How to finish a guitar with Tru Oil (Great Guitar Build Off 2021 - Part 8)
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- Опубликовано: 10 июл 2024
- In this eight video for my entry in the Great Guitar Build Off 2021 Scratch Build competition, I am applying Tru Oil to the guitar.
Make sure to check out the playlist below to see all the videos for this build:
• How to make a guitar b...
If you like what I'm making, please like this video and subscribe so you don't miss my future videos. You can also follow me on Instagram where I post a bit more regularly: / thefrenchwoodworker
For all the details about the Great Guitar Build Off 2021, visit www.greatguitarbuildoff.com/
00:00 - Neck
02:23 - Back of the body
04:16 - Top of the body
06:18 - Repeat
07:18 - Result
Products/tools I use:
- Tru Oil: amzn.to/3HVpxF9
- Shinto rasp: amzn.to/3A1aSX5
- Protractors 4 and 6 inches: amzn.to/3tXFk0C
- Mechanical pencil .5mm lead: amzn.to/39RquBQ
- Marking gauge: amzn.to/3OcweVH
- Narex marking knife: amzn.to/3A2yv1C
- White rags: amzn.to/3QKgyul 
Развлечения
That magical moment when the first coat of finish goes on! I love it.
Magnifique ! Cette étape doit être jubilatoire !!!!!! Le rendu est splendide. BRAVO !
Wow, great finish! Great tutorial too!
I love the finish you achieved Particularly on the neck. It looks sensational 👍
Looks beautiful!
Beautiful finish!
That looks great!👍
One of my favorite things with any kind of wood working is watching the grain "pop" when applying the finish. Wow is this a beautiful guitar..
Thank you! That’s also one of my favorite parts, it’s so satisfying
Fantastic video!! Thank you for sharing : )
Nice result for natural wood finishes. I myself am working on a hollow body with stained wood, so wet sanding would change the beautiful colour I achieved with the dye. I’m rubbing Tru Oil straight, no sanding.
Huitième et dernier épisode... Quelle fantastique série. On a hâte de découvrir la saison deux... Très, très, très, beau travail fils. Popa est très fier de toi. La guitare est magnifique, vraiment. Bravo !!!
Merci père! Mais c’est pas le dernier épisode, faut quand même souder l’électronique!
@@saucetguitars oups... On a hâte !!
Excellent demo
Looking fantastic! I have the first few coats on my GGBO build.
Thanks! I’ll have to check out your build!
Fabulous, love a nice oil finish! Nice to see you not staining the maple top, it looks great natural😊👍
Thanks!
I think that this is the best Tru Oil finish I've seen in RUclips. How many coats did you applied? came out spectacular. Congrats
Thanks man! I did 4 coats wet sanding (1000, 2000, twice 3000 grit) then 3 thin coats, so 7 total
Looks amazing! How long between coats did you allow to dry? I plan on doing a tru oil finish on my next project.
Thank you! I wait about 4 hours between coats. It depends on how hot/humid it is where you are but as soon as the surface of the wood feels dry to the touch and not tacky, it’s ready for another coat. Good luck for your project!
Hi! How log did you wait to dry before sanding and re do again?
This a great video that really quickly sums up the application of TruOil in a really easy to understand format. Thanks! One question though - how long did you allow the oil to cure before applying the next coat? I heard tons of info on this, from a few hours for a few coats, to some people spending months applying dozens of coats and waiting days between!
Thanks for the comment! I usually just wait a couple of hours between coats. Tru oil dries pretty quick. I make sure it feels dry to the touch and not tacky at all before applying a new coat though. If you’re planning on applying any other finish after all tru oil coats, I’d also recommend waiting for it to cure for a week or 2, basically when it doesn’t smell like oil anymore the finish is cured
@@saucetguitars Thanks for the info on that. This is definitely the method I'll be using for my guitar, and I'll be sharing your video here shortly as well!
Thank you, I appreciate it! Hope your guitar turns out well! Are you building it for the great guitar build off?
@@saucetguitars Nah, I've never considered it! Just working on kit builds at the moment, currently a 335 custom from Pitbull Guitars. It's the fourth one I've done in the past year!
looks fabulous. Did you apply the oil to the top and sides and let it dry before applying the oil to the back? I'm getting to the stage of applying the oil to my own build and am concerned that if I do the whole body in one application, I'll end up with marks from whatever the body is rested on.
Thank you! I applied oil to the top, back and sides at the same time. I shaped two sticks so that they have only two points each in contact with the body, and rested the body on these. With that many coats and them being so thin, any mark left is pretty much removed by the next coat. If it was a film finish like poly or lacquer I think that would be a bigger concern but with oil it’s fine imo. Good luck with your build!
Really beautiful. I would add for others that if you've stained the wood, go lightly with the sanding until you've built up a couple of layers of oil. Additionally, it can't be said enough, let the oil dry thoroughly between applications.
Thanks! And thank you for the additional explanation. One of the reasons I love tru oil is because it dries so fast (for an oil finish), so after 4-5 hours it’s ready for another coat. Other oils I’ve tried (BLO for example) take days to dry.
