Refinishing my guitar with dyes and tru oil, have some questions.

[mark1178]

Some folks her know I have this purple guitar that I used Wudtone to finish http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=22495.30

After a little over 6 months I've started seeing some wear on the finish and it's making me a sad panda. So, it's goodish weather for finishing, so the plan is to get trainstint purple to black burst and top it off with tru oil since I live in an apartment with no spray equipment.

Here is my first question. What grain filler should I use to fill the grain of this ash body? After all my reading tru oil is very thin and won't close those gaps in ash. Since I am dying it, is there a clear grain filler I can use after dying that will work well with tru oil? Or should I fill first then dye?

After watching several videos, and reading here, here are my plans. Please correct me where needed.

1. Sand body back down to bare wood. Work up to 400 grit.
2. Clean off with naphtha/Tack cloth
3. Rub 2-3 coats of black dye.
4. Sand off center portion of guitar for a burst effect.
5. Rub purple dye onto the whole body, coats depending on desired coloring.
6. Sand body with 400 grit, reapply purple.
7. Sand with 320.
8. Apply 3 coats of Birchwood Caseys' Sealer and Filler or until grain is filled. (Thank you stratamania)
10. Scuff body with a scotchbrite pad.
11. Apply 12-16 coats of Tru Oil, sanding lightly in between coats.
10. Sand flat with 1000 grit
12. Buff to pretty.
13. Swirl removah

Sound simple when I type it all out, but the freak out factor is all over me.

This is sort of the look I'm going for, sans flame top and 2k price tag

 

[stratamania]

You need to get Birchwood Casey Sealer and Filler, and use a few coats of that prior to the tru oil.

Sand in between the coats and that should do it. 600 grit might be a bit fine at the grain filling stage on ash.

I would recommend practicing on scrap first though.

 

[mark1178]

Thanks Strat, edited the original post.

 

[Cagey]

Also, I wouldn't let a Brillo pad in the same building with a guitar I was finishing. Just use a Scotchbrite pad or sandpaper, if you must. Nothing worse than little bits of steel dust for wrecking a finish.

 

[mark1178]

Also, I wouldn't let a Brillo pad in the same building with a guitar I was finishing. Just use a Scotchbrite pad or sandpaper, if you must. Nothing worse than little bits of steel dust for wrecking a finish.

That's right, scotchbrite is what I meant. Thanks cagey

 

[stratamania]

Another method for grain filling is using the Sealer and filler product and sanding while it's wet. The idea is that the dust blends with the sealer and helps to fill the grain.

This would seem to be a good method when applied to the bare wood, not sure how it would work after tinting.  Of course if you get some scrap you can experiment and get a feel for things.