Who could oil a strat neck for me?

Lebarque

I've got a lovely roasted maple strat neck that I've been playing raw, but I want to give it a thin finish. Don't want sticky nitro, so thinking about oil. Tru oil? Tung oil? I don't want to change the colour and I'd like a slight sheen, rather than shiny gloss finish. Any advice and could anyone do this for me? Cheers.

guitargeek62

It's an easy technique - worth having a go yourself for education and maintenance purposes

mbe

I've used Tru-Oil and it is very easy to apply using a clean white rag or even kitchen roll. I did find it a long drawn out process that demands patience.  It needs a couple of days for each coat to fully dry and then a light rub with 0000 wire wool to bring it back to a satiny matt ready for the next coat.

You can get away with just a couple of coats on Maple. Mahogany seems to soak it up so I think it needs a minimum of 5 coats.

The feel of a Tru-Oiled neck is very slick compared to Nitro. It's not really an oil as such, it's more like a rubbing varnish.

John_A

Danish oil, true oil or Wudtone are all a piece of cake to apply.  

Teyeplayer

+1 for tru oil and having a go at doing it yourself -you'll be glad you did.

guitarfishbay

It's not hard, I've done it myself with tru oil and wax following the Music Man method 

sawyer

Dead easy man,have a go yourself. It's be nearly impossible to get it wrong.

jellybelly

You'll need:
tru oil
lint free cloth
30 mins a day for a week


Dead easy!!

DavusPG

mbe said:

I've used Tru-Oil and it is very easy to apply using a clean white rag or even kitchen roll. I did find it a long drawn out process that demands patience.  It needs a couple of days for each coat to fully dry and then a light rub with 0000 wire wool to bring it back to a satiny matt ready for the next coat.

You can get away with just a couple of coats on Maple. Mahogany seems to soak it up so I think it needs a minimum of 5 coats.

The feel of a Tru-Oiled neck is very slick compared to Nitro. It's not really an oil as such, it's more like a rubbing varnish.

+1 On the advice for doing it yourself but I thought oil finishes on mahogany was a no go?

Lozboy

I have used  Tru-Oil on a maple neck and also  to touch up areas with alot of success.It is easy to use/sand and clean up afterwards.Good luck with it.

mbe

DavusPG said:

mbe said:

I've used Tru-Oil and it is very easy to apply using a clean white rag or even kitchen roll. I did find it a long drawn out process that demands patience.  It needs a couple of days for each coat to fully dry and then a light rub with 0000 wire wool to bring it back to a satiny matt ready for the next coat.

You can get away with just a couple of coats on Maple. Mahogany seems to soak it up so I think it needs a minimum of 5 coats.

The feel of a Tru-Oiled neck is very slick compared to Nitro. It's not really an oil as such, it's more like a rubbing varnish.

+1 On the advice for doing it yourself but I thought oil finishes on mahogany was a no go?

I have a couple of Charvel Desolation models that both came with a very dry, allegedly oiled finish to the mahogany necks. I have since Tru-Oiled both of them and now they are silky smooth.

Tru-Oil won't fill all the grain in mahogany unless you wet sand with 1000 grade abrasive paper and allow some of the resulting slurry to fill the pores.

WezV

The problem with mahogany is it takes a bit more work, but still possible.  Either re-oil when it dries out or wet sand with the oil to develop it quicker.   The more you do it, the less it will need.   


If you want to keep it easy just wipe on, leave 5 minutes and buff off.  Rinse and repeat.   It only takes a lot of time if you are trying to build it up

DavusPG

@mbe & @WezV ;

Thanks for the info....so a Les Paul with an oiled neck isn't an impossibility then?!

WezV

Its never as stable as maple, but if you know the neck is stable anyway it should be fine.  Its a definite possibility but i would lean to tru-oil over danish for this reason

I wouldn't recommend oiled mahogany for a world tour, as it will often be more affected by environmental fluctuations. 

Lebarque

Thanks all. Any good tutorials / youtube vids I'm how to do it? Where can I buy tru oil and how do you get it off the frets afterwards etc?
Cheers

WezV

There is a useful post in the useful posts section of making and modding.  It's my version, which is more labour intensive but gives the sleekest feel and doesn't take as long as some of the methods mentioned here.

used to be specialist gun shops only for tru-oil.  Now you will find it all over the place.  Google is your friend

if you buff the oil off a few minutes after applying you won't need to worry about build up on the frets

NPP

WezV said:

There is a useful post in the useful posts section of making and modding.  It's my version, which is more labour intensive but gives the sleekest feel and doesn't take as long as some of the methods mentioned here.

used to be specialist gun shops only for tru-oil.  Now you will find it all over the place.  Google is your friend

if you buff the oil off a few minutes after applying you won't need to worry about build up on the frets

I followed @WezV's method with my Strat body (and did the neck as well because why not) and it really does work very well and I was more or less a complete novice. I subsequently applied the method to a beech kitchen worktop I had bought to use as a desk and found that even if you rush things a bit, with fewer coats and shorter drying times, you'll still get a nice and durable finish. 

Lebarque

Thanks, I'll take a look