Tru-Oil, Drawbacks??...

[Strat Avenger]

Are there any drawbacks to using Tru-Oil for a maple neck finish?

I've never used it before, and if I was going to go with a typical finish, I would go with a satin clear.

How many coats of Tru-Oil would be recommended, and should there be sanding (or steel-wooling) between coats?

 

[stratamania]

Hi I used Tru Oil, on my birdseye maple neck, the results are here.

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

I did the headstock with nitro, but the rest of the neck is Tru Oil. The link above details what I used and how many coats etc.

I would not use steel wool as I think its messy versus micromesh and so on. By the way it has got a satin nitro on the headstock and the tru oil has a satin type look but the photos were done with flash so they may look glossier than the actual guitar is.

The only drawback is not with the result, which feels great to play but now what am I going to do with those varnished F necks ?

 

[bagman67]

Tru-oil will give your piece a a very slight amber cast, and the more you put on the more pronounced the phenomenon becomes.


Before:

After:

It can darken over time.  After after:

I would say I applied more product than I needed to on this neck.  It was my first go and I didn't want to under-do it and so I over-did it.  It feels a tad stickier than I'd have preferred, but not unbearably so.  I think if you want to get a satin finish, you're probably best off going with very thin coats, and not very many of them, and using the synthetic steel wool to dull it down.


Bearing in mind the very  heavy application I used here, defects are that its stickiness will be offputting to some.  It will likely be more prone to damage than a poly finish (but that's true of everything besides poly).  It's easy to fix by sanding and re-applying.


Overall I like it, and I have one other finished neck with a much thinner application that I'm eager to put into service to compare.  I will continue to use Tru-oil on maple necks.


Bagman

 

[Cagey]

Damn, that's a nice piece of curly! Too bad about the headstock, though.

 

[bagman67]

Damn, that's a nice piece of curly! Too bad about the headstock, though.

I agree, it's a handsome bit of lumber.  Blows my mind that it was in the showcase for $215 with that fretboard on it.  And it's a substantial beast, being a boatneck - I'm put in mind of Spinal Tap's road manager, Ian Faith, and his trusty cricket bat. 

[SIZE=15px]Marty: Yeah. Now, I notice this here, you've got this cricket bat here... [/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px]Ian:   Yes. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px]Marty: Do you play? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px]Ian:   No, I carry this partly of, uh, I don't know some sort of, uh, I suppose what's the word...uh.... [/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px]Marty: Affectation? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px]Ian:   Yes, I mean it's, it's, a it's a kind of totemestic thing you know, but to be quite frank with you, it's come in useful in  a couple of situations. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px]Certainly in the topsy, turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand[/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px] is quite often...useful. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px]Marty: mhmh.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=15px][Cut to montage of Ian destroying various bits of scenery in the service of asserting his managerial authority][/SIZE]

 

[Cagey]

Speaking of unusual contours -  If you feel like taking a flyer, I recently put together a Tele for another member here that had a Clapton profile. I would never have even considered such a thing, but it's surprisingly comfortable and encourages you to keep your thumb off the top of the neck because it gives you something to press against when you bend, being that it's something of a "V" neck. It's an objectively subtle thing, but like all things neck-related, it makes a huge difference. It feels thick, but it's not, so you can still race around as much as you'd like. Nice option.

 

[bagman67]

Actually, I rather like the Clapton contour, it just pisses me off that it costs an extra thirty bucks or whatever just because it has whats-his-name's name on it.

 

[sixstringsamurai]

I actually prefer Formbys tung oil for necks.
Just because it set up a little quicker.

Tru oil is great for bodies because of it's extended work time.


my nickles worth of input.

 

[Cagey]

Actually, I rather like the Clapton contour, it just pisses me off that it costs an extra thirty bucks or whatever just because it has whats-his-name's name on it.

Ok, so you're familiar with it. I agree that it shouldn't be an adder. I mean, what's the difference to the CNC operator if he pushes the button or makes a menu selection for option 2 or option 5?

And as long as I'm ragging on Warmoth, what's with the huge premium on carved tops? I understand that they eat tool time and time is money, but everybody else seems to pull if off without busting their customer's balls. I don't get it. 

