Hi,
I'm new to the forum and new to guitar building in general. I have commissioned a luthier to build me a tele body and neck that I can finish and set-up. The body is made from swamp ash, so I would like to grain fill and dye the guitar initially. Then sand it back and dye it red before Tru-oiling it. I have done some research on the net for different techniques but would like to get some advice from people who have done this before.
I assume that sand sealing before I do anything would be a good idea? Also, what grain filler do people recommend? I was looking at rustins but have heard just sanding with oil works well, also egg whites? I would like to add some black leather dye to the grain filler and sand back to show off the grain.
For the red dye, the only thing I could find was Liberon water based red dye on Amazon or Scarlet aniline dye powder from Touchstone Tonewoods.
As this is a quality instrument I do not want to mess it up by using the wrong products so any help or advice would be fantastic.
Comments
Thanks for the heads up Steve, I assume staining and oiling is all that is necessary? Will Tru Oil be ok on a stain?
it depends on how you apply the oil. Not all tru-oil finishes are equal.
Tru-oil can be sprayed over a direct stain. This gives the best chance of not distuurbing the stain, but obviously if you have the equipment to do this you may as well use lacquer
Tru-oil can be wiped over a stain, just be aware the oil will lift some of the stain out so you need to be really gentle with the first few coats that get wiped on. once its sealed in you can carry on buiilding up the tru-oil. But again, to me a built up tru-oil finish is not as good as a sprayed lacquer finish so i would ather spray.
My tru-oil finishes get wet sanded to keep the finish very thin and not really built up on the surface at all. It feels much better than a built up tru-oil finish - but you can't really do a direct stain this way as you will end up destoying it at the wetsanding sages
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Exactly what Wez said, If you have the means, don't bother with Oil etc, Grain fill it, Seal it and lacquer it.
Regarding dyes etc, in fact for all your needs paint/stain/lacquer etc etc look up Bolgers they're based in my town, absolute awesome people to deal with, David and Alan there are the most helpful when it comes to anything. They have a website but not all of their supplies are listed on there, they have some real weird shit that you've never heard of and their prices are better than anywhere else I've tried.
https://www.facebook.com/rendallsrestorations?fref=ts
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