I bought the cheapest kit I could find on eBay - let's see if this was a good idea

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Thanks guys, you are very helpful. Summer in northern Germany is always good for a surprise, you never know what you'll get. The last two years, it was pretty damn hot (30+ degrees Celsius) and little humidity, but I also remember 20°C and rain from March to November...

What is the best way to let the guitar finish cure? Assembled and standing on a stand, or assembled and resting in a case? Or in parts and - at best - hanging suspended with no touching point, or at least hanging from a wall mount? I have the neck hanging from the living room lamp (at least it looks decorative) but I'm not sure my husband would fancy the idea of keeping it this way for a month. Just asking because it would be sad if the tru oil would get pressure marks....

[impala59]

I would say hanging somewhere would be the best option, when cured a coat of beeswax will enhance the lustre. Put on with warm hands and work it in a little then buff off. An old acquaintance of mine swears by using Vaseline in the same manner, he is an old gunsmith and his stocks always look brilliant. Great job by the way in making a cheapie into an instrument of value, hope The playability reflects the look.

[Simon Barden]

I'd also go with hanging. You should be safe from pressure marks after a couple of days drying, but I always think it's best to have as much of the surface exposed as possible to ensure an even curing. If a surface is in contact with something else, then that will slow the release of the final solvents from the finish in those areas. A lot of the curing should be a chemical reaction, rather than solvent release, and that shouldn't be affected too much by being covered. A ventilated area also helps, especially if there's some air movement to move any escaped gasses away from the body.

[colin2121]

I attach a length of pine to the bottom of the neck and another to the neck pocket of the body and leave then clamped in a work bench. If that is not available then hanging is just as effective.
Best to avoid pressure points.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

That's a great idea Colin, that could actually work out for me, too!

Currently, I'm a bit frustrated with my build. I have big troubles keeping the surfaces lint free. And with lint, I don't mean the odd spec of dust that might settle, I mean stray dog hairs, everywhere. It feels like I am sanding down more tru oil than I'm putting on, especially on the front. But no matter how much I vacuum before oiling, some damn hair is always finding its way to the surface. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

My husband suggested to hang the guitar in the shower... Mh. Not convinced yet but also... maybe not too bad of an idea. I'll get a 2x4 in the store and bolt it on, then mount it on a tripod. As a former photographer, I have plenty of big tripods.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

I'm happy to announce that I *think* I finally cracked the secret of getting a great finish with tru oil ;-)

I had a LOT of problems with dust, specs, hairs etc. getting into the finish and I felt like I was stuck in a rut of adding tru oil and sanding it down again... And after almost emptying a small bottle on just ONE guitar, I was very sure that the problem is not the tru oil, but me not knowing how to do it right.

I tried wet sanding with water and micro mesh (4000 grid) a few times and it looked fine UNTIL I added the next coat of oil and it all started from square 1 again.

So I read about sanding with tru oil somewhere in this forum and as I was desperate, I thought "why not, nothing to lose here!". And well... what can I say, it is fantastic! I don't know how exactly it works, I guess it is helping to distribute everything more evenly and filling up the small pores in the same time, but I am so happy with the results so far! Only do small areas at the same time and wipe off the crud with a clean cloth and a little mixture of tru oil and turps afterwards. It turned out great so far and I finally can see the finish going somewhere. Sigh of relief here!

Only downside is that it clogs the micro mesh and even though I wash it afterwards, I think I might need new sanding paper soon, and this is rather expensive (I think I bought it from UK last time).

Pictures as soon as the things are dry!

[ThatCluelessGerman]

A tiny update. Still doing the tru oil thing, but I think I slowly got the hang out of it....

Currently filling up all the holes and dimples on the front side, not the easiest thing with a burl veneer

If it looks halfway decent (no dimples left), I'll add a few thin coats of tru oil with turps and then leave it to cure (that means doing the back side ;-) )

And then... I guess finally assembly waits! (After it's cured of course)

Pics:







And the pickguard is finally lacquered and cured:





Due to the irregular surface, it has more of a matte sheen instead of a gloss look. I'm torn here... I don't think the rusty parts should be shiny, but I also don't think the few non rusted spots should be matte. But I guess as it's only copper plated, there is no real solution, as I can't just buff up the copper, it would probably be destroyed. So lacquering it was the only option... besides buying a sheet of copper and just making my own pickguard (which I will do for the next build for sure ;-) ).

[ThatCluelessGerman]

So, if anyone is still reading here:

I'm not sure how to finish the finish, maybe you can help?

I finally reached a state where the surface on the front is almost perfectly even and smooth (gosh how many hours of my life have I put in this?). How should I proceed best? The last few coats where heavily thinned with turps to smooth and even everything out, it looks nice but it's not high gloss like the tru oil without the turps. What is the last step to gloss it up again? Leave it to cure 2 weeks and then polish and wax, or should I polish it now? I have a complete Meguiars car set, it has polish and Carnuba wax. Can/should I use this or should I better get "proper" wood wax from the hardware store?

Totally looking forward to finish the BACK side as it has no burl veneer and will hopefully not take ages to level out

[colin2121]

My approach is to let it harden off.
Best not to attack it too soon as you want a hard surface.
With my tru-oil builds I used timber wax but other might have a better suggestion.

[Simon Barden]

Certainly let it harden. Sand flat and then polish with Meguires or any polishing or cutting compound. The moment you start sanding, you'll find that it isn't as flat as you think it is as you'll have a sanded surface with shiny pits. It really doesn't matter how shiny the surface looks at the moment. You need to sand until those shiny pits have gone. Nothing too coarse, P800 to start with, and use it wet, water with a drop of washing-up liquid in to stop the paper grits getting clogged.

If it's taking a long time to remove the pits, then swap to a coarser grit, maybe P400, until they've almost gone, then back to the P800 until they are gone.

Once the pits have gone, swap to a couple of finer grits, say P1200 and then P2000, each time for a brief sand over to remove scratches from the previous grit, no more. Wash down and remove the residue each time you change grits.

After that you can polish and it should be super-shiny in no time.