I had no problem applying the Tru Oil with a paper towel. Also I would suggest to wipe the neck with a damp cloth before the first oil layer. This will raise the fibres. If you sand these down then and start with the oil afterwards, you will get an even smoother surface.
I have an old Ibanez RG410 with a single humbucker (EVH style). This is exactly what I've been wanting to do with that guitar as it has a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. I hate finished necks, I'm all about raw wood. I too, love the EBMM VH model. Wish I had never sold mine. Thanks for this.
I've been working on an RG270 custom deal for a while and I love this guitar. I gutted everything except the body and neck. I have: black Kramer tuner heads, installed a black string retainer bar, a new black locking nut, black chrome strap buttons, a barrel stereo output jack, DiMarzio Tone Zone hum in neck, Dark Matter single in middle, and Evolution in the bridge, put in a black chrome Lo Pro Edge trem out of an old JEM, put better black knobs on it, a different 5 way switch, and a pickguard off of a higher end RG. I have done blacklight reactive art across the body and pickguard, and the headstock. In the back, I have 1 chrome and 2 black springs, as well as a tremsetter off of an old Kramer Pacer. My next project with this guitar is to replace the frets with EVO gold fretwire, and I think I'm done modding it. So far, right now this thing sounds and feels AMAZING. My most favorite guitar, ever.
The first thing I do on a guitar I'm doing a lot of work on is swap the neck screws for m5 machine bolts and fit bushing inserts into the neck. That way i can take the neck off repeatedly without worrying about damaging the screw threads.
Hi, thanks for your video. I have a EVH Stripe guitar, and it seems to me like the fretboard is unfinished too. Can I use the same method you use for the neck...for the fretboard too? Or can I only use the gun oil on the fretboard...? Thanks!!!
A good way to tell if you got the wood sanded down properly is to take a damp clotch and run it over the wood. The bare wood wil instantly absorb water and get dark, but the sealer will remain light colored and tahts where you should focus. I can see the witness line of where you didn't sand properly up to the fretboard, but for something like this, thats ok.
Good video! how much time did you actually spend on the sanding of the neck? I just did sanded one neck and it took me a lot and it still looked shiny at the end, as if it had lacker or sealer, not sure if maple shines when using 1200 grit.
I'm thinking about doing a Paul Gilbert type Ibanez by installing a hard tail into a receased cavity for a floyd bridge. Have you considered on doing one in a upcoming video.
I'm not totally sure I'm understanding the question. Paul Gilbert's Ibanez uses a Tune-O-Matic style bridge. The only way to install that on a guitar with a tremolo would be to completely fill the existing cavity with wood, refinish it & drill new holes for the post anchors. I probably won't be doing such a video...
Newbie builder here. Bought an unfinished maple Strat neck for a parts-caster I'm putting together. I like the Tru-Oil idea for the back of the neck, but how about the fretboard? Leave it unfinished? Tru-Oil? What would you suggest? Thanks.
It depends on what the fretboard wood is. If it's rosewood, just oil it with something like Music Nomad's F-1 oil. If it's maple, you can finish it with Tru-Oil but I would really only do it without any frets installed. I recently did just this on a project with a maple board & there's no way I would want to try removing Tru Oil from around the frets after it's cured. It would be a nightmare.
Ralph Guerra If it's rosewood or ebony, you can finish the fretboard with teak oil, tung oil or linseed oil. I've been using raw (not boiled) linseed oil, but it needs redoing every few years on guitars I play a lot. Maple fretboards really need to be hard varnished, so spray with several thin coats of polyurethane. 2-part (catalysed) automotive laquer goes really hard and if you have the kit it works well.
I just wouldn't paint the neck. I've had luck in the past with hitting glossy necks with some 0000 steel wool to make them a smooth matte finish. If you do this be sure to tape off the top and bottom of the neck, possibly the fretboard / binding as well to make sure it comes out looking clean.
wish i could find a RG270 for $60 all the ones i've seen are $200 or more. Though I did buy a non name guitar, amp and stand for $35 but those deals are few and far between. Thanks for posting.
Broadfall Productions check around pawn shops nationwide. I'm sure they won't mind shipping you one. Check ebay and online guitar/music stores as well. I seem to have AMAZING luck at finding decent guitars for stupid cheap. I found my RG270 for somewhere between $75-$90.
Hey man, I'm about to replace the neck on my MIM Stratocaster, and I really want the replacement to have that vintage tint. What would be your recommendation for that? it's a V neck from MightyMite. Also, I will be putting a Fender Stratocaster spaghetti style water slide decal on the head stock. And in wondering if there's anyway I can put a coating over that decal to just kinda seal it off? Any advice is much appreciated!
Yes you can! Check out my first video for installing the KGC brass block. That entire RG used to be blue. I stripped/stained/sealed it with this same Tru Oil / Wax method & it came out great!
Axe Hacks I've read your thread on SS.org and I must say you've done a stellar job on refinishing that rg570, but do you really need to use pre-stain conditioner? Great video btw!
Dat Thanh I certainly wouldn't say that the pre-stain is necessary. However, it certainly contributed to bringing out the reddish color of the basswood.
That's an Ibanez ILT trem, super crappy imho, but Ibanez discontinued it and for low/mid guitars they install the Edge III system, which is by faaaaaar a super stable locking trem system.
Hey nice Video. Need a bit of advise here. I have a n ibanez 370, I sanded down the neck with a 1200 grit sand paper as I felt the neck was a bit gloss and slow. the neck feels super smooth and faster. now. Any cons of leaving the neck this way? i mean I just sanded it down and left it unfinished.
If you leave it sanded at 1200, your thumb will eventually polish it back to a gloss. If you like the feel though, you can always hit it with 1200 again once that happens. The Tru-oil / wax method is a bit more permanent.
Why would you put back the neck shims? You should of identified why they were there in the first place and solved that problem. Shims are unnecessary most of the time and just decrease resonance throughout the guitar as they act as a barrier. For this project I would remove the paint in the neck pocket and carefully sand the pocket flat or use a router to get a perfect flat surface for the neck and also sand the neck heel so they come together with maximum contact. Without a perfect body/neck contact your guitar cannot have the best resonance period! All that paint and shimming does not allow for a good contact and even a thin sliver of shim puts in an angle with a space being created between the joint. It is better to drop the PUs and bridge height to achieve a correct profile and string height than shim up the neck and there is hardly ever a case when this should be done on an electric guitar. On acoustics there are different reasons for shimming but even then they should be done with the correct timber to ensure compression waves or vibrations are not mitigated.
Neck angle, man. Without shims to increase neck angle, every Ibanez bolt on pretty much plays like garbage with the bridge & pickups sunk down super low. I didn't mention it in this video because I plan on talking about it in a future vid. That being said, I do agree with you on wanting to maximize contact surface in the neck pocket but in this case I feel that shimming is the better of the two options (awful setup vs. slightly decreased resonance).
Axe Hacks Please elaborate on the neck angle you are talking about here. Ibanez guitars do not have a break angle like a Les Paul as the trem is recessed to some degree. I have tried shims before and they always decrease resonance. The point of an Ibanez guitar is to have a low profile with sunken bridge and strings low and close to the body, the opposite of a Les Paul.
Even though it's not "by design", it is absolutely necessary to increase the neck angle of most bolt-on Ibanez. I'd suggest reading through this setup article from Rich over at Ibanez Rules! : www.ibanezrules.com/tech/grunge/grunge_6.htm That dude's set up more high-end Ibanez guitars than, well, anyone and he uses the same shimming method I do. The guitar he's working on in this example is an extremely valuable Universe model, a far cry from the RG270 I'm working on, yet suffering from the same design flaw. If a guitar plays like crap, it plays like crap regardless of it's original design. As Rich illustrates in the above write-up, having an Ibanez trem too low can even impact the functionality of the tremolo bridge.
