Xanthus Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 Hmm..... In need of answers again, guys ... The tung oil I bought says that cleanup should involve mineral spirits. Well, I had a can of mineral spirits and was 1 second away from using it to wetsand the guitar, when I remembered how easily it took the oil off the foam brush I used to apply it (which worked like a charm, much better than a bristle brush). Am I missing something here? It seems to me that using the spirits as a medium would eat right through the oil, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted June 18, 2008 Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 I've not used that minwax tung oil before. Best guess is that if its had a day or so to dry, it should not go solvent on you, but you never know. Test wet a small area and see if it softens up any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted August 6, 2008 Report Share Posted August 6, 2008 Wow. After seeing some of these tru-oil finishes, I think I'll do my whole guitar with tru-oil. Just a couple of questions. 1. The body is mahogany. When I built my first guitar (steelstring kit from Grizzly which sounds damn good for an $89 kit) I used the french polish method. The instructions I have for that mention filling grain with pumice. Would that work with the tru-oil? 2. The guitar is going to be semi-hollow. Should I put any finish inside the body before I put the top on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 1. Don't use pumice, just sand the oil (ie, wet-sand with oil) so the sawdust slurry gets into the pores. 2. No need to finish the inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Any body ever use a thin coat of tru-oil on a rosewood fretboard. When I got my first acoustic kit, the rosewood bridge and fretboard were stained an ugly brown so I sanded them down and rubbed them with a couple coats of tung oil for shine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Rosewood is an oily wood to begin with, in my experience. Why would you want to put more oil on top of that....? Did you do tru-oil on the fretboard? If so, how did it come out? If you'll read this thread, REAL tung oil never dries, so I really hope you didn't use that on your board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Ross Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 If you'll read this thread, REAL tung oil never dries, so I really hope you didn't use that on your board! Is Tru-Oil a tung oil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Is Tru-Oil a tung oil? No, True Oil is a modified / polymerized linseed oil based varnish. True / pure tung oil is an extract from the tung tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddW Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Rosewood is an oily wood to begin with, in my experience. Why would you want to put more oil on top of that....? Did you do tru-oil on the fretboard? If so, how did it come out? If you'll read this thread, REAL tung oil never dries, so I really hope you didn't use that on your board! Why would you worry about tung oil on rosewood? I'd wipe with acetone or mineral spirits before doing it, but it doesn't intuitively seem like it would cause problems. Did you have a bad result doing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 I didn't have any problems with the tung oil on my board. I used the Formsby's tung oil. It feels fine. Granted it was pretty hard wiping it between frets but I got the excess off before it could dry on the frets. The reason I want to use tung oil or tru-oil on the fretboard is 1. to bring out the grain and 2. so I don't have to worry about forgetting to oil the fretboard. Heck, fender uses fairly thick poly over the maple fretboards, so I suspect tru-oil would be fine. I was just wondering if any one else did this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted August 18, 2008 Report Share Posted August 18, 2008 If you apply tru-oil to an oily wood, you might want to thin it or something. I tested some on cocobolo and it was NOT good. It took about ten times longer to dry than tru-oil on a non-oily wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 Hi all, I'm new here and have been reading this thing because I am going to be finishing a bass body here shortly (I hope). I have found this information all very great but have one question. My bass is laminated maple/walnut/maple/walnut/maple/walnut/maple and I know that I am going to need to fill the pores on the walnut, but the maple I think I will leave as is. I would like to fill with the tru-oil as it means fewer materials I will need to buy, but I am wondering how I could do this and avoid getting any of the slurry into the maple. Would I be able to just sand it out if any got on there or do I need to mask it off? Masking would seem to be a pain because it seems like I would sand through the masking tape in the process of making the slurry. Anyway, any help would be much appreciated. I can only hope to aspire to a finish such as those that you guys are coming out with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 Ripthorn... you don't HAVE to fill the grain of the walnut. I finished an acoustic, walnut B&S, and didn't fill the grain. Of course the surface isn't mirror-perfect, but it's a nice low gloss. But if you DO grainfill with tru-oil, I don't think the maple will absorb the slurry. (I don't know, I'm just guessing.) Maple is so close-grained, I can't imagine it picking up the dust-and-oil stuff. I would test it on some scrap first, whatever you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 I'm going for a satin finish, so maybe it isn't all that important. I will test it out, it's just that I have some waiting to do (no free time for the thing for a little while) before I can get to it, so I was wondering if anyone had any experience. What about alder? How close grained is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 (edited) I wouldn't worry about the walnut slurry staining the maple, or at least I've not had trouble with my walnut / maple and mahogany / maple laminates. Any that gets on top of the maple gets sanded off. Alder is a closed grain and does not need filling like mahogany, walnut, etc. Edited August 19, 2008 by Quarter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 What about flame maple? Will the end grain there absorb the slurry? If not, then it looks like I am set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 (edited) What about flame maple? Will the end grain there absorb the slurry? If not, then it looks like I am set. It shouldn't as the first wet coat, before you start sanding, should be enough to seal it up. Wouldn't hurt to do a second coat of oil before you start the sanding. That would make sure the maple is sealed good. Edited August 20, 2008 by Quarter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madhattr88 Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 i love this idea of using tru-oil for everything. i made a body out of mahogany strips (see pic). i don't want it to look like a cutting board, so i wanted to make the body an opaque color, but use Tru-Oil on the whole thing when done. Can i mix a color with the tru-oil and apply it to the body? Then go over the whole guitar with more coats of clear tru-oil??? Build Body - Mahogany strips Neck - Solid Mahogany FB, HP and pickguard (not shown) - East Indian Rosewood Thanks!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 It's going to be very difficult to get an even color out of a tinted wipe on finish. Your best bet is probably to dye the body first and or spray a color coat(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madhattr88 Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 It's going to be very difficult to get an even color out of a tinted wipe on finish. Your best bet is probably to dye the body first and or spray a color coat(s). that's the problem, i don't own a spray gun. use primer first? and then.... rattle can??? then tru-oil over the whole thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyManAndy Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 (edited) I know ReRanch rattlecans (nitrocellulose lacquer) have been used with Tru-oil clear coats with no problems. So that, or something similar, is an option. CMA Edited April 9, 2009 by CrazyManAndy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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