Thanks to all the posts re: Tru-oil, I tried it out on the back of the neck of my new Baja after taking off the urethane, which I hated. (okay, I'm weird. I like the glassiness on the fretboard side, and IMHO the urethane actually helps the string sustain, so the front of the neck remains stock.)
During initial sanding, to help it blend later, I was careful feathering the edges where I wasn't going to finish.(headstock, heel) Initially, I applied some light pecan stain, Then went through 3 applications of Tru- Oil. Hmmmm. This stuff is like varnish. After final coat, something clicked in this addled old mind of mine (musta' been the fumes) and I remembered a post that I think was from Fezz about doing the last steelwool with oil.
Hey, I remember using oil while rubbing down VARNISH!! I dug around for an old bottle of mineral oil that is around here somewhere, couldn't find it, but did come up with some Dr. Hauscha's Birch Arnica body oil. MMMM... smells birchy...some kind'a mineral oil base..worked wonderfully with the steel wool! the finish came out great! Shiny,smooth,warm and thin. Blended pretty nicely with the old finish, but if I was doing this for a customer, I would have stripped it all down and redone it with a slightly darker stain than Minwax Golden Pecan. Fine for me, though... Now I gotta get me some Durham's Rock Hard putty and some Fezzter pickups for my next project...and some purple liquid stuff and a cool t-shirt.....
March 25th, 2011, 01:49 PM