Axe Hacks That article is about when you have the trem down fully and you still have a high action. With my Ibanez when I bought it had the trem to high and had shims under the nut and heel which gave a high action set up with 11 gauge strings for heavy rhythm ect. This all felt bad so I removed all the shims and dropped the trem down. At this point the profile was still too high so I Routed 1mm out of the pocket and took 1mm of the heel of the neck so the neck sat 2mm deeper in the body and now the guitar when set up felt very comfortable and (doubled) the acoustic resonance of the guitar. If you have played the JP model you will see it has the trem deeply recessed into the guitar which overall feels far more slinky and comfortable. If you say this is incorrect b'cause you like the strings much higher then that is personal preference. You can take wood away under the trem cavity to give clearance for the trem to operate correctly if that is required but for me shimming the pocket is a big no-no as it reduces the transfer of vibration considerably. All my Ibanez guitars have dropped necks and trems which feels and plays far better.
It's all personal preference man. In my experience, in order for a bolt on Ibanez to be set up comfortably, the neck needs to be angled back ever so slightly. I have never experienced a substantial loss of resonance from doing so.
Filip I got my hands off an incredible $1,300 guitar once from a little old man in a tiny pawn shop in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma once because someone did this and it shattered the trem block. The idiot let it go for nothing, and I got it for nothing. Stupid cheap fix. Idk for all I know the pawn shop owner gave it to me for nothing just to be a nice old man and hook a kid up with a nice guitar, who knows. But the story as I know it sounds better to me.
Why would you put back the neck shims? You should of identified why they were there in the first place and solved that problem. Shims are unnecessary most of the time and just decrease resonance throughout the guitar as they act as a barrier. For this project I would remove the paint in the neck pocket and carefully sand the pocket flat or use a router to get a perfect flat surface for the neck and also sand the neck heel so they come together with maximum contact. Without a perfect body/neck contact your guitar cannot have the best resonance period! All that paint and shimming does not allow for a good contact and even a thin sliver of shim puts in an angle with a space being created between the joint. It is better to drop the PUs and bridge height to achieve a correct profile and string height than shim up the neck and there is hardly ever a case when this should be done on an electric guitar. On acoustics there are different reasons for shimming but even then they should be done with the correct timber to ensure compression waves or vibrations are not mitigated.
Don't forget to clean the neck with naphtha or something similar. Don't want wood dust under the oil.
Very good. I am actually planning to refinish my own RG470, about 20 years old. Very valuable video. :) Thanks very much.
Love watching this kind of stuff, hope to see this project prosper under your care!
I had no problem applying the Tru Oil with a paper towel. Also I would suggest to wipe the neck with a damp cloth before the first oil layer. This will raise the fibres. If you sand these down then and start with the oil afterwards, you will get an even smoother surface.
I have an old Ibanez RG410 with a single humbucker (EVH style). This is exactly what I've been wanting to do with that guitar as it has a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. I hate finished necks, I'm all about raw wood. I too, love the EBMM VH model. Wish I had never sold mine. Thanks for this.
Great video, looking forward for the next episode.
I've been working on an RG270 custom deal for a while and I love this guitar. I gutted everything except the body and neck. I have: black Kramer tuner heads, installed a black string retainer bar, a new black locking nut, black chrome strap buttons, a barrel stereo output jack, DiMarzio Tone Zone hum in neck, Dark Matter single in middle, and Evolution in the bridge, put in a black chrome Lo Pro Edge trem out of an old JEM, put better black knobs on it, a different 5 way switch, and a pickguard off of a higher end RG. I have done blacklight reactive art across the body and pickguard, and the headstock. In the back, I have 1 chrome and 2 black springs, as well as a tremsetter off of an old Kramer Pacer.
My next project with this guitar is to replace the frets with EVO gold fretwire, and I think I'm done modding it. So far, right now this thing sounds and feels AMAZING. My most favorite guitar, ever.
Excellent! Looking forward to the next one.
Great video, I plan to do this with my Mustang bass. Cheers.
