Official Luthiers Forum!

A client of mine wants me to finish a bare warmoth maple neck and
fingerboard that he has. I personally don't like the look of maple
fingerboards, but that's beside the point. He really liked the tru-oil finish
I did on my last electric, and he doesn't like the feel of nitro on necks. I'm
wondering how tru-oil would hold up on the fingerboard itself??? Or if I
should just polyurethane the fb and tru-oil the back.

Thoughts and input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

I think your on the right track there Mike.
Especially if the Fboard has figure he'd like to still see over time.
It will still get gunked up but it will clean easyer if you seal it.

I am wondering if there is a way to get the tru-oil feel some other way for the neck back. I'll leave that for the experts...

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

Yeah Wade, i will definitely seal it one way or another. As for getting the
tru-oil feel with something else, I'm not sure. I've felt some nice necks
shot with polyu, and even waterbase, that were rubbed down with steel
wool and had a nice satin-y feel. I still like the tru-oil better though...

So, anyone out there tried tru-oil on a maple fingerboard, or am I on my
own here?

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

I have an electric, Peavey Wolfgang, that has a bird's eye maple neck and fingerboard. Both are oil finished. I also have a tele that has the standard fender finish on the maple neck and board. I've also sanded the necks and finger boards w/ steel wool on a few Ibanez'. They are all three worlds apart in feel. If your client has asked for one and you give him the other you may not have a client long.

The oil finished finger board does collect gunk. Playing with clean hands has allowed mine to gather just a light patina and hasn't been cleaned in over ten years. I have purchased other used Wolfgangs that had a thick build up. A quick once over with 000 steel wool and a quick coat of lemon oil(recommended by Peavey) and all was good as new.

I'd try it w tru-oil. The necks I've done with it have held up quite well.

Ronn, thanks for your help. Either way I was going to tru-oil the neck,
just wasn't sure about the fb. I wanted to oil everything since it's such an
easy process. This guy is about the easiest client you can imagine too,
which is great. He doesn't care what's on the fb, just as long as the neck
is tru-oiled.

Anyway, I'll give it a try on the fb. Thanks again for your help.

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Mike,

A suggestion for the fingerboard. What about Z-Poxy finishing resin applied the same way as Tru-oil - wiped on thinly with a piece of kitchen towel. Then rub it back with 0000 wire wool. I think this would give a similar feel to Tru-oil and not attract as much "grime". Try it on some scrap of maple first. On the ladder braced Concert guitar I just finished I did this on the Spanish cedar neck and then applied Tru-oil on this base. I think the Z-poxy could work quite well on the fingerboard.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Dave, not a bad idea. I'll give that a try. Definitely have a bunch of maple
scrap to test it out on. Thanks!

I'll let you guys know how everything turns out.

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger