H's LPA-1. How much more black?

[wokkaboy]

Hey H, how many coats of Tru Oil did you apply ?

better leave it to cure for at least 2 weeks, sorry mate.

After micromesh I usually polish it with a good auto polish like Meguiars until you can see your reflection

Any pics mate ?

[ILRGuitars]

The longer you let it cure, the better. I let my coats cure for 3 weeks at least, just to be sure. I gave my TL-1Q a very light wet sand with 1200 wet/dry paper after the final coat had cured to get the surface as flat as possible. I then gave it a very light coat of TO, let it cure and then hit it with ultra fine liquid polish and finally some wax. I probably could have done a polish with No.2 polish first but I didn't have any, nor patience for that matter! Hope it helps but be patient.

[UpperCaseH]

Haha, yeah, 2-3 weeks before I touch it now! Never used a polish before, just the micromesh, but this one's a lot smoother (less wavy), so I figured it'd be worth a go.

There's... between 20 and 30 coats of tru oil on there. I did 5 or 6 coats, then a light wet sand, then 3 or 4 coats, another wet sand, then 3 or 4 repetitions of "2 coats, then sand back with TO to wet the paper", then 3 or 4 repetitions of "2 coats then a light wet sand", then finally 2 more coats. I lost track at several different points because of life just generally getting in the way.

The light in here's awful at the moment, but here's the best pics I could manage.





Unless the light's right on it, it looks black. I'm pretty happy with how flat I got the ash this time around. It's still got that wavy texture, but not much. I can (just barely) see my face in the reflections from it right now.

[ILRGuitars]

Beautiful. Looks very smooth. Nice work.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, looking great.

[wazkelly]

Looks Great H, very shiny indeed.

[depictedminds]

WAIT - IS THIS THING FLOATING!?!

How the heck is it held up?

I mean, the finish looks gorgeous - I kinda wish I went down the darkish route with mine sometimes... but now that I think of it... How the HECK is your guitar floating in the air like that!?

Is this the devil at work!?

**Edit** Ohhhh wait, I see.. Never mind.

[UpperCaseH]

I see what you mean! Definitely not obvious in the photos.

After mucking around with scrap wood in the neck pocket for the j bass and the tele, I decided it was all too much effort for too little benefit, so this one's just got half a coat hanger bent into a long hook and placed through the output jack hole. It doesn't touch the finish at all, and I don't need to worry about bolts etc. Neck's hanging with a similar arrangement through one of the tuner holes.

[depictedminds]

Yeah - the simple ideas usually work best.

The depth of that color is outstanding on the guitar. It has just enough grain wave to make it natural, yet "finished".

I like it. I might do my bass that way, come to think of it.

[UpperCaseH]

Yeah, 3rd time was definitely the charm on the colour. I'm just not sure I could replicate it given that it's a fix of a fix at this point.

I think the smoothness and depth is mostly because of wet sanding the tru-oil on.

It'd look kinda murky after applying it like that and letting it dry, but then the next ragged-on coat would start to bring up that deep looking shine it's ended up with. When I did the j bass, the ash wave effect would diminish very slightly with each coat/coat/sand. On this one I could easily see it getting much smoother every time I'd wet sand TO on. Still, I don't think I'd be able to get it very much smoother than it is now.