Black Korina finishing opinion

[cableman]

Hello all, I am new here and after reading these and other guitar finishing forums I have a question. I just ordered my first body from Warmoth. A thinline f hole tele, rear routed with standard thinline controls. Black Korina back and top. It will be finished natural with tung oil. Here,s my question, Before I put on stew mac black water based grain filler, do I put the 50/50 mixture of tung oil and mineral spirits. Some of the stuff I read says to put it on first, lightly sand and then grain filler. But then I read grain filler first (3 or so coats) then 50/50 mix. I have also read 50/50 mix of tung and varnish. I have never used grain filler before and wanted to know what has worked best for you guys that have used it. I was told 4 weeks out for the delivery of the body so I will have time to experiment on some test peices but no Korina so I can't be for sure.
Thanks

 

[jackthehack]

Apply the black grain filler and sand back prior to applying tung oil; you will be doing several fills to get Black Korina grain filled. After the first 2-3 fills with black; switch over to clear to finish filling, cuts back amount of sanding needed, but will still leave filled grain black.

 

[cableman]

Thanks, but what about the 50/50 mix that is on some of the other post. Before the grain fill or after. Is it necessary at all.

 

[jackthehack]

Definitely not before the grain filling. I never thin/dilute tung oil, rather just apply in extremely thin coats and wipe all excess off and steel wool with #0000 between coats. Different people have different methodologies. Experiment with your test pieces and see what you think works best for you.

 

[cableman]

Thanks for the advice. That will be how I proceed. If you have time, check out some of the other black korina threads here and a lot of them say to use the 50/50 mix for a few coats.
Thanks again