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May 2008
Posts: 1553
Location: Indiana | I'm refinishing a special custom legend... neck and headstock. I've been toying around with applying a hand rubbed urethane oil finish like the Adamas ME 12's.
Any here use this finish before? |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | My favorite finish for guitar necks is Tru-oil gun oil. Never used polyutherane. The tru-oil is very forgiving and easy to repair. On maple necks all you need is about 8 coats. Can be done in 4 days, once in the morning, once in the evening, then you let it sit for two weeks to cure to playable, and about 3 months to hard. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Try it on a separate piece of wood first, see how it works. |
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July 2008
Posts: 9
| I've used Tru Oil myself many times, though never on a spruce ovation - excellent, very workable finish - just use a thin layer, work evenly and not too slowly. Don't worry about being perfect the first time; you can always rub it down lightly with steel wool between coats, which build up to a nice gloss, sometimes even without final polishing. It's slightly less glossy than lacquers but still what I'd call high gloss. The other great thing about it is scratches and minor dings can often be worked out without a total refin and you will not need many coats. Good luck! When you're done with the bottle, wipe off the top and turn it upside down for storage - a thin skin always forms in the bottle at the top of the oil. Mike |
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May 2008
Posts: 1553
Location: Indiana | Bringing this thread back up with a progress report.
Thanks to an4340 and msl109 for the tip about Tru-Oil.
It was exactly the finish I was looking for with this project.
First, a little background on this instrument. This is the 6 string twin to the "Joni Mitchell" 12 string we discussed a while back. The mother ship built it for me in 82. I call it a "Custom" Legend... in quotes because it shares a few features with a true CL, but deviates in other areas. It has the CL fretboard and Abalone rosette, but no Abalone body binding or carved bridge. It also has a special order nutmeg finish on the top and mid depth brown bowl. The added inlays were done by a talented luthier friend of mine and mimic the work he had already done on my "Custom" Pacemaker.
Tru-Oil builds up a finish from the inside out instead of overcoat build up like lacquer's and poly's produce. As such, the depth and richness of the finish is just stunning. Great playing feel, beautiful grain detail... as I said, just what I was looking for.
Another cool part about Tru-Oil is that it can also be over sprayed with lacquer for areas where you'd like to have a built up overcoat as I decided to do on the headstock veneer, where I wanted the inlays to have a more encased appearance.
I apologize for my crappy camera... doesn't do justice to this finish at all, but here are a few pictures.
It's great to have my living room O back in service. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Jonmark, I was looking at those pics earlier. The neck of that guitar is absolutely stunning..... |
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May 2008
Posts: 194
Location: Las Vegas, NV | Wow. That turned out very nice! |
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December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | looks great! |
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Posts: 4221
Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | Beauty! Great job! |
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December 2003
Posts: 13984
Location: Upper Left USA | Sweet!
Oil's well that ends well! |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Mike, I've been waiting all morning for you to say that.
Nice job, Jonmark. |
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December 2003
Posts: 13984
Location: Upper Left USA | Pretty slick, eh?
I just started using Tru Oil on a couple of Projects and it is nice stuff. |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | That is a beautiful guitar. |
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May 2008
Posts: 1553
Location: Indiana | Thanks guys. |
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December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Outstanding job! That nutmeg looks great.
How did you get the top and neck so close? |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | NiceNeck!!! |
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Posts: 4028
Location: Utah | Beautiful! |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | looks pretty nice. |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | Jonmark - great job! |
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Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 1553
Location: Indiana | Originally posted by 2ifbyC:
Outstanding job! That nutmeg looks great.
How did you get the top and neck so close? It is close iffy, but unplanned. Once again, crappy camera. There's a bit more red in the mahogany than on the top... which is pretty close to a Patriot.
They do complement each other well and I think the brown bowl helps to tie it all together.
My chocolate Legend. :) |
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urethane oil
