enough sealer already in it?
It looks like that Timbermate product could be got here.
There will likely be a lot of sealer and I strongly recommend against stains because those sealer will go deep and it will look ugly if you tried to stain it. I think the best deal is just paint it black. But there’s a lot of prep work with finishing especially if you want professional result. Also maple looks terrible stained unless it’s figured.
Well the tele I’m getting isn’t maple. My old #1 is. The tele is made of whatever wood the Chinese call mahogany So could be anything lol
I also found some stuff used my RC airplane modelers that states it can be used on bare wood as a sanding sealer. It a butyrate dope, and you’d probably have to add a bit of thinner to it. Brand name is Brodak.
I wouldn’t use dope on it. It is supposed to shrink so it wouldn’t work well as a sanding sealer. Honestly any PU or nitro clear coat should work well as a sealer.
In fact for small grained wood (like mahogany) I just sprayed PU on it, let it cure, then sand it back, then spray another set of PU over it and this seals most grains except to big grains like ash or oak. But don’t try to stain any wood that came from a factory guitar because it will have a thick layer (at least 2mm thick) of a sealer that penetrated deeply, meaning if you stain it you will get ugly result.
Also how do you plan to polish the guitar? It won’t look good unless polished.
Could that polyurethane be used for crumbling chipboard?
Are you hoping to reinforce a crumbling board or something? I would never use paint for structural purpose as it would probably crack later on as it gets hard (though PU is pretty flexible when cured I would never count on it being able to support anything). You want to use fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin.
I plan on staining and applying shellac, many coats.
It is for the bottom of some speakers. It is not that big an area.
A friend also said try out fiberglass resin.
Are you going for that Usher S520 look?
Are you going to french polish it? Just know you will have to really take care of the finish because it won’t offer as much protection as say nitro. Also shellac clogs sandpaper like a mother**** so don’t even think about sanding it.
Make sure you get ethyl alcohol and DO NOT use methanol for this. Methanol is bad for you and it absorbs into your skin.
Sorry to stray from guitars but I have some deep gouges in a bedtop table; they used cheap, soft wood and then soft lacquer, probably barely a thin coat. I’d like to sand it flat, and I want the hardest finish possible. I assume that means PU. I was hoping to brush it on or spray from a can, but it sounds like a spray gun is needed. I’ve never used one. What’s the setup cost and learning curve with a spray gun, and where would I start? I’m ok with brushing on a thin coat, letting it dry very well, lightly sanding it (if needed – ??) then putting another coat on at another angle and repeating for several days. How many coats would you recommend if I did it this way? Thanks!
I really recommend spray guns for PU because the stuff gels up kinda quickly once you brushed it on. If you don’t mind light brush marks PU can kinda self level in a very limited way. Actually first coat is probably fine but subsequent coat the previous coat gets kinda sticky making brush work hard.
No you can’t pray PU from a can, stuff is 2 part. In the states they sell Preval spray units but I never seen anything like this here. That would be great for any sort of paint that needs to be pre mixed.
3 coats with PU is plenty. They need to be done in one session. Once they cure they become like concrete. Alternatively you can use epoxy, pour the stuff on or brush on a very heavy coat. They take forever to cure especially those type you use it with fiberglass and will effectively self level.
Glad you are able to worry about frickn bedtop table gouges now… 
“any a**hole can do it” on fb
This guy is the man to ask about wood. Im sure he will be willing to help you. A lot of memebers are super happy with his work.
Glad you are doing well.
On second thought epoxy might work well if you want a hard coating to stop dents. And you don’t need special equipment because you can just pour it on.
No doubt! I’m off oxygen today and my son will pack my silent guitar to bring to me tomorrow. Thanks for the tips, TL! I guess I’ll have to look up online spray guns and make a trip to B&Q or something. No rush; I’m also going to decorating some ukuleles with pyrography, making Dia de Los Muertos decorations, and Halloween costumes. BTW, back to guitar repair, I’ve got a Cross 2.0 electronic (silent) guitar but the high E pickup is noticeable quieter than the others, which sucks. The maker sent replacements about 4 times before I just gave up on them. Are you capable of replacing the internal pickup unit on a Cross 2.0 with something of higher quality? Right now I’m partially compensating with LT strings for B-E6 and a loud high-tension Aquila string, but it still needs more balance and it would be nice to not have to mix strings and tensions! https://cross-guitar.com/products/cross-guitar-2-0nylon-string
I need to examine the guitars. I’m assuming this is piezo based pickup?
If it’s simple and routine I can do it for the price if a full setup, otherwise if it’s extremely complicated then there will be extra cost.
I got until October in my current location. I’m still searching for a place. It will probably be in taoyuan.
I’ll be in a much smaller place and so the services I can do will be limited to noninvasive stuff like setup, fretwork, and pickup swap.