thirdstone

That's Ok I have not decided whether to fit one on this or not. I am half way trough a Tru oil finish so far so good but I need to work out what to thin it with for the final spray coat. I can`t get the aerosol version of it where I live.

Wow its been a while , june last year. I have got to the point of the finish and I plan to do a Tru Oil body and boiled linseed oil neck. Any pointers for the tru oil ? I guess I should search it.

Very nice, how long before he asks for a Vol Pot? I hope you left room.

Its been a while but I got around to gluing the cap on and routing an F hole. I thought of several designs like cats eye and other more out there shapes but in the end I stayed traditional.

Sorry about the blue hue , bad light.

and the neck blank of New Guinea Rosewood and rosewood 25" scale fret board.

So a slow build but coming along. This is a pic of the body ready to glue the top on. the blue tape is to stop the glue oozing out on the inside walls. I can get the tape out because there will be a F hole. I also printed a label on a water glide that will be visible from the F hole. There is also a maple brace added,I got a bit concerned about the strength of the back where the upper route is.

Top being glued on, All clamps on deck

No I planed the top down to 8mm thick so i'll keep it simple. I have to decide on a F hole or something similar.

The goal of this guitar is a resonant lively guitar inspired by playing 60's Fender Thinline tele guitars. Personality takes time to develop but I think you can add a bit in the design process.

Starting with a single piece of Fiji Plantation Mahogany, same species as Brazilian. Body blank largely routed out but leaving a block down the center.

The top is a book matched Australian flamed Victorian ash. The neck will be New Guinea Rosewood with Indian rosewood or Macassa ebony.

Its going to take a while.

Shape will be one of these

Nice work, I have a couple of questions

1. How many coats of Tru oil and how do you apply the stuff? I have tried it a little applied by fingers but I find that not so good, in the end i have ended up spraying it with an airbrush thinned down a little with mineral turps..Did you put wax on top?

2. Why is the bridge slanted?

Thanks

Hi I am about to attempt this kind of finish so I am wondering what colour you thinned down.

Hi People does any one know what switchcraft P/N ,or anyother switch for that matter, can be used for the pickup selector sw on a Gibson twin teck SG ie EDS1275. Electrically its like two normal LP pickup select switches in one. Thanks

Well Perry you have asked for feedback... First class build quality , love the drop top and neck / headstock,fretboard. I think the neck join looks a bit sus for strength. Don`t like the colour at all ,It looks too pretty .The cavity covers look a mess. Black plastic (god forbid ,would look better) Sometimes customers should be limited in what they ask for, its your name on the headstock and thats what people are going to remember. Anyway I bet it plays great and as long as thats the case all is well with the world. keep em coming.

Hey Gang,

I know you're use to only seeing inlay work from me, and there will be plenty of that, but I'm documenting the total guitar transformation on this one. So, I thought you would like to see it.

I'm turning a Gibson SG into "THE VIKING" guitar. For the first time I'm doing video and pictures. If you want to follow my progress, check it out.

The Viking Guitar

This is going to be a fun project. I think I'm keeping it.

Thanks for posting. i will keep a watch for new progress postings ..Kev

Finally got the finish sorted out, This is what I ended up doing and it worked fantasticly.

Sanded the wood down as fine as I could using micromesh 12000 although 4000 would have been enough.

Then 6 coats of pure tung oil thinned 50% with white sprits, one coat a day followed by a very fine sand with 4000. Next the tru oil varnish straight from the bottle , wipe on as directed on the bottle wait 2 hours then another coat. Wait onernight then block sand with 3000 micro mesh very lightly to remove dust and even the top out, Do this for 5 days and you will have a nice coat but close up you will see very fine wipe marks so the next step is for the perfectionist. Buy an air brush and compressor- Thin the Tru oil 50% with white sprit and spray on lightly , remember its oil so it will run in no time, thats why I used an air brush and not a spray gun although you could try that I guess. Leave a day and then polish off . Leave it two weeks

You end up with a finish some where half way between oil and lacquor.

Full view

Bench View

For the Australians out there

You can get the Tru Oil from Gun shops, i got mine from one in Sydney and it was mailed out - Too easy

The P90`s are made by a guy in Adalaide, Mick Brierley . Very good pick ups, I have the same style guitar with Lollars and his sound just as good in fact I think the neck pup is better. Mick will work with you if you need something a bit different.

