Metropoulos Forum

hey brethren, i have a maple warmoth neck (w/ebony fretboard) coming to me in the next few weeks that will need a proper finish. i am thinking some kind of tung oil? finish as i have heard good things about this. does anyone have any good links as to where to buy the best product & possible learn how to apply it correctly? i want to do this right! any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Hey 45, I agree, the tung oil is perfect for a maple neck. Here's how I did mine, its SO simple.

1) Go to your local wood crafter type store (I like 'Woodcraft') get the smallest bottle of '100% Tung Oil' (I think a 473 ML pint is the smallest) Also get a some 'Mineral Spirits' (paint thinner).

2) Get some of the finest guage 'synthetic' steel wool. This is better, as you dont have to contend with the shavings you get using real steel wool.

3) Get some cotten cloth, or simply rip a white T-shirt into a few strips.

This is all you will need, materal wise.

Here's how I do it.

1) Mix about 1/4 cup tung oil, with about 1/4 cup of mineral spirts (equal parts). The mineral spirits helps the initial coats penetrate deeper. I like to wear thin plastic gloves when doing this.
2) Dip your cloth into this mixture, and rub it generously on the neck, covering every bit of it (well, not the ebony of course, it wouldnt hurt it, but ebony doesnt need finnish). I like to then hang the neck on a post in my workshop (sticking the little post through a tuning peg hole) which lets the neck hang 'untouched'. After about 3-4 hours, I will take a clean cloth and wipe off all the excess. I then rehang the neck by the tuning peg, and let it sit for about 24 hours.

3) After a day or so, I take out my fine grade 'synthetic' steel wool, and just lightly 'scuff' the neck a little (this lets the next coat 'adhere' better) I then apply another coat of the same 50/50 mix. I follow the same instructions as I did for the first coat.

4)After 24 hours or so, I repeat the steel wool part, only this time I start using pure Tung Oil. This is thicker, so rub it in good, then after a couple of hours, wipe off all excess. Be careful of the temperature of your work area. Tung oil likes the same temperatures we like. If its below 60 degree's or so, the oil might 'cloud' a little.

5) With the pure coat, I might wait a little longer, like 36 hours or so. I then repeat the procedure again. That is it, about 2 50/50 coats, and 2 pure coats should do it. You can put more if you like though. I let this final coat dry (cure)up to a week or so, rubbing it down with a fresh cotton cloth every few day's.

The finnish on the necks of the EVH Charvels is a tung finnish. It barely darkens the maple, not as much as you might think. It feels awesome. Hope this helps.

I've used Birchwood Casey TruOil for the last few necks I've done with great results. If you like the look / feel of an unfinished neck, it works great and is very easy to apply.

45auto wrote:hey brethren, i have a maple warmoth neck (w/ebony fretboard) coming to me in the next few weeks that will need a proper finish. i am thinking some kind of tung oil? finish as i have heard good things about this. does anyone have any good links as to where to buy the best product & possible learn how to apply it correctly? i want to do this right! any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Hey, 45. Just curious as to whats steering you toward tung oil as a finish? (Just FYI, Warmoth does not consider any oil finish good enough to keep their warrantee in force). You DO have to keep up with it as a finish, meaning it has to be re-applied periodically.

Just BTW, another finish that works well for me is Minwax's "Rubbing Poly". Its available in gloss, semi-gloss, and satin. Its applied with a rag, and works great with closed pore wood, like maple. Its almost impossible to screw up the fin with that stuff, and its thin enough that it almost has the appearance of lacquer, especially with a nice stain under it. For a non-lacquer, very durable fin, it seems to work really well.

Thanks guys, good stuff as always here. I'm not dead set on the tung oil finish, I like the idea of getting away from the typical high-gloss finish & would like this one to resonate well. Nitrocellulose would probably work also. I have an Eric Johnson model strat with nitro & it has easily twice the tone of my Yngwie strat. Several things could account for this obviously, but i think the finish is a big part. I'm putting the maple/ebony neck on a korina on korina chambered strat. i'm hoping it will have a great tone.

45auto wrote: I'm putting the maple/ebony neck on a korina on korina chambered strat. i'm hoping it will have a great tone.

So you're gonna go for that nice korina strat after all? I think that thing is gonna sound amazing, and it looks awesome as well. Post some pics when you've got 'er done!! (Just curious... chrome, nickel or gold hardware?)

fillmore nyc wrote:Just BTW, another finish that works well for me is Minwax's "Rubbing Poly". Its available in gloss, semi-gloss, and satin. Its applied with a rag, and works great with closed pore wood, like maple. Its almost impossible to screw up the fin with that stuff, and its thin enough that it almost has the appearance of lacquer, especially with a nice stain under it. For a non-lacquer, very durable fin, it seems to work really well.

Word. I used that on an old farmhouse table that we use in our kitchen (been in my wife's family for almost 100 years). After two coats, it looks like a hand-rubbed oil finish. It's freaking amazing. And, it's very easy to apply. You can't go wrong. Make sure you allow enough drying time in between coats, though.

all black hardware. black floyd rose. no fret markers. i might try the minwax, satin would probably be good. i like the finish on my ernie ball petrucci quite a bit, it's supposed to be some "Gunstock oil and hand-rubbed special wax blend"? feels real dry & smooth. i have time to think about this, the parts won't be in for a few more weeks. it'll be a nice xmas present to myself! hehe

jfhudak wrote:Word. I used that on an old farmhouse table that we use in our kitchen (been in my wife's family for almost 100 years). After two coats, it looks like a hand-rubbed oil finish. It's freaking amazing. And, it's very easy to apply. You can't go wrong. Make sure you allow enough drying time in between coats, though.

Something else that works great with the Rubbing Poly, especially on open pore woods like mahogany, etc, is to shoot the piece with a coat or two of spray shellac B/4 the RP. It seems to speed up the drying time of the Poly, and prevents anything in the wood (like oils or waxiness) from affecting the Poly in a negative way. I just used the shellac/RP combo on an hourglass I built for a friend, in which I used padouk, mahogany, teak, walnut and purpleheart. It came out outrageous.

My Washburn Steve Stevens has Bartleys Gel varnish finish, but hard to keep clean..
http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/htdoc ... stains.htm
yngwie308

The nitro IS very durable, its just alot of people dislike the 'feel' of it on a neck. This is why the oils are so popular.

I would use one of the oil or wax based finishes for the back of the neck.
I would also get some wood filler (Behlen's pore'o'pac) and rub this into the korina body (I think its open pored ?) Rub off the excess, then repeat if needed. My ash strat is open pored, and even after the wood filler still soaked up alot of nitro.

I wouldnt stain the korina, with certain oils or waxes. I would simply fill the pores with a similar color wood filler (Theres several shades) then apply a satin or gloss 'clear' nitro finish.

cool, the body is already finished. the neck is raw. i had a really bad experience with nitro on the EJ strat. i was just sitting plucking away one night & noticed the finished looked really dirty where my arm was resting, upon closer inspection my shirt was imprinted into the surface, i think it may not have been cured enough from the factory? i freaked out a little. i ended up getting some stuff from stewmac & wet sanding & buffing it back out. shhooo... i can't imagine touring with it, it would be stripped raw in a week. again maybe just cure time. the thing does have very open tone though.

Yeah, nitro is the best 'sounding' of such finish's imo. The tung to me though, is the best, most 'natural' finish for maple necks. Hell, it even smells nice while your working with it, sorta like fresh groud peanuts or something.

fumes... hehe... hehe... i may see what warmoth thinks about this. thanks again guys.