I recently completed a guitar project. LOVE LOVE LOVE TRU OIL
The first thing I do on a guitar I'm doing a lot of work on is swap the neck screws for m5 machine bolts and fit bushing inserts into the neck. That way i can take the neck off repeatedly without worrying about damaging the screw threads.
Great Video! looking forward to future Videos! :)
Hi, great video! Is it possible/viable to apply this sort of finish to the whole guitar?
I wish you would do an HD Tremol-no installation video. I have one but haven't installed yet because I want to be sure I do it right
In my limited experience with refinishing, even when a clear finish is applied to wood, the over all color of the wood will turn somewhat amber
I found a 100$ RG Its my project guitar. I can’t wait to rebuild it. The back of the neck needs so much work
Hi, thanks for your video.
I have a EVH Stripe guitar, and it seems to me like the fretboard is unfinished too.
Can I use the same method you use for the neck...for the fretboard too?
Or can I only use the gun oil on the fretboard...?
Thanks!!!
excellent!! though when sanding I found that sanding using cupped hand, sanding all the back of neck at same time there is no uneven sanding.
A good way to tell if you got the wood sanded down properly is to take a damp clotch and run it over the wood. The bare wood wil instantly absorb water and get dark, but the sealer will remain light colored and tahts where you should focus. I can see the witness line of where you didn't sand properly up to the fretboard, but for something like this, thats ok.
Good video! how much time did you actually spend on the sanding of the neck? I just did sanded one neck and it took me a lot and it still looked shiny at the end, as if it had lacker or sealer, not sure if maple shines when using 1200 grit.
the same process is applied to the fret board ?
I'm thinking about doing a Paul Gilbert type Ibanez by installing a hard tail into a receased cavity for a floyd bridge.
Have you considered on doing one in a upcoming video.
I'm not totally sure I'm understanding the question. Paul Gilbert's Ibanez uses a Tune-O-Matic style bridge. The only way to install that on a guitar with a tremolo would be to completely fill the existing cavity with wood, refinish it & drill new holes for the post anchors. I probably won't be doing such a video...
Helpful thanks
Nice project! next vid coming soon?
Editing right now actually!
The original bridge is based on floyd roses speed loader bridge some old Kramer’s came with them and fenders when they took over floyds
Newbie builder here. Bought an unfinished maple Strat neck for a parts-caster I'm putting together. I like the Tru-Oil idea for the back of the neck, but how about the fretboard? Leave it unfinished? Tru-Oil? What would you suggest? Thanks.
It depends on what the fretboard wood is. If it's rosewood, just oil it with something like Music Nomad's F-1 oil. If it's maple, you can finish it with Tru-Oil but I would really only do it without any frets installed. I recently did just this on a project with a maple board & there's no way I would want to try removing Tru Oil from around the frets after it's cured. It would be a nightmare.
Axe Hacks are you kidding? I've refinished plenty of maple necks/boards with tru-oil, while the frets are installed.
those frets clean up great.
Rob L I'm about to do a finish with tru oil on the fretboard... what do you use to clean up around the frets?
Great! I am buying a unfinshed warmoth neck (they want $100 for finishing) and this will save allot of money. BUT, what about finishing the fretboard?
Ralph Guerra If it's rosewood or ebony, you can finish the fretboard with teak oil, tung oil or linseed oil. I've been using raw (not boiled) linseed oil, but it needs redoing every few years on guitars I play a lot. Maple fretboards really need to be hard varnished, so spray with several thin coats of polyurethane. 2-part (catalysed) automotive laquer goes really hard and if you have the kit it works well.
Thanks!!!
Excellent videos! What camera are you using? How do you edit your videos? They look awesome, keep rocking man!
Muy bueno!
Nice !
Can you paint the neck and use the wax after too get the same feeling? What would you do if you were going to paint the neck?
I just wouldn't paint the neck. I've had luck in the past with hitting glossy necks with some 0000 steel wool to make them a smooth matte finish. If you do this be sure to tape off the top and bottom of the neck, possibly the fretboard / binding as well to make sure it comes out looking clean.