Mike Brierley pickups web site

Nice job, Must be an intresting guitar to play. Congrats

I do lots of high gloss Tru Oil finishes on my steels and have not found it to get "gummy"

Maybe if you slopped it on and didn't have any cure time, but then your not going to get a nice mirror finish anyways.

Multiple thin coats works great ... build it up and block it down. Truth is that by the time you get it leveled out, there really is not that thick of a film.

First shot is the back of a mahogany / maple laminate steel I recently finished.

.

Quarter, Nice job, Quastion, I am in the process of doing a tru oil finish for the first time, Can it be buffed with a powered buffer of the swan down type for a shine after a couple of weeks?

Thanks in advance ,,kev

First thing to understand is that you will never remove all the hum with the stock pup`s. If you want total silance then fit Lace or noiseless pups. Star grounding works well when done correctly however the change is not huge. Check your star grounding as people have stated above and check for earth loop paths with a multimeter. Double check the bridge grounding. Some guitars are made with the bridge un grounded and simply grounding the bridge can make a big differance.

The strings act like a big antenna and this noise is some how transfered to the pup`s. Good luck

Yes I have gone with the black. One other thing is that I have removed the finish. I was not 100% happy with the durability and application (my fault not the product) so its been sanded back lightly to 400 and then sanded to 12000 with micro mesh. Now it has 2 coats of pure tung oil diluted 50% with white sprits. I also added 10% golden teak oil based stain. It blended in with the tung oil and gives a very light lift to the oil. In hind sight I should have used a water based stain before the tung but you live and learn. Once the tung has cured , about a week, I will put on a few coats of tru oil which is realy a varnish( lays on top, not in the wood). I was thinking of using Liberon finishing oil (fast drying tung oil based oil) in place of the tru oil but I don`t know of any one using it so I have gone with the proven tru oil.

Kev

RDub

just how amber is the tru oil?

From this strat copy ,the red one

Via this

Decap

To this

Vintage vibe humbucker based on P90 coil design and neck pup SD fat coil, plus cut out switch. Brass sustain block on the floyd.

From this 82 iceman

to This

Thanks Peter, I'll try that out tomorrow.

Just to confirm I've got it right here, I wrap the whole rod and casing bit in masking tape before gluing it in? Also what sort of glue would be best, just an epoxy?

Do not glue the truss rod in it needs to be able to bend when tension is applied. Make up some venirs ,1 each side and glue them in then reroute the channel for a snug fit.

That rod I am not familiar with but it must be fitted so that the glue from the fretboard will not get in and jam up the rod.The top of the rod must be flush with the top of the neck blank so that when the fretboard is glued on it is tight up against the truss rod. If its a U channel then place some tape over the open side to stop the glue getting in.

Good luck

So maple can have a lot of discolouration in it, like mineral stains, heart wood, spalting etc, and the best tops for finishing seem to be very clean white,

but how much do these colours affect finishing, like can you bleach them off, or cover them up?

Say a top was an even off brown, if you did a tiger eye finish would it look as good as a finish that was done on a clean white top?

Cheers

Bleeching we even things out a little bit try rustins wood bleech but realy you get what you see.

Hi, I need some help. How to achieve mat finish on back of the maple neck (it can be mahogany also) that is mostly found on Ibanez guitars? Is there some special finish or what? Thanks

Its just a mat lacquor. you can do the same by just spraying gloss or satin and rub it back to suit. probably down to 800 or 1000, any way you will judge as you go. OR For Maple try oil , boiled linseed or danish, tru oil. I have oiled Mahogany necks but I don't think it suits the wood as the grain is too open and you need to re oil it too often. not great with sweety hands either. Maple is ok.

yes I think it will be the black as I have to fit a small scratch plate that is black.

I think I got the stain sorted. In the end the die I wiped on stayed in the oil although some did come off in the first coat after although it didnn`t make a noticable diffarece.

Cream pup covers or black covers, what do ya think?

Black pups

I may have the answer. I have wiped some stain I use with Nitro on the body , now waiting for it to dry. On a test peice it didn`t come off when the oil coat went on .

Check out the New Guinea rose wood I have for the neck. It looks pretty cool with the figure. Just an oil coat on this.

Headstock unfinished

Back of headstock