Woodworking

whoo · 2024-10-21T15:24:59-0400

whoo said:
Basswood is soft. 320 is high enough for the wood. I would use a sanding sealer before staining. If you plan to use the guitar regularly, I would plan on something more than an oil only finish.

I'm not familiar with tru-oil. Is it meant to get 10-15 coats? Usually oil finishes don't cure well if they are thick.

Most wooden instruments I'm aware of fall into two camps:

1. oil + varnish (like violins, mandolins, and accoustic guitars). The varnish dries hard, but is not very durable or resistant to abrasion or chemical /water damage.

2. Lacquer (like pianos and electric guitars). Laquers are very hard and abrasion/chemical resistant. They can be polished to a mirror gloss.

Plenty of examples of both being done online.

Ok I just looked it up. Tru-Oil is gun stock oil. Gun Stocks are usually made of particularly hard woods like walnut, ash, butternut, maple. Basswood is a soft carving wood.

I'm afraid Tru-oil may look nice but will not be protective enough for a guitar that's carried and used. It's mostly linseed oil.

whoo · 2024-10-21T15:28:07-0400

Bandwagon said:
I'm in the midst of a real love affair with Rubio Monocoat (pure) right now. Absolutely love this stuff.....but I have no idea whatsoever what considerations people have for finish on acoustic instruments. It's insanely easy to work with though.

I've used it on furniture and it holds up ok. It was developed as a floor finish and it relies on the hardness of the wood to resist damage. I like using it, but I'd hesitate to use it on soft woods.

It's easy to repair, though.

whoo · 2024-10-21T15:34:39-0400

Noodleface said:
The top is very smooth, should I sand it as well or assume it's in good shape to stain?

Missed this. If you don't know that it's 100% raw wood, sand it with 220, apply sanding sealer, then sand again with 320 before staining. If it's an accoustic guitar, all sanding should be done gently by hand. The wood is thin.

Noodleface · 2024-10-21T15:59:10-0400

whoo said:
Missed this. If you don't know that it's 100% raw wood, sand it with 220, apply sanding sealer, then sand again with 320 before staining. If it's an accoustic guitar, all sanding should be done gently by hand. The wood is thin.

Thanks, I'll do that. It's an electric fyi.

It was a cheap guitar so I'm experimenting a bit. I'm not opposed to lacquer though I don't have a gun and I'm not sure how much a rattle can will hold up.

I realize basswood is pretty soft. Tru oil coats up to 20ish times is normal in the instrument world but not sure about on basswood.

whoo · 2024-10-21T16:23:24-0400

So if you have a Michael's or Hobby Lobby near you, you can pick up basswood carving blanks cheaply enough to test your finish process on before committing on the guitar unless you just don't really care. Even amazon sells them.

Then you can make sure that the wood will take the stain the way you expect and that you like how the Tru-oil performs.

Good luck!

Noodleface · 2024-10-21T16:52:37-0400

whoo said:
So if you have a Michael's or Hobby Lobby near you, you can pick up basswood carving blanks cheaply enough to test your finish process on before committing on the guitar unless you just don't really care. Even amazon sells them.

Then you can make sure that the wood will take the stain the way you expect and that you like how the Tru-oil performs.

Good luck!

Thanks this is actually a good idea.

Wouldn't necessarily say it's a "don't care", but if I fuck it up it's no the end of the world. I got this guitar particularly to try my hand at finishing and also some other tech stuff I didn't want to do on my expensive guitars.

If the oil doesn't hold up can lacquer be applied over it or is that a no no?

Captain Suave · 2024-10-21T17:25:44-0400

Noodleface said:
If the oil doesn't hold up can lacquer be applied over it or is that a no no?

Generally yes, lacquer will adhere to anything that's fully dry and cured. Just from brief googling, that could be as long as multiple weeks for a full cure on Tru-Oil (recoat within 24h).

There's some good-sounding advice for Tru-Oil on guitars in threads such as this one:

Drying a Tru Oil finished guitar on a guitar stand

Hi guitar lads,I'm refinishing my first guitar, a MIJ natural finish; mahogany-maple body; maple neck, double cut guitar as project this summer. I'm going to use Tru Oil because I've seen and read good things about it. I've scanned all the guide posts on forum and videos on youtube and I've got i...

www.harmonycentral.com

It's always best practice to test on scrap first.

Noodleface · 2024-10-21T18:39:29-0400

Captain Suave said:
Generally yes, lacquer will adhere to anything that's fully dry and cured. Just from brief googling, that could be as long as multiple weeks for a full cure on Tru-Oil (recoat within 24h).

There's some good-sounding advice for Tru-Oil on guitars in threads such as this one:

Drying a Tru Oil finished guitar on a guitar stand

Hi guitar lads,I'm refinishing my first guitar, a MIJ natural finish; mahogany-maple body; maple neck, double cut guitar as project this summer. I'm going to use Tru Oil because I've seen and read good things about it. I've scanned all the guide posts on forum and videos on youtube and I've got i...

www.harmonycentral.com

It's always best practice to test on scrap first.

Thanks. I've been researching like crazy for a few weeks. Worst case, my finish is too soft and it dents easy. If so I'll just lacquer it.

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Woodworking

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Noodleface

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Drying a Tru Oil finished guitar on a guitar stand

Noodleface

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Drying a Tru Oil finished guitar on a guitar stand