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Hi all ... I was wondering if anyone has any experience with finishing in Tru-Oil over a Cedar soundboard? This will be my first try at using this for finishing as I've usually finished with French Polish ... I believe Tru-Oil is somewhat more durable. I can't find any info on using it on Cedar though, plus - do you seal with shellac first (as in a no.1 cut), on all woods? Apologies for all the questions but this is one I need to get right and I'm somewhat stepping out of my "safety zone" of French Polishing which for an amateur like myself could be a tad risky

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imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world

That's assuming a lot, to say the least…
WRC is somewhat porous so you'll get a bit of splotchiness with any oil or varnish directly applied to it. It can have character, but it can be objectionable as well. Sealing with shellac first takes care of it (and I would spray a couple of coats).

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Not to hijack the thread, but I feel it's an appropriate question here since it was mentioned that WRC is quite porous, can you use tru-oil as a grain filler? This might be a completely naive question, but when using tru-oil to finish knife handles or gun stocks you typically will sand the wet tru-oil into the wood so the dust created by the sanding will fill the grain... I usually do this 3-5 times for a stock or handle and then I move on to doing my thin oil coats, letting sit for 24 hours then lightly hitting it with 00 steel wool to "muddy" the surface and I repeat this 10-30 times, depending on the finish I'm going for.

So, after all that, can you grain-fill the same way with a guitar or is that (as I am imagining) a BAD idea? Hopefully I'm not out of line asking that here, but I've been wondering about it for a while now...

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"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." - Winston Churchill

You can use tru-oil as a grain filler with guitars as you described; however the top woods (spruce, cedar. . .) will not need grain filling. If you choose to use Tru-oil on your tops, best to seal with shellac as described by Laurent (you don't HAVE to spray if you are already using a different technique for applying shellac. . .).

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

When I mention WRC being porous, I do not mean it has pores that need filling, it hasn't. It sucks finish quickly, through and through sometimes if the finish is very thin, and most likely unevenly. Pour some water on WRC and see how deep and fast it gets in the wood.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

To the OP - I share Laurent's skepticism regarding the superior durability of TruOil as compared to FP. I used TruOil on my first, and I will likely never use it again on a soundboard (I do like it on a neck though). The guitar is about a year old and has been played an average amount of time in that time, but the top looks more like its been played for 5 or 6 years. If you're building a fingerstyle guitar that will see little to no pick usage, maybe you'll be fine. But there are better options with similar characteristics to TruOil but that offer greater durability. Do some digging around here and you will come up with a list of alternatives. If I'm not mistaken, Laurent named quite a few alternatives in a post in the not so distant past.

Regarding pore filling with TruOil - yes, it's possible. No, it is not a pleasant process. No, I will never do it again.

Aaron

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Aaron Craig

great info thanks I'll probably just French Polish this one as well then as its for a guy who will be playing regularly. Nitro makes me nervous and I'd likely make a mess of a water based lacquer. I had read that Tru-Oil was more durable but its good to hear from others experience that that isn't the case. Its also the first Cedar top I'll be finishing so I'm probably best sticking to what I know

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imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world