Hey mate, I have a bare maple neck and was wondering if I could use these products on the fretboard?
Can you apply the same method to finishing to fretboard as well?
wish i could find a RG270 for $60 all the ones i've seen are $200 or more. Though I did buy a non name guitar, amp and stand for $35 but those deals are few and far between.
Thanks for posting.
Broadfall Productions check around pawn shops nationwide. I'm sure they won't mind shipping you one. Check ebay and online guitar/music stores as well. I seem to have AMAZING luck at finding decent guitars for stupid cheap. I found my RG270 for somewhere between $75-$90.
Hey man, I'm about to replace the neck on my MIM Stratocaster, and I really want the replacement to have that vintage tint. What would be your recommendation for that? it's a V neck from MightyMite. Also, I will be putting a Fender Stratocaster spaghetti style water slide decal on the head stock. And in wondering if there's anyway I can put a coating over that decal to just kinda seal it off? Any advice is much appreciated!
Hey great videos man! I took the paint off my rg and was wondering if I could apply this to the body or if I should just use something else? Thanks!
Yes you can! Check out my first video for installing the KGC brass block. That entire RG used to be blue. I stripped/stained/sealed it with this same Tru Oil / Wax method & it came out great!
Axe Hacks I've read your thread on SS.org and I must say you've done a stellar job on refinishing that rg570, but do you really need to use pre-stain conditioner? Great video btw!
Dat Thanh I certainly wouldn't say that the pre-stain is necessary. However, it certainly contributed to bringing out the reddish color of the basswood.
That's an Ibanez ILT trem, super crappy imho, but Ibanez discontinued it and for low/mid guitars they install the Edge III system, which is by faaaaaar a super stable locking trem system.
the intro sounds badass, what song did you use on it?
That's actually just a little something I cooked up :-)
damn son, awesome!
Hey nice Video. Need a bit of advise here. I have a n ibanez 370, I sanded down the neck with a 1200 grit sand paper as I felt the neck was a bit gloss and slow. the neck feels super smooth and faster. now. Any cons of leaving the neck this way? i mean I just sanded it down and left it unfinished.
If you leave it sanded at 1200, your thumb will eventually polish it back to a gloss. If you like the feel though, you can always hit it with 1200 again once that happens. The Tru-oil / wax method is a bit more permanent.
Axe Hacks Thank you!
Hey dude, just wondering, if I were to paint the back of my neck white and use the oils you used in this video, would it yellow this colour?
if you paint it the oils arent used,its painted so they arent needed,its for raw wood only.
where did you buy the arsis t shirt m80
i just bought GRG270 and i think its pretty good for its price not cheap and crappy in my opinion , but hey i am just poor
hey quick off topic question. what stain finish is on that ibanez with the black pick guard hanging on your wall? I'm trying to refinish mine. thanks
Does this work on a maple neck with bubinga strips?
Like the UV70P. Not sure the wood but its a darker strip haha
👍👍👍
It's crazy that I prefer your body finish to my Prestige. They should offer more colours, not more models that nobody likes.
Jem gets it
At the beginning I thought you said axe axe
The colour on the neck is not a stain, it's the urethane polish discolouring with age
Why would you put back the neck shims? You should of identified why they were there in the first place and solved that problem. Shims are unnecessary most of the time and just decrease resonance throughout the guitar as they act as a barrier.
For this project I would remove the paint in the neck pocket and carefully sand the pocket flat or use a router to get a perfect flat surface for the neck and also sand the neck heel so they come together with maximum contact. Without a perfect body/neck contact your guitar cannot have the best resonance period! All that paint and shimming does not allow for a good contact and even a thin sliver of shim puts in an angle with a space being created between the joint.
It is better to drop the PUs and bridge height to achieve a correct profile and string height than shim up the neck and there is hardly ever a case when this should be done on an electric guitar. On acoustics there are different reasons for shimming but even then they should be done with the correct timber to ensure compression waves or vibrations are not mitigated.
