Hi all,
I'm looking for some advice on how to finish my maple fretboard and my neck as well. I've read about tru oil and have considered that, but I was hoping to get something similar to a vintage amber colour for it, if there is anything people recommend to use or on how to apply it as well.
Thanks,
Ben
I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad way, but I finished a raw maple fretboard on a squier I had with some cabothane (cabots poly finish) that I thinned down to turn it down to a wipe on poly and put a drop or two of feast Watson prooftint dye/stain. They have heaps of ambers and browns to choose from, so you can get a slightly yellow finish all the way to the Mexican fender classic series level of orange
I have been finishing with water-based poly that has almost no color. I want a bit of yellowing in the next one, and am considering putting a few coats of shellac on first. Will be following this, however to see what advice folks have for you.
Tru Oil will give you a bit of yellowing. Having said that, I'm, sitting here looking at a <1 year old Tru-oiled neck next to my 1980s strat, and there's very big difference! I'm thinking of using a very dilute Feast Watson stain under tru oil for my current build, but am also interested to see what others have done.
Here's my current build. I was thinking of adding a few drops of FW Prooftint to Tru Oil, but everything I read about doing so made it sound like a bad idea. In the end, I have diluted the stain - 2 teaspoons (~10ml) of FW Colour Reducer to 5 drops of FW Golden Teak Prooftint. Here's the headstock after a couple of coats. It's very subtle - I haven't decided whether I'll put any more stain on. I haven't put any TO yet.
Unfortunately I don't have any maple to test this on, and my other test pieces (some ply, for example) didn't really reflect the end result.
Last edited by jonwhitear; 05-01-2021 at 08:21 AM.
Why don't you just test it on the back of the headstock?
If for some reason it turns out too dark you can just sand it back.
cheers, Mark.
Yes, good point.Originally Posted by king casey
I've got a couple of coats of Tru Oil on mine now - here's how it looks. I'm pleased with the colour - what was a very subtle shade after only the stain has got much deeper with the Tru Oil.
How many coats of Tru Oil have you put on? The colour definitely is starting to get deeper, did you add colour to the Tru Oil?
I didn't add any colour to the Tru Oil - this is with the diluted stain on first, and then two coats of TO.
Are you putting the diluted stain and Tru Oil on the fretboard as well?
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