Prostheta Posted April 9, 2020 Report Share Posted April 9, 2020 The main thing with Tru-Oil is that it cures, making it prone to witness lines. As far as drop filling goes, it's not easy but not the worst. I find the biggest issue is dragging when the oil starts to tack up. I can't say that I've drop filled any recently, so I've sort of tuned that experience out of me. The next big bottle of Tru-Oil I get is being divided up between several jars so I'm not partially polymerising the bulk each time I use a small amount. Cheaper than an aerosol of wine saver to replace the oxygen in the bottle anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted April 9, 2020 Report Share Posted April 9, 2020 15 minutes ago, Prostheta said: The main thing with Tru-Oil is that it cures, making it prone to witness lines. As far as drop filling goes, it's not easy but not the worst. I find the biggest issue is dragging when the oil starts to tack up. I can't say that I've drop filled any recently, so I've sort of tuned that experience out of me. The next big bottle of Tru-Oil I get is being divided up between several jars so I'm not partially polymerising the bulk each time I use a small amount. Cheaper than an aerosol of wine saver to replace the oxygen in the bottle anyway. this is a great tip. always seems to turn on me before I finish it. will have to snag some smaller bottles to divide it. thanks for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2020 I drop filled with a small brush, leaving it proud of the surface. Perhaps I should have left it longer than 24 hours. At one point it was smooth on the surface, but the dent was still visible below. I think I'll have to take that area back to the bottom of the dent then give the whole back some more coats and see how the witness lines are. Worst case, I'll sand it back. I'm not exactly pushed for time right now Thanks for the advice @ScottR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 9, 2020 Report Share Posted April 9, 2020 I actually just finished off the last of one of the biggest bottles of Tru-Oil to re-oil some sanding I did on Ebony/brass surrounds on a table. The air had turned the oil in the bottle to jelly in the cap, and that would be ideal for drop filling. Cohesive enough to hold raised blob within the drop fill, not polymerised enough to not grab. Sorry for derailing. Couldn't help it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2020 That's ok. Nice looking table! The drop fill was from the last bit of the bottle, so was thick enough to stand proud. It's probably time to crack open a new bottle. I bought one, but didn't think I was going to need it. Oh well, at least I have one to hand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 9, 2020 Report Share Posted April 9, 2020 The small bottles are very un-economical. Sensible in that you've pretty much always got fresh oil, but they go nowhere. Tru-oil is one of those products where a lot goes to waste as part of the normal use process. For what it's worth, thinning the initial flood coats with a 10% napthpha pushes the product further, then bodying raw and finishing with the thinned version gets the most from the bottle. Thinned flood coats pop figured woods better and give you a bit more time to work around a piece before meeting back at a semi dry edge without excessive flooding. Bit late in the game to say this of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2020 Having sulked for a little while, I finally sanded out the dent, taking it back to the wood - about a square inch in size to the wood, and oversanding a further inch into the surrounding finish so as to leave it as level as possible. Then today I gave it a generous wipe of Tru Oil on the "patch". A couple of hours later and it looks like it's going to be ok. It's obviously sunk into the wood slightly, but I think another couple of partial patch coats followed by a full coat might just rescue it without having to strip the whole lot back. The world is a slightly brighter place 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted April 15, 2020 Report Share Posted April 15, 2020 22 minutes ago, Norris said: The world is a slightly brighter place It's the little things, we'll take them all. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2020 Having been lacking motivation recently I've actually got on with a few bits today. The dent repair on the back went a lot better than I expected, so today I feathered in the patch and gave it a polish. Then a bit of detailing on the sides of the fretboard, followed by detailing the headstock Finally I got around to fitting a bit of hardware Kluson "snot green" tuners. Chosen by the future owner, apparently they look vintage. Actually they do look a bit better than I was expecting Iron Gear "Platinum 90" P90s. Again the choice of the future owner I'm going to need to either un-solder the jack socket or make the internal hole a little larger to be able to fit the loom. I'll probably make the hole bigger Not far to go now, although the nut always seems to take longer than you expect. I've made it from scratch, so need to set the final height and then cut the slots 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 ....and across the line! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 All wired up now The nut needs a bit of fettling though 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 I can see a rough spot. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 Slide? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 Looking good, @Norris You see, all it took was a world pandemic. But maybe you'd better inform the WHO and the UK government in advance when you are thinking of starting your next one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 2 hours ago, Norris said: The nut needs a bit of fettling though Just flip it around. You've got it in backwards. SR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: Looking good, @Norris You see, all it took was a world pandemic. But maybe you'd better inform the WHO and the UK government in advance when you are thinking of starting your next one I need more wood first for a full build I've got a 12 string acoustic to fix up, or maybe refinishing a tatty old Charvel Charvette (80s budget super-strat). We'll see 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 1 hour ago, ScottR said: Just flip it around. You've got it in backwards. SR Not sure if that's backwards. It's a left-handed bone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 44 minutes ago, Prostheta said: Not sure if that's backwards. It's a left-handed bone. Ahhhh, I see what you mean. It's not backwards at all. It's upside down. SR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 Rather than a multi-scale neck, I've gone for a trans-dimensional nut 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 11 minutes ago, ScottR said: Ahhhh, I see what you mean. It's not backwards at all. It's upside down. SR Upside-down, back-to-front and a week overdue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 6 minutes ago, Prostheta said: and a week overdue. Ooh - if I had any reactions left today... ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted April 30, 2020 Report Share Posted April 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Norris said: Ooh - if I had any reactions left today... ! I had some spares so that one is credited to be from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted May 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2020 All the time in the world, and still not enough to get back to this. Until today... A lot of people buy a nut ready cut. Here is how I was taught, using a bone blank Sand a pencil in half Slide it across the frets to mark the height of the "zero fret" Then sand the blank to follow the radius, at an angle matching the headstock break angle, to a mm or two above the line on the fretboard side Mark out and cut the slots. Not quite fully to depth yet - that's for final fettling Then sand it nice and smooth I've still got a few grits to go through yet, but then I can string it up and start fine-tuning the slot depths as I set it up 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted May 11, 2020 Report Share Posted May 11, 2020 35 minutes ago, Norris said: A lot of people buy a nut ready cut I must confess I'm one of them. Then again, the ones I've bought are so much oversize that the main benefit has been to have the nut slot positions marked. For some odd reason the Chinese ready cut nuts cost a fraction of a second rate blank so why not use them for blanks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted May 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2020 28 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: For some odd reason the Chinese ready cut nuts cost a fraction of a second rate blank so why not use them for blanks? Why not buy a ready made neck, or even a ready made guitar? It doesn't take long to mark out the slot positions. In this case, having marked the top and bottom strings 4mm in from the fretboard edge (an advantage of keeping the nut "square" until that point), the rest of the strings worked out to exactly 7.5mm apart. Just like marking out the frets, all measured from the same datum point to avoid compounding errors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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