@@saucetguitars I love it as well, but it can be finicky. I was finishing a body in Tru Oil today, and as it's been rather hot and dry here lately, the oil was catalyzing so quickly I had to work in sections.
Btw, I was not aware that Tru Oil came in the large bottle. I need to get that!
That’s true, one time I’ve had it dry quicker than I could apply it too, and it becomes sticky in a few minutes.
@@saucetguitars I think that the company that makes Tru Oil might not realize just how much of their product ends up on guitars. They could likely reformulate it a bit to provide more open time. Being that the surface area of a gun stock is significantly less than a guitar body, it takes only seconds to cover, and it seems the product is chemically optimized for that specific purpose.
That’s a good point, I never thought of that. I think Crimson guitars’ finishing oil is somewhat similar to tru oil optimized for guitars but I haven’t tried it yet, maybe on my next build
👍🏼
Very nice finish! I have a question though, after your sanding in coats are finished you did three final coats without sanding. Did you apply and wipe off the excess, or just apply thinly and leave on? I find that when trying to wipe off excess it gets very sticky and hard to do smoothly.
Thanks! For the final coats I applied very thin coats, rubbed them in and wiped them off almost immediately. It does get sticky pretty quick you’re right, the coats really have to be super thin. If it’s too sticky I’d recommend letting it dry for a few hours instead of trying to wipe it off; if the coats are thin it won’t really be an issue to let them dry without wiping off. Thanks for watching and I hope that answers your question!
@@saucetguitars thank for the response! It does answer my question. I am going to carry on with my tru oil tests striving for the finish you have on this beauty😉
Great job, absolutely beautyfull.
Wish i would have wet sanded mine . Can you wet sand in later stages just usaing the tru oil to fill pores?
HI! Incredible result, before applying tru oil, did you apply anything? For example a primer or a pore sealer varnish?
Thank you! No I didn’t apply anything before the tru oil
@@saucetguitars how long did you wait for it to dry between coats before sanding?
How Many total coats of oil?
did you buff and polish when finished?
I did not. I believe you can do it with tru oil but I was happy with that level of shine
Hi Alex, I am building a kit at the moment and am aiming for a professional-ish finish with tru oil. I have watched every single Tru oil finish video on the internet and you have the best results I have seen. Are you possibly able to document the exact steps you took? With number of coats, different sand paper grits, order, polishing levels etc. I understand if not, I am so very envious of your results.
Hi Michael, thank you for the comment! Here are the steps I took:
- Sand body and neck up to 400 grit (150, 220 then 400). It's really important to have a perfectly smooth wood surface before applying the oil as any defect will be amplified by the oil.
- 1st coat of oil: flood the wood. Be generous as it will soak up a lot of oil on the first coat. Once it stops soaking in and you get some oil pooled up on the surface of the wood, wet sand with 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. This fills the pores a little bit (not completely) and I found it gives a smoother/shinier surface in the end. Wet sand until it starts to get tacky, and as soon as it does, wipe off ALL excess. If you leave any excess it'll get sticky and really hard to remove. This is true for all coats. Note that when wet sanding, you don't want to apply too much pressure, just the weight of your hand on the paper is enough.
- 2nd coat: use exactly the same process but using 2000 grit. Also, you can apply less oil now (just as much as needed to wet-sand, but it will probably soak in less this time).
- 3rd and 4th coats: same thing with 3000 grit. You should need to apply less and less oil as it won't soak up as much now.
- I then applied 3 very thin coats (very, very thin, just enough oil to lightly cover the surface). Applying many thin coats will give you a smoother finish that one thick coat.
- Between every coat, I waited about 4 hours. It will depend on how hot/humid your shop is, but as soon as the wood feels dry to the touch, it's ready to take another coat. Just stop and wait longer if it feels tacky when you start applying the next coat.
- You can apply more thin coats if you want a thicker and shinier finish, but these 7 coats were all I needed on this guitar.
- If at any point the finish feels rough to the touch, you can knock it down VERY lightly with 0000 steel wool. Be very careful, you just want to remove dust nibs but not damage the finish. Before doing this, let the oil dry for a longer time (1-2 days at least, but if it's at all sticky when you do it, stop and let it cure longer).
I hope it helps, and good luck with your guitar! Let me know if you post videos of your build, I'd like to see it.
@@saucetguitars thanks so so much for writing this down! I am going to literally follow this to a tee over the next few weeks. I am definitely thinking of making a video so I'll share it with you when I upload it. Thanks again Alex, you're the best!
@@michaelseecy5904 awesome, glad I could help and good luck!
beautiful gloss on that guitar, really surprised at how glossy it looks.
I thought (hoped, really) you'd stain red the top of the body. But it turned out great
Thanks! I'm honestly not a big fan of the classic red SG, so I wanted to make the design my own and let the wood speak for itself.
@@saucetguitars it suits better with all the craftsmanship you put it into the guitar. I wanna see what you do with the electronics
I actually installed the electronics today, I’ll post the video with the electronics and final setup next weekend!