[QUOTE=Todd Rose] Personally, I'm skeptical of Tru-oil being tough enough for a guitar top, but I'm interested in hearing others' experience with that - what does the guitar look like after a few years of playing, esp with a flatpick (pickguard notwithstanding)?
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Todd,
Just took this picture of the top of my first baritone that I made back in February 2004 and finished with Tru-oil (no shellac undercoat for this one). Admittedly it doesn't get much attention with a flatpick!! You can also see how much I have learned about how to intonate long scale guitars in low tunings as well
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Tru-oil is pretty tough (I also used it on the kitchen windowsill) and like French polish and nitro, running repairs are not that hard to do. Unlike nitro, you don't need to get into the bio-suit to do it. Applied thinly it is a great tonal finish and the guitar's tone gets better and better by the year.
Jeremy,
Another option is to spray nitro and rub the coats back by hand with 0000 wire wool. This is the technique used by George Lowden (and on Lowden guitars) and gives a great looking and durable satin finish. Pretty time consuming though - it's one of those "put 4 coats on and rub 3 of them back off again" sort of processes.