Tru-Oil on a Roasted Maple Neck

[Frankie Chestnuts]

FWIW

I recently emailed Warmoth with some questions for a build I'm thinking about.  My intention was to get a roasted maple neck and put a thin layer of Tru-Oil on the back and the headstock.  Then leave the fretboard uncoated.  I was originally looking for information regarding the darkening of the roasted maple and a recommendation for color of the fret dots and side markers.  I got this response back from Spike at Warmoth:

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We purchase the Maple (or send Maple to…) reputable wood roasting vendors.
We order it as one single grade of roasting as we found it to have the best balance of aesthetics vs stability.

We do not require it to have any finish applied but, if you do, make sure to coat all Roasted Maple surfaces
well and evenly so as to make sure that it never wears off. Partial finishes can be far more problematic than no finish.
A light finish of anything can lead to more issues down the road.
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I wasn't aware of any issues for partially finished roasted maple necks. 

Has anyone heard of this or had any issues with partially finishing a roasted maple neck?

Re: The original question, Spike likes the aesthetics of white or cream dots on roasted maple. 

 

[stratamania]

So does this have a roasted maple board also?

 

[Frankie Chestnuts]

So does this have a roasted maple board also?

The idea was a roasted neck with a roasted board.

 

[stratamania]

In which case I tend to agreeing with Spike on the whole, either apply some finish to all of it or don't use any finish.

It will end up with a different colour hue with Tru-Oil.

The part about making sure it never wears off - how would you ensure that and if you have even wear well that is what you have or you can refinish Tru-Oil quite easily.

There is always "burnishing" the neck which is quite popular, but what would you be trying to achieve with the Tru-Oil?

 

[Frankie Chestnuts]

In which case I tend to agreeing with Spike on the whole, either apply some finish to all of it or don't use any finish.

It will end up with a different colour hue with Tru-Oil.

The part about making sure it never wears off - how would you ensure that and if you have even wear well that is what you have or you can refinish Tru-Oil quite easily.

There is always "burnishing" the neck which is quite popular, but what would you be trying to achieve with the Tru-Oil?

The whole question had to do with the color of the fretboard dots and side dots.  I'm used to an unfinished fretboard.  I also thought that darkening the headstock would be a nice offset to the lighter fretboard. 

 

[stratamania]

In which case I tend to agreeing with Spike on the whole, either apply some finish to all of it or don't use any finish.

It will end up with a different colour hue with Tru-Oil.

The part about making sure it never wears off - how would you ensure that and if you have even wear well that is what you have or you can refinish Tru-Oil quite easily.

There is always "burnishing" the neck which is quite popular, but what would you be trying to achieve with the Tru-Oil?

The whole question had to do with the color of the fretboard dots and side dots.  I'm used to an unfinished fretboard.  I also thought that darkening the headstock would be a nice offset to the lighter fretboard.

I suppose you could try a bit on an inconspicuous part of the heel to see what it does and make a judgement call. I have seen people just finish the headstock face to apply a decal to a roasted maple neck but other than that it seems they either have a finish of some type or none at all.

 

[Gkelm]

Got a semi-off topic question...

Just got a alder/maple cap body I plan to finish with tru-oil. Based on the comments above, is it advisable to also finish inside the pickup cavities? And for that matter, the control cavity?

 

[stratamania]

Got a semi-off topic question...

Just got a alder/maple cap body I plan to finish with tru-oil. Based on the comments above, is it advisable to also finish inside the pickup cavities? And for that matter, the control cavity?

That would not normally be done.  Especially if you plan to shield those areas with copper or shielding paint.