unclej Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 i've got a question for those of you that use tru-oil for your finishes. a customer brought me an old martin flat top with a couple of substantial cracks in the lower part of the body that needed repair. they were deep enough that i decided to splint them. during our discussion he told me that he had had the guitar in for a repair a couple of years ago and got really mad when the teck had re-finished the top without talking to him about it. the finish had a pretty good shine to it but not a deep lacquer type shine and more than most oil finishes would have normally given it. anyway, while i was cutting the channels for the splints i noticed that the finished chipped in tiny little chips..very brittle and very thin. it occured to me that it might be tru oil. my only experience with the product was years ago when i re-finished an old double barrell shotgun stock. i've still got it and the sheen looks about the same and i know that i didn't have to build up a thick finish to get it to look like it does. so the question is..does this sound like it could be tru-oil? shellac is the only other thing i can think of but the guitar doesn't have that amber look that i associate with shellac. also, if i feather the existing finish will a new application of tru-oil blend in with the old? thanks john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 It sounds like it could be. I used Tru Oil on my last project. TO is actually a type of varnish, and it goes on very thin. There is a slight ambering to it, but not like you get with shellac. There is no "bite back" with TO like there is with nitro. It is more like poly, if the coats dry you need to scuff between coats to get it to adhere. This means that if you buff out, you can get the same kind of "witness lines" that you get with poly if you sand through coats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted March 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 thanks eric..i should have stopped the thread earlier but i was curious about replies. i went to the only two places in my little town that might have it and they didn't so i just got some high gloss tung oil and after a couple of coats it blended right in with the existing finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Are you going to apply Tru oil on an acustic guitar? I know oli finishes are more inclined to umidity. As Mattia also said, more "tud" than ring. I wouldn't apply it. Gian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted March 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Are you going to apply Tru oil on an acustic guitar? I know oli finishes are more inclined to umidity. As Mattia also said, more "tud" than ring. I wouldn't apply it. Gian thanks for the advice gun but i was merely going to apply a little of it over two three inch splints that i used to repair a couple of cracks. i was trying to match the finish already there and since i couldn't find the tru-oil i used tung oil and it worked fine. by the way, i dated the guitar today..1944..sweet little thing with a really big sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 I know quite a few builders who use Tru-Oil on acoustics; most seal with a spit-coat of shellac to prevent the oil from soaking in, but it acts more like a varnish than anything else. It's NOT just oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Ehehe, yeah I didn't read all the post What kinda of lamer BTW they use Tru Oil but there's the shellac undercoat. I didn't try it that way but I guess the shellac avoids just that problem. Gian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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