Nomad's 12-String Tele Build

Nomad

The Tru-Oil arrived today (rather, a replacement sent by a courier), and I did some experimenting with the oil paints.

The aim here is mainly to try and establish what I need to do - in terms of mixing paint - to get the sort of hue I want. The actual density is less important just now - that can be changed by changing the proportion of paint and oil, and the actual dilution can be worked out later once I have a better idea of coverage.

The procedure for the test was as follows...

Squeeze out a tiny bit of the base colour into a section of a ceramic mixing tray.
Add 0.5ml (using a syringe) of white spirit.
Use a small palette knife to mix the paint and white spirit.
Add 1ml of Tru-Oil (using another syringe) and mix using the palette knife until a consistent gloop is arrived at.

This results in a mix that's about 1 part white spirit, 2 parts Tru-Oil, and a very small part oil paint which contains its own oil (probably about 0.1ml of paint). Aiming here for a spirit-reduced mix that's likely to be used for the first coats.

I then used a folded coffee filter to wipe some onto a bit of sanded birch ply, let it absorb and had a look at it. In both cases, the base colour wasn't what I'm after, so I squeezed a tiny bit of the modifier colour for each into an adjacent section of the mixing tray and used the palette knife to transfer an even smaller bit of each into its respective base colour and mixed it in. (I did the yellow first, cleaned up and then did the red.)

Here's what I got...

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y521/Nomad_Zamani/12-String%20Telecaster%20Build/Ideas/ColourTest_zpsa4b229e1.jpg

On each board, there are three square patches of colour, and then a narrower patch on the right. The leftmost patch is the base colour only, and the next two are with some of the modifier added. For the yellow, I'm feeling that maybe a little more Burnt Sienna is still needed even after adding a tiny bit twice. For the red, my first bit of blue was too much - took it too close to purple. So I added more red to the mix (to make the proportion of blue about half of what I added, I had to double the amount of red), and I'm happier with the third hue.

The narrower patches on the right were done at the end, and the stuff was liberally applied until it was pooling on top of the wood. The purpose of this was twofold...

Mainly, I want to see how it dries. If this gets absorbed into the wood and dries up nicely, then there should be no issues with mixing the oil paints and Tru-Oil.

Secondly, the thick application of the colour should give me an idea of how it looks when more dense compared to the single coat that the main colour patches represent. Note that the colours in the mixing tray and the pools of paint are very strong. This will help in particular with working out if I need to add more Burnt Sienna to the Indian Yellow (the red is quite strong compared to the blonde wood background, but it's a bit harder to see the hue of the single wipes of yellow).

When the time comes to do the real thing, I'll mix the paints with just a little white spirit and store each in a small bottle. I'll be using larger quantities and it will be easier to control the proportions. I can then add small amounts of this to a white spirit and oil mix and experiment with application on more of the birch ply until I get a density of hue that I'm happy with (ie, something that lets me build up the layers without it becoming too strong too quickly). I can switch to making a small batch of colour and neat Tru-Oil later if I want to. If I'm unhappy with the way a hue is turning out, I can still add a little base or modifier colour to alter it for a layer or two.

I'm undecided at present as to how to apply the coloured oil. The coffee filters were okay, but a bit awkward to control - maybe use them for the larger areas and a small flat artist's brush for the detailed and fiddly bits. Bottles? Medicine bottles from Boots cost pennies - I have a few brown ones but I'd like to get some in clear glass.

Misterg

Interesting -

In my limited experience, if you put tru-oil on thick it doesn't dry.

I got on much better with it when I adopted the approach of trying to wipe it all off, rather than trying to leave an even coating.

I added about 20-30% white spirit to make it a sprayable consistency, so I would imagine it is getting *very* thin for wiping on.

Watching with interest.

Nomad

Just had a little look. The bits I wiped on feel bone dry - I'll see how a light sand with fine grit goes tomorrow. The bits that were loaded have flattened out, but the thicker areas are still a bit tacky. The red is less tacky than the yellow, but still not suitable for sanding (the paper would clog right away). I'll see how they look tomorrow.

Interesting stuff, this Tru-Oil. Very fast drying compared to what I'm used to with oil paints and linseed oil. (Usually at least a couple of weeks for thin layers, and months on end for the thick stuff.)