EX-1L Custom, First Pit Bull Kit guitar

[Simon Barden]

Hard to say when one hasn't been involved in putting the finish on directly. When I did my only attempt at TruOil finish, I put a lot of coats on, with the last 15-20 being thinned 50:50 with turps. That got pretty shiny, and as I'd been sanding it back from time to time, it was quite smooth. Never got to polish it back up as my final sand went through to the stain at one high point, so it all got stripped down. But it's certainly worth waiting a few weeks before final sanding and polishing as it does take a while to fully cure and go really hard.

Not quite sure what you mean about streaks, so posting some photos would most definitely help.

[tobagon]

I know it's hard to tell from the distance, especially since English is not my first language. Thank you so much for trying.

I'm in at approx 15 coats maybe and did sand in between every now and then. Starting with i think 240 or 320 grid, up to 400 and then continuing with micro mesh up to 3200.
With that it got smooth, but also more satin. I could tell that the finish was not even because there were still some glossy parts, though.

I have attached the images and I hope it becomes more apparent of what I was talking about. With the streaks I meant the "uneveness" of the newest coat following the strokes of how I applied the oil.

In the first image it now seems to me like there's something in the oil. Maybe it's dust?

[Simon Barden]

It could well be dust, though you can also get small clumps of dried TruOil that form around the neck of the bottle which then get transferred to the cloth you're applying TruOil with. So always keep the neck of the bottle clean and use a different cloth or rag to wipe the neck of the bottle free of them before use.

Yes, you've got some small dips in the finish and some particles stuck there. They should all go once you do a proper levelling sand to a flat surface. You are probably moving up to the next grit too soon. I'd stick with wet 240 until the surface is as flat as you can get it, with no dips or pits that you can see when you hold it up to the light at a shallow angle. Only then start moving up the grits.

Finer grits remove less and less finish, so you are never going to get rid of any pits with that. They'll polish the flat surfaces, which will leave the dips more obvious by comparison.

[wazkelly]

I also got some bat-fretboard stickers and am wondering if I should put them on and secure them with a bit of spray can clear coat, like I did with the rest of the fretboard before. I have heard that these kind of fretboard marker stickers are pretty durable, so maybe that's not necessary.

I have used a couple of sticker kits and added several coats of TO to keep them stuck down where one kit was rectangular block inlays on my maple fretboarded J Bass. You can also do the same with clear acrylic as that is what you have already done on rest of the fretboard.

[wazkelly]

I know it's hard to tell from the distance, especially since English is not my first language. Thank you so much for trying.

I'm in at approx 15 coats maybe and did sand in between every now and then. Starting with i think 240 or 320 grid, up to 400 and then continuing with micro mesh up to 3200.
With that it got smooth, but also more satin. I could tell that the finish was not even because there were still some glossy parts, though.

I have attached the images and I hope it becomes more apparent of what I was talking about. With the streaks I meant the "uneveness" of the newest coat following the strokes of how I applied the oil.

In the first image it now seems to me like there's something in the oil. Maybe it's dust?

Sometimes the TO can go 'off' in the bottle once it has been opened for a while or when temp has been higher than usual. What Simon said also makes sense as you need to make sure each application is as clean as possible.

Tend to think you may have skipped up through the fine grits a bit too quick and suggest doing a wet sand with 1200. If feeling brave maybe you could use a 50:50 Tru Oil to Mineral Turps solution as the wetting agent and do a wet sand and next coat application all in the same process. Need to be careful things don't dry out too much when doing this....it still needs to be fairly wet and shiny, just as it would be when applying with a small scrap of cloth.

Thinning TO down means more overall coats will be required as it is amazing how many you strip off on each wet sand (with water) and even more when doing the final polish. On my last build (ES1) I was under a tight time frame to complete and instead of using 50:50 thinning ratio just added a few drops of turps as that gave just a slight watery mix but still thick enough to provide better coverage. Once you have done 15-16 thick coats with a couple of wet sands in between, maybe you could switch up to 1500 grit, and somewhere after 20 coats it is time to move up to 2000 grit. Best to save anything higher for doing the final polishing only otherwise it becomes too shiny for subsequent coats to grip onto.

Cheers, Waz

[tobagon]

Thanks for the great advice! I will let you know how the sanding and the next coat goes and I hope I don't sand through.

[JimC]

I've been doing a guitar with tru oil, and my chosen method was to lightly sand with 600 (european) after every 3 or 4 coats, with no attempt to take it down flat, simply to take all the high points, runs and dust off - so the surface looks about half sanded, half shiny. I started with one coat of sealer filler on the front then put a couple of tru oil on, but I was concerned that I might not have enough depth so I gently sanded it then put another couple of layers of sealer/filler on before going back to tru oil. I finally took it down flat only after I had put all the coats I wanted to on, and I was quite confident there was minimal chance of going through. I used 600 and 800, then went up to 1200. I then used an abrasive polish, but it was evident that the finish hadn't cured enough for it to burnish to a really high polish, so I'm going to wait a few weeks and give it another go. My feeling is that there's little to be gained by sanding completely flat more than once, and a lot to be lost. I haven't used thinned tru oil, because I trust that the burnish will do all I need for gloss. Thing to bear in mind though I'm not into super gloss finishes, so if you want a real showroom job pay more attention to those that have achieved it...

Your photos do look a bit dusty to me. If you have a dust problem, and I do like crazy, its good if you can figure up a way to hold the work when you've put the oil on to minimise the amount of dust that can fall on it. Even propped up vertically helps. Of course then its ten times as many runs, but who said it was easy?

[tobagon]

It's been quite some time and in the meantime I glued together neck and body to let it cure during the Christmas break. Before I did that I checked the neck angle several times by putting one or two strings and checking their height. I then adjusted my shim made out of maple veneer until I liked the result.

After almost a month I sanded the oil finish moooore or less flat, ordered a new bottle of tru oil and started oiling again.
I changed my method of application and am now using a cut out of the soft side of a kitchen sponge and I'm oiling the guitar hanging in the closet (with windows open, gloves and mask, just to be sure).

This time around I'm keeping track how many times I put oil and am currently counting 8 additional times with one light sand in between and I think now the finish is slowly becoming what I want it to be.
Thanks for the advice, I will keep you posted and once I'm done send additional pictures

[Hardcoretroubadour]

Wow, great looking top on that, can't wait to see how this one goes.

[Andy40]

I gotta confession dude. (Sorry Wazkelly) I do not like Explorer shapes. But Damn man that kit looks great!!!