Neck angle, man. Without shims to increase neck angle, every Ibanez bolt on pretty much plays like garbage with the bridge & pickups sunk down super low. I didn't mention it in this video because I plan on talking about it in a future vid.
That being said, I do agree with you on wanting to maximize contact surface in the neck pocket but in this case I feel that shimming is the better of the two options (awful setup vs. slightly decreased resonance).
Axe Hacks
Please elaborate on the neck angle you are talking about here. Ibanez guitars do not have a break angle like a Les Paul as the trem is recessed to some degree. I have tried shims before and they always decrease resonance. The point of an Ibanez guitar is to have a low profile with sunken bridge and strings low and close to the body, the opposite of a Les Paul.
Even though it's not "by design", it is absolutely necessary to increase the neck angle of most bolt-on Ibanez. I'd suggest reading through this setup article from Rich over at Ibanez Rules! :
www.ibanezrules.com/tech/grunge/grunge_6.htm
That dude's set up more high-end Ibanez guitars than, well, anyone and he uses the same shimming method I do. The guitar he's working on in this example is an extremely valuable Universe model, a far cry from the RG270 I'm working on, yet suffering from the same design flaw.
If a guitar plays like crap, it plays like crap regardless of it's original design. As Rich illustrates in the above write-up, having an Ibanez trem too low can even impact the functionality of the tremolo bridge.
Axe Hacks
That article is about when you have the trem down fully and you still have a high action. With my Ibanez when I bought it had the trem to high and had shims under the nut and heel which gave a high action set up with 11 gauge strings for heavy rhythm ect. This all felt bad so I removed all the shims and dropped the trem down. At this point the profile was still too high so I Routed 1mm out of the pocket and took 1mm of the heel of the neck so the neck sat 2mm deeper in the body and now the guitar when set up felt very comfortable and (doubled) the acoustic resonance of the guitar.
If you have played the JP model you will see it has the trem deeply recessed into the guitar which overall feels far more slinky and comfortable. If you say this is incorrect b'cause you like the strings much higher then that is personal preference. You can take wood away under the trem cavity to give clearance for the trem to operate correctly if that is required but for me shimming the pocket is a big no-no as it reduces the transfer of vibration considerably. All my Ibanez guitars have dropped necks and trems which feels and plays far better.
It's all personal preference man. In my experience, in order for a bolt on Ibanez to be set up comfortably, the neck needs to be angled back ever so slightly. I have never experienced a substantial loss of resonance from doing so.
Thats tinted lacquer not stain...
DON'T CLIP THE STRINGS WHEN THEY ARE UNDER TENSION!!
just fyi
Filip I got my hands off an incredible $1,300 guitar once from a little old man in a tiny pawn shop in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma once because someone did this and it shattered the trem block. The idiot let it go for nothing, and I got it for nothing. Stupid cheap fix. Idk for all I know the pawn shop owner gave it to me for nothing just to be a nice old man and hook a kid up with a nice guitar, who knows. But the story as I know it sounds better to me.
Why, what do you think will happen? And also he didn't.
Filip he's not planning to keep that trem anyway
ibanez use actual wood for shims while fender use business cards. Everyone worships fender of course.
I recently completed a guitar project. LOVE LOVE LOVE TRU OIL
Why would you put back the neck shims? You should of identified why they
were there in the first place and solved that problem. Shims are
unnecessary most of the time and just decrease resonance throughout the
guitar as they act as a barrier.
For this project I would remove the paint in the neck pocket and carefully sand the pocket flat or use a router to get a perfect flat surface for the neck and also sand the neck heel so they come together with maximum contact. Without a perfect body/neck contact your guitar cannot have the best resonance period! All that paint and shimming does not allow for a good contact and even a thin sliver of shim puts in an angle with a space being created between the joint.
It is better to drop the PUs and bridge height to achieve a correct profile and string height than shim up the neck and there is hardly ever a case when this should be done on an electric guitar. On acoustics there are different reasons for shimming but even then they should be done with the correct timber to ensure compression waves or vibrations are not mitigated.