EX-1L Custom, First Pit Bull Kit guitar

[wazkelly]

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

All good Andy.

You need to play one to truly appreciate them as the shape is more comfortable than it looks.

[tobagon]

agreed! Explorers are way more comfortable to play than they look, because of the long armrest they offer.

I have decided on a logo and already printed it on waterslide decal paper. This weekend I should be able to present it to you already!

For now I have changed my method of tru oil application again. I had great results with wet sanding and using the oil as lubricant. Then of course I could only do one side at a time. With the guitar laying, runs don't happen that easily and I applied some nice coats afterwards. The spalted maple veneer is now filled and almost flat everywhere -> I should be done soonish! and I should - it has been 16 more coats already. I can't wait to put it all together.

[tobagon]

As promised, here's the attached waterslide decal. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, there's no visible border and after one coat of tru oil there's nothing else standing out than the ink. perfect! thank you for the suggestion.

I used some of the remaining decal paper to "decal" a mug for the girlfriend - I can only recommend that to make up for the guitar building time

Other than that, the spalted maple veneer is now almost all filled with tru oil and I hope that I will get done with applying the oil this week. And then I will need a lot of patience before the final polish and doing the electronics.
Damn, I want to know how my explorer sounds!

[tobagon]

I'm a bit confused what my best course of action is now, so just to make sure, what is my best course of action to get a nice finish now?

I was planning to
-wet sand it flat with oil again (Do i wipe off the excess and the "oil dust" or do I let it stay and work it in with the application of oil?) starting with European 240 paper and then going up or, since i already flatted it with that, directly with 600-1000?
- then maybe 1-3 very thin coats of oil again.
- After that letting it cure for ... about a week (??)
- Fine sandpaper again (1000?) dry or wet (with oil again or regular water with a bit of dish soap?) and then polish with silicon-free car polish
- Applying Carnauba wax
- Done

Please let me know what you think, and/or if you have any tips, do's or do nots, let me know as well, as this is the first time I'm trying to polish an oil finish.

[McCreed]

I was planning to
-wet sand it flat with oil again (Do i wipe off the excess and the "oil dust" or do I let it stay and work it in with the application of oil?) starting with European 240 paper and then going up or, since i already flatted it with that, directly with 600-1000?

If you're intention is "grain filling" DO NOT wipe off the Tru Oil. The whole idea of grain filling using the "slurry" method is to allow the particulates (dust) to combine with the finish oil and fill the grain.
You need to let the slurry coat dry, then very lightly dry sand to knock down the high spots, nibs, pool spots etc. Then repeat wet sanding with Tru Oil as needed until everything is filled and levelled. THEN apply desired number of straight TO until you build up to the depth/gloss you want.

Personally I've never thinned Tru Oil. IMO it doesn't need it, but that's only my opinion. YMMV.

Another thing I'll add is when I grain fill with Tru Oil/slurry or when levelling the slurry coat, I don't go coarser than 600.
Once the grain filling is done and I start applying my build coats, I de-nib with a fine synthetic sanding pad (aka synthetic steel wool) but only after every 3-6 coats as needed.

- After that letting it cure for ... about a week (??)

I leave any top/clear coat for at least 14 days now (Tru Oil, Lacquer, Polyurethane etc)
The hardest part of finishing is waiting...

- Applying Carnauba wax

Completely unnecessary IMO. The clear coat should have all the gloss you'd want if the final polish is done properly.
I never used any kind of wax on top of a guitar finish. I know some do, but not me.

[Simon Barden]

I read an interview with a Fender Custom Shop guy where he recommended using carnauba wax on sticky feeling nitro-finished necks. A couple of applications should see any sticky feeling disappear. Apart from that, no need for it.

I've thinned TruOil (in my one failed attempt to do a TruOil finish) and it does lower the surface tension a bit and so make it easier for the TO to fill small cavities without simply following the previous contours. Also, the TO does tend to thicken as the bottle empties, so adding a small amount of turps to a half-empty bottle can get it back to the original viscosity. The downside of thinning is that your layers are thinner (well less actual TO content per wipe), so you need more applications.

[wazkelly]

Wet sanding TO & small amount of Turps added should be done with 1200 or 1500 grit Wet & Dry paper as 600 or 800 have too much bite and will strip off more than what you bargain for. Even 1200 can strip the best part of 3 coats off.

Would recommend this twice or maybe 3 times only up until about 20 coats down and then switch to proper wet sanding every 2nd or 3rd coats using water with a drop of dishwashing detergent added as the lubricant. 1500 & 2000 grits work best the nearer you get to 30+ coats down.

Cheers, Waz

[tobagon]

Thanks for the great answers, it is already somewhat clearer what has to be done. Although not quite everything - sorry I'm new to almost all of this.

So, since the TO build up should already be flat, I will wet sand with water and soap and wipe the excess away. And I'll use 1500 grit paper.
If I then build up TO layers and go to finer grits until i reach the desired gloss, do I even need to polish afterwards? If yes, how would I tackle that, after two weeks of wait?

Am I aiming for very thin TO coats now, or for medium/thick application?