Thanks, Simon. Been away for a while dressing and polishing frets. Pitbull manual suggests simply lemon oil on a rosewood fretboard. Is that the best approach?
Thanks, Simon. Been away for a while dressing and polishing frets. Pitbull manual suggests simply lemon oil on a rosewood fretboard. Is that the best approach?
Lemon oil is the standard method (Fender, Gibson, etc.).
Some people do lacquer their rosewood boards (as Rickenbacker do for example), but you need to really like lacquered fretboards to do so.
Thanks, Simon. Been away from this for a while, dressing and polishing frets. Is lemon oil the best way to finish the fretboard?
Also, how deep is the wood grain on the basswood body, compared to, say, ash or maple? I may go with a nitro finish, as there seems to be a wider selection of paint colors.
So a plan is coming together. Neck will be stained a little darker than natural, followed by about 15 coats of TruOil, then wipe-on poly, and finally, Meguiar's. Body finished in Pelham Blue with Gracey's, sealer, color and clear coat. Maguiars' again to polish. I have high hopes.
I'll try to add a couple of photos of the ST semi-hollow I built last year.Didn't work. I'll try something else.
OK, did work after all. So hers is the back.
Sanding question. I intend to paint. Pitbull Instruction Manual, p. 18, says do not sand above 220 to leave some "tooth." In the Pitbull Sanding video, Phil uses wet-dry paper starting at 240, then 600, working up to 1200. Can someone please advise?
I wouldn't have thought you would need poly over Tru Oil. Enough coats of TO will give you a nice smooth gloss finish. I'm no expert on finishing, but if you're talking about sanding _before_ applying any finish, you shouldn't need really fine grit.
The poly over Tru Oil caught my attention also. AFAIK, they are compatible, but I'm not sure what advantage there is to doing it.
I concur with jonwhitear about the sanding. Typically 240 minimum pre-paint, finer grades for wet sanding clear coat after it's sufficiently set.
FWIW, when wet sanding hand applied top coats like Tru Oil or Polyurethane, I find I can start with a fairly fine grade (eg:1000-1200) because they (typically) don't have very deep imperfections like orange peel that can occur from spraying. YMMV.
Edit:
I just had a look at the video XP referenced in post #16 and I'm not quite sure why the instructor is going to 1200 on unfinished timber.
That's not common practise IMO/E. There was a "debate" recently about "how fine is too fine" and my opinion (and practise) is minimum 240 if painting, 400 if I'm staining/dying. My 400 statement is what was debated by some, but I won't go there again now.
However for all intents and purposes, the general consensus is 240.
Last edited by McCreed; 18-12-2020 at 02:46 PM.
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
A lot comes down to technique and how hard you press the sandpaper. A light rub with P400 gives a very different result to using it strongly pushed into the wood. Too much pressure with fine sandpaper and you can squash-up the ends of the wood fibres, making it harder for stain to penetrate and giving a patchy appearance. It can also vary by the type of body wood.
It is far more important for the surface to be level than for the surface to be ultra-smooth at this stage.
Thanks all three for the sound advice. Going forward with the neck stained with maple stain, now receiving about 15 coats of Tru Oil, with light sanding after every 5. Word to the wise (or to the careless like me), keep your fingers off the rosewood fretboard when applying Tru Oil to the neck. I'm also sanding the body at 220. Hope everyone had a great Christmas celebration.
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