 

[Strat Avenger]

Thanks for the replies. I really like the idea of the nitro on the headstock and the Tru-Oil everywhere else.

 

[Strat Avenger]

By the way, I just noticed that an aerosol version of Tru-Oil is available.
Would this be a good idea, or would it be better to rub it on by hand?

 

[bagman67]

You can't get it where I am in California, but I've heard of others having success with the aerosol Tru-Oil product.

 

[stratamania]

If you put tru-oil on a neck, the key is to apply thin coats, which means you won't have much work time in any case. You need just enough on your finger so it goes on along the grain and by using a finger you can feel as it starts to feel drier as you go along to load up the finger again. I just prick a hole in the foil of the bottle and drizzle some oil into its lid and dip my finger into that you really don't need a lot.

Now when you see folks pouring tru-oil onto bodies and rubbing and rubbing it in and wiping  off excess etc, if you do that on a neck especially made of maple it really is far far too much oil.

The nitro headstock I did I ended up masking off more than once as I wanted to get on with the job before I had ordered a decal. Next time I do this I would mask off, nitro the headstock for enough thin coats that it's ready for the decal, apply the decal, more nitro to finish the headstock with any sanding in between the nitro passes as needed. Let final coat dry for a day then remove the masking. No wet sanding yet.

Then mask off the headstock when you think the nitro has dried enough to put the tape on then on the rest of the neck tru-oil sealer as mentioned in my build thread followed by about three to four  thin coats of tru-oil. Let it dry a day, remove masking from headstock. Let the oil gas off another couple of days, but if you've used thin coats and it's not too cold you may not need to.

Then wet sand the headstock to smooth anything out as needed. If you are careful you can also gently feather into the edge where the tru oil is to level to a degree the line where the nitro and tru oil meet.

When finished wet sanding the headstock if using nitro,  then apply perhaps none or two more thin coats of oil. Discretion of whether to mask the line because at this point it should just be very thin coats and if you use a finger and are careful you may not need to mask. Then finally if you want to use the wax product for the tru oil, add a coat of that and buff with a cloth.

Spraying tru oil on a neck I would not bother with personally.

Anyway hope the above helps.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Thanks for the tips. I'm considering using the wax just on the fretboard and not on the back of the neck.

One other question; if you're not going to stain the wood, is the sealer really necessary?

 

[Cagey]

Thanks for the tips. I'm considering using the wax just on the fretboard and not on the back of the neck.

One other question; if you're not going to stain the wood, is the sealer really necessary?

Wax?!? There's no reason to use wax on any part of a guitar. In fact, it's contraindicated for everything. You will be sorry at some point, sooner or later. No good will come of it.

Sealer's purpose is right in its name: it seals. For finishing purposes, it closes the grain/pores/cells of the wood so it won't absorb anything. You can still stain or otherwise finish over it, but the results will be slightly different. Stain's feature is also in its name - it stains things. You don't wanna geddit onya. Wear gloves, or be prepared to get made fun of for having goofy-looking hands for a few days or until you slough off the stained skin.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Actually, I rather like the Clapton contour, it just pisses me off that it costs an extra thirty bucks or whatever just because it has whats-his-name's name on it.

Slowhand tools are more expensive.

 

[stratamania]

I would not put wax on any part of a fret board either.  The tru-oil wax only needs a light coat on the back of the neck if used at all. Its an option, Ernie Ball use it so I thought I would try it out. Seemed to work for me.

For maple boards I would probably use lacquer, and tru oil on the  back of the neck. But if you are using rosewood, ebony etc these do not need to be and should not be finished at all.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Yeah, it will be a maple fretboard.

Okay, so no wax. 'Got it.

Will the Tru-Oil by itself seal out moisture sufficiently, or should I use the sealer as well? 'Sorry if that was already answered, but I'm not 100% clear on that.

 

[bagman67]

On a tight grained wood like maple you're fine with just the Tru-oil finish. 

 

[Bob Hoover Ross]

On a tight grained wood like maple you're fine with just the Tru-oil finish.

How about with a more open-grained wood?
(This is germane to my new building a Swamp Ash + Padouk bass body project...hoping I can get away with just using Tru-Oil.)
Thanks.