1st Build IC-1

[grahamjohnston80]

Thank you McCreed,

Like you, I got a bottle of this stuff around 1995 when I bought my Les Paul. I'm pretty sure it's still in a flight case with some left in the bottle:


It might just do me for another 20 years.

[McCreed]

Thank you McCreed,

Like you, I got a bottle of this stuff around 1995 when I bought my Les Paul. I'm pretty sure it's still in a flight case with some left in the bottle:


It might just do me for another 20 years.

I had a look online and the O'Cedar product I have is no longer available as "Revive" but the company has just renamed it as O'Cedar Furniture Polish Liquid.

You can get a 300ml bottle at Coles for $8 which would last at least 6 lifetimes I'm sure! The main ingredient in both is 99.9% Mineral Oil (or what we call Parrafin Oil). Presumably the other .1% is colour & fragrance.

[grahamjohnston80]

That's awesome thank you. I'll pick up a bottle the next time I do the dreaded "big shop."

[McCreed]

It's certainly more economical than $15 for 50ml of Dunlop Lemon Oil.

You could portion it into little bottles and give it your guitar mates for Christmas and still have plenty for yourself!
Label it as "Graham's Fretboard Magic".

[grahamjohnston80]

Great idea - and could be another use for the 10 A4 sheets of decal paper that I bought!!

[jonwhitear]

My point is I had no trouble like you're describing. My finish came out perfectly flat and even along the frets.
I would suggest that you may be applying it too thick. Also, if you're only wiping in a lengthwise direction only, that will cause the frets to dam the liquid. You need to wipe the fretboard area between the frets both lengthwise and crossways to alleviate the pooling. After wiping in the cross direction, just be sure to clean up any build up along the fretboard edge so not to create runs or sags on the back of the neck.

Yes, true. I have since wiped and sanded off the mess I had made of it, and started again with very thin coats of TO, and it's working much better. I think I'm used to TO being fairly forgiving in its application (i.e. you usually can apply it fairly liberally where required) but this is one use case where it requires more care.

[grahamjohnston80]

Quick question??

When to scrape the binding? I masked the binding before staining and I intend to finish with a few coats of Tru-oil. Do I leave the masking on and apply the tru oil? OR Remove masking tape, scrape binding then apply tru-oil?

Same goes for the neck - I have applied a few coats of tru oil and now wondering if I should take the masking tape off for the subsequent coats?? I'm thinking that the tru oil over the binding may blend to a smoother finish

[McCreed]

Quick question??

When to scrape the binding? I masked the binding before staining and I intend to finish with a few coats of Tru-oil. Do I leave the masking on and apply the tru oil? OR Remove masking tape, scrape binding then apply tru-oil?

Same goes for the neck - I have applied a few coats of tru oil and now wondering if I should take the masking tape off for the subsequent coats?? I'm thinking that the tru oil over the binding may blend to a smoother finish

Remove the tape, scrape the binding, then top coat with Tru-Oil, poly etc.

However be sure there's no adhesive residue left behind before you start your Tru-Oil. A tiny bit of naptha (shellite) on a bit of rag will safely remove it and not affect the binding.

[grahamjohnston80]

Remove the tape, scrape the binding, then top coat with Tru-Oil, poly etc.

However be sure there's no adhesive residue left behind before you start your Tru-Oil. A tiny bit of naptha (shellite) on a bit of rag will safely remove it and not affect the binding.

Thank you again McCreed!!

[grahamjohnston80]

So I took the masking tape off the fretboard and binding on the neck. Cleaned up the residue with a drop of Shellite. Will add another few coats of Tru-oil (I put 6 on already) and see how it goes. All looking okay so far.

Before:


And after:






...and the 25 year-old bottle of fretboard conditioner: