Neck Finish - Tru-Oil, Tung Oil, Teak Oil, Tung'n Teak Oil or Danish Oil

[Drewbertca]

Looking for advice on the best, easy to apply finish for a satin finish neck.

I'm building a Bass VI type cigar box Guitar with a 30" scale neck I found online. Unfinished maple neck and "engineered rosewood" fretboard. Any advice would be great.

I like the feel of my less glossy necks -> Squire JMJM, Les Paul BFG, and Les Paul Junior. I know the oil finishes won't be exactly the same, but they all seem to promise a less "sticky" than a gloss poly.

Thanks.

[Rgand]

I put satin finish Minwax Wipe-On Poly on one neck and it worked fine. I didn't care about that neck so I only put one coat on over an existing finish on one area and bare wood on another. It's a good finish but for a neck I care about I'd probably put a few more coats of it on there.

[Danley]

Why not use nitro clear & flat it down?

[Drewbertca]

I can't find Nitro locally. Never done it. And the wipe on finishes seem easy. Main reasons. Plus it's something a little different.

[Rgand]

The wipe-on poly is easy but be sure to apply thin coats.

[Danley]

If you can find nitro (reranch/minwax?) in a spray, it really is not difficult to add a coat or too. Worries about orange peel, runs etc. somewhat mooted if you’re just going to flat it down/keep rough anyway. It’s also very reversible.

[mgeek]

I've just started building my own guitars, and having used it on restorations before, there's not a chance in hell I'd use nitro on those. Nitro is cool on a worn vintage guitar, but toxic as shit to spray etc, and imo can feel just as glossy as poly or anything, freshly sprayed. Oil just feels RIGHT with very little effort.

Tru oil is the nuts. You just rub it on and build it up. I don't even feel like you need to use loads and loads of coats if you don't want to. I put a single coat on once I've radiused a maple fretboard, prior to the frets going on, just to stop it getting grubby from handling, and even that makes enough of a difference to feel like a finish vs bare wood. Can't speak for any of the others!

[Drewbertca]

Thanks. I heard tru oil was easy to work with. I was a bit leary because, per mliliter it is most expensive of the options locally. How much does it change the colour? Does it bring out any figure in the wood?

[Steadyriot.]

I like tru-oil for a semi to gloss finish. It'll take a few days to apply though.
Tung Oil and Hemp Oil are nice oil finishes if you want to feel more wood but still protect it a bit.

[mgeek]

How much does it change the colour? Does it bring out any figure in the wood?

it ambers it up a bit and yes it really brings out the figure in the wood...it's always a pleasant surprise how maple looks, going from bare wood to oiled. Really beautiful

[ludobag1]

true oïl darken a lot but the yellowing is nice ,after it depend how may coat you put
for my necks i put 10 coat to buff a polish the last , it is not easy as it is a thin finish you can't sand a lot but if your coat are good it id doable
after the ten coat were applied i let it dry one Week before sqanding and buffing

[Georg Figél]

I was using Tru Oil on a recent guitar project and it worked like a charm.
It darkens the wood. It thought it looked fantastic.

Also, what I did is, I thinned the tru oil with 1/3rd of white spirit (and 2/3 tru oil). I would wipe on a thin layer and then immediately wipe it off with a clean rag.
an then I was doing about 7 "wipe on/wipe off" coats.

Supposedly that's how they do the neck finishes at Musicman guitars.

[gishuk]

I like to use tru oil by putting on a coat, letting it dry, rub it lightly down with 0000 steel wool and then apply the next coat. Rinse repeat until you get the look you want.

There seems to be so many ways of getting a great finish with this stuff I think its hard to go wrong.

[Chillysalsa]

Only issue with tung oil is the residual oil feeling stays around long. I prefer a polymerized or other poly finish that is sanded matt flat with 1200 grit

[Drewbertca]

well I actually had a cheapo project kicking around home for 2+ years (my wife actually told me to buy it), so I tried Tru Oil since it was already stripped. I wasn'tintending to do the body, because that was supposed to be my Duplicolor guinea pig.....but I spilt the Tru Oil, so now there are 2 coats on the all maple neck and 3 on the body. looks and feels amazing so far. I just hope the rest of the pieces I had for this axe are still kicking around so I can re-assemble it. i think I like Tru Oil. I think I will use it again....