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Tru-Oil, Drawbacks??...

Bob Hoover Ross said:
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.)

You should seriously consider letting Warmoth finish it. You're asking for a deep, meaningful pain in the ass filling and finishing Swamp Ash. For the $100 (or so) they charge, it's a real bargain and they do a superlative job. It's false economy trying to do it yourself; I guarantee you'll work your ass off and it won't be as nice. If it's a money thing, just wait. Save your pennies. It really is worth it to let them do it. They're set up for it, and they do it constantly. Then when you get the thing, you just bolt it on.
 
Bagman67 said:
My response in that other thread is germane here.  If you want to fill the grain, you'll either be at it forever with the tru-oil, or you'll want to use some additional grain fill product.

Well, that's just it: I don't know that I "want to fill the grain"...as I said in that other thread, I don't know dookie about wood and finishes! Do I need to fill the grain? What happens if I don't fill the grain, but just do 2 or 4 coats of Tru-Oil?

And would I save myself a lot of agony and elbow grease if I forget about Swamp Ash and go with Alder, or is the Padouk still a problem?


Cagey said:
You should seriously consider letting Warmoth finish it. You're asking for a deep, meaningful pain in the ass filling and finishing Swamp Ash. For the $100 (or so) they charge, it's a real bargain and they do a superlative job. It's false economy trying to do it yourself; I guarantee you'll work your ass off and it won't be as nice. If it's a money thing, just wait. Save your pennies. It really is worth it to let them do it. They're set up for it, and they do it constantly. Then when you get the thing, you just bolt it on.

Geez, I would love to be able to do that! Unfortunately, the fact that I'm using an existing neck (ironically, a Warmoth neck...albeit from ~20 years ago when they had different sized neck heels) is resulting in a number of issues that necessitate my building and designing the instrument in stages...so locating/drilling for the bridge, and locating/routing for the pickups have to be done by me (Warmoth won't do them) and Warmoth won't sell me an unfinished body, let me drill/rout it, and then finish it for me.
 
Sorry - didn't know it was an existing piece.

If it was me, I'd want to fill the grain. But, that's a personal choice. Not everybody feels that they need to. Some woods don't need it - for instance, Wenge. It's so hard it doesn't even feel like wood, and for as open as the grain is on it, it doesn't matter. You want it raw. Other woods, maybe it's better to fill them. Swamp ash would fall in that category, if you ask me.
 
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