Tung Oil Advice

[sgnt.pepper]

Hello all,

I applied about 4 coats of tung oil to my stripped guitar body and I doesn't seem to be absorbing extremely well, but it does dry up enough. Anyway, having said that, will it darken with several more coats of tung oil? I've already tried a search but could not come up with an answer!

How many coats are recommended to really darken it up (if that's the solution)?

Thanks very much.

I forgot, one thing...

I have a great water based stain that I'd love to use. I tried staining before the tung oil and it really didn't take well, so I sanded down again and started the tung oil finish. Does anyone have any advice on getting this thing to take the stain. It's a cheap piece of wood (maybe alder), it's a Peavey if that helps.

I'd love to stain it in blue and coat it with the oil. PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Sgnt.Pepper

Edited February 5, 2006 by sgnt.pepper

[guitar2005]

1) Tung Oil does not darken wood very much. More coats won't make a big difference.

2) Your stain may not have taken due to a number of factors. I suspect bad wood prep. You must sand to the bare wood at about 220 grit, then stain. Depending on the type of wood, you may have different results.

[sgnt.pepper]

1) Tung Oil does not darken wood very much. More coats won't make a big difference.

2) Your stain may not have taken due to a number of factors. I suspect bad wood prep. You must sand to the bare wood at about 220 grit, then stain. Depending on the type of wood, you may have different results.

Thanks for the reply.

I did sand with 220 but it appears that there is some sort of coating

over the wood. I don't feel a grain.

No idea!

[Curtis P]

Thats the grain sealer.

Whenever i finish a wood, with tung oil, or any stain, i sand WAY more then just 220, i go up to 600 grit.

You need to sand through the grain sealer first, then progressivly increase in grit.

Curtis

[M_A_T_T]

I would always go to AT LEAST 600 when oil finishing, sometimes even 1500 on necks.

[sgnt.pepper]

Cool, I'll try that!

Thanks.

[skibum5545]

Now that you have the oil on the guitar, you can't use a water-based stain. You can, however, use this:

http://www.woodburst.com/Products.html

It's a tung oil based stain that comes in a variety of nice colors, and may suit your project nicely. It can even go right over your existing oil finish, and the darkness and richness of the stain will depend on how many coats you use.

If I recall, someone did a purple guitar with these that turned out really nice; I'll see if I can dig it up.

EDIT:

Here it is. The results are even nicer than I remembered, and it sounds like the process is similar to yours, too.

http://lizzydaymont.com/bolt_gtr_info.htm

Edited February 7, 2006 by skibum5545

[sgnt.pepper]

Cool, thanks very much for the info!

Sgnt.Pepper

[Jon]

Now that you have the oil on the guitar, you can't use a water-based stain. You can, however, use this:

http://www.woodburst.com/Products.html

It's a tung oil based stain that comes in a variety of nice colors, and may suit your project nicely. It can even go right over your existing oil finish, and the darkness and richness of the stain will depend on how many coats you use.

If I recall, someone did a purple guitar with these that turned out really nice; I'll see if I can dig it up.

EDIT:

Here it is. The results are even nicer than I remembered, and it sounds like the process is similar to yours, too.

http://lizzydaymont.com/bolt_gtr_info.htm

A DIY Female. That was a great write-up she did, very informative. I'm going to re-do my spector 5 with this stuff and see how it comes out. Keep us up to date sgnt.pepper, I'm eager to hear how your tung oil experience goes.

[SoundAt11]

I also finished my guitar with Woodburst products:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/soundat11/al...dat11/my_photos

That's their "Bing Cherry" over the Mahogany body wings and a light coat of their "Honey Maple" oil over the maple neck. I also used their "Pre-Stain Conditioner" which is usefull for dilluting the tinted tung oils. I sprayed 2-3 coats of Deft rattle can lacquer over everything and it has a nice satin finish.

I also used the "Bing Cherry" on a speaker cab that I did, but I don't have pics posted yet.

Excellent products.

[akozols]

I've stripped a few Peavey guitars. Once you think you are down to the wood,,,,,keep sanding. They use a real thick coat of sealer. When you think you're at the wood, pay attention to the dust from the sanding. Until you hit the wood, the dust will be a fine white powder that has a plasticy smell to it. The dust will chhange when you're past the filler.

My last Peavey refinish was a mahogany body. I sanded down past the filler till I was at pure wood. The pores were huge, but looked great. I ended up using one thick coat of Tru-0il. I had to let it dry for a week. One coat drasticly darkened the wood, in a good way. You could still feel the pores, but the natural wood feels great. I actually put a second coat on, but didn't like the way it looked or felt.

al

[sgnt.pepper]

Great, thanks very much for all the great posts.