Chrissy's ST-1M

[chrissyinbkk]

Had this a while so soon to be starting it, it is going to be yellow of all colours with an antique yellow neck all finished in tru oil, my first attempt at this, is tru oil ok just to put onto the fret board direct? would like to keep that natural

[Marcel]

I've done the TO on the neck twice before. One time with two coats to seal in a darker stain on a rosewood fretboard which worked quite well. The other time many moons ago with about 10 coats on a Maple neck like you have, which came out less than impressive. A lot of work to afterwards clean the fret bars on both and I'm not too enthusiastic to the feel of the fretboard with a thick coating of many layers of TO on it. One or two very thin rubbed back coats is passable but with many coats it gets too grippy for a older heavy neck hander like me, so even when fully cured the bending strings thing becomes a finger tip skin tearing task.

Solid Yellow or stain Yellow?

[wazkelly]

TO on fret maple fret board is OK and suggest thinning it down to 50:50 with turps and doing about 5 or 6 coats. Once cured you can polish it off the frets quite easily. Have done 2 out of 6 builds with maple boards and used even more TO coats than that and both turned out great. The secret is in using diluted coats and almost wiping it dry as you apply finish, that way it doesn't build up too much thickness.

[Swanny]

I used a bees wax product on my first build, but you don't get to bend strings too much on a 12 string. My second build was my son's guitar, we just stained the fretboard, and he shreds fine on it.
I wasn't too concerned about the finish of his guitar, as I knew he'd move on, but the 12 String I wanted to do right.

[chrissyinbkk]

As per this Marcel... same stain 7 mins into the video.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l92a...s&pbjreload=10

Will do the 50/50 approach to try it Waz... no chance of me doing string bends as yet..got to learn how to play yet....

[chrissyinbkk]

So guys, any innovative ideas on how to fill the gap?... its about 1mm, neck is going to be tru oil no stain, the body will be stained then tru oiled... filling before or after attaching the neck and before or after the stain?

[Kick]

I would find myself a thin piece of the same timber and fill it before glueing the neck and before the stain.

[chrissyinbkk]

I'm hoping an off cut from the headstock is big enough ..if I can find it...and sand it thin enough, glue it in place then stain, before bolting the neck on otherwise a little trip to the local wood store tomorrow find if they have veneer there..

[Simon Barden]

I've bought a couple of mixed marquetry veneer packs from eBay to provide wood for thin fills like that. You are unlikely to get a 100% match, even with the same type of wood, but you should get close enough. Just really clamp it tight when gluing, in order to get as thin a line of glue as possible.

[chrissyinbkk]

Found a local hobby shop where I will go tomorrow who sell thin modellers strips of basswood cheap, and as the body is basswood, will cut and glue one to size, sand a little if needed, then stain before assembly of the guitar... perfect...

240 grit too smooth to stain basswood?... I had started it with 180, then the grandson turned up and got interested so let him have a go, he was enjoying it, so left him alone for a while in the garage..he's 17 btw... when i went back he has a perfect finish on the guitar back.... he had changed to a 240 grit he thought was better....