Staining black korina/finsihing with tru oil

[tbone]

I'm very new here and I ordered my first project guitar a couple of weeks ago. It is a black korina Telecaster. I'm either going to finish it with tru oil or I was thinking about staining it a walnut color and finishing it with tru oil. I'm worried about the wood looking too pale if I don't stain it. Is this a bad idea? I still want the grain to pop and fear that staining may prove to be difficult or take away from the natural beauty of the wood. this is my first build and I'm worried about ruining it. I could use all opinions.

 

[stratamania]

Tru oil does add a slight tint of its own when you use it. It will also make the grain pop quite well on its own. You may not need the stain. Possibly try the tru oil in a small area first and see how it looks.

I used tru oil on the neck here.

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=22445.msg335422#msg335422

I am doing a tele at the moment and will be using tru oil on the neck too.

 

[Cagey]

Black Korina often has some nice contrasting markings to it, so staining it with anything at all is liable to make those markings less prominent. In other words, if you darken the light parts, the dark parts are less visible. That may be desirable, but if not...

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Black korina can be hard to stain.  It depends on the piece, as always.  I used naphtha to strip the oil off.  I did this over several days, until the paper towels I was using stopped turning an oily color.  Then I used amber dye, to get away from the regular look.  It worked fine, but if I remember correctly (this was 5-6 years ago) it took a while to get the oil out of the working area of the wood.
Patrick

 

[swarfrat]

Google site:unofficialwarmoth.com korina oil

I bet 95% of BK sold gets an oil finish, and it darkens up nicely.

 

[tbone]

Ok, cool. that settles it then. I'm going to go with straight tru oil. If I'm going for a semi gloss look what would you guys recommend for sanding and how many coats of tru oil will this take?

 

[swarfrat]

Most folks go for a not super glossy look, because because at some point you want to quit rubbing and play the darned thing. But if you have prisoner amounts of feee time it is possible to shine oil up to a startling gloss.

 

[jackthehack]

This Korina L5S done in Tru-oil:

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2669.0