Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi guys, I'm currently building a through neck guitar with an alder body and maple cap. When I've come to shape the body a small knot has revealed itself in the side just below where the alder and maple meet, is there anyway of filling this satisfactorily it will be clear finished so no stain to help hide the repair.
Also I would like to use my normal ting oil finish in the neck but a high gloss type finish on the body, how would you go about transitioning from one to the other?

Cheers for any help.



~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

If you have the skills, routing out the knot and fitting in a matching piece of wood will yield the best results. Most filler looks just like what it is and to my eye never looks as good as the knot. If there are any cracks in the knot I fill them with epoxy that has been colored with dark sawdust to match the knot.

For the finish I would mask off the neck in a line that continued the curve of the cutaways, complete the gloss finish (including leveling and buffing) and then mask the body and apply the tung oil to the neck. You want to make sure you don't get any sanding or polishing junk on the neck wood that will interfere with the tung oil. If you know (not think or guess or fairly certain) your gloss finish will adhere properly to the dried tung oil, you could do the neck first.

I can add to steven's comment, that I have had success with applying semi-gloss polyurethane over tung oil. My first build was a neck through, and I originally tung oiled the whole guitar, but later opted to poly just the top, by masking off the fretboard and sides, and applying with a sponge brush. It did dry well with no issues. additional coats were obviously no problem as well. However, I am not an expert at finishing by any means, so someone may debunk what I have found. Are you using a PURE tung oil finish, or just a hardware store Tung oil?

As for the knot, pictures would make it easier to offer advice

Pure Rung oil, I find it gives the nicest finish to play.

I think I will rout out the knot, if it were whole I'd leave it in but unfortunately it came out before I noticed it, it's only small so I might get it with a drill and plug.


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

Chris,
I really don't think you will happy with the look of the drilled hole and dowel if you are using a clear or transparent finish. The contrast between end grain and the rest of the body will really stick out visually. A carefully fitted square patch will be almost invisible.

cecil

Is the knot that bad? Why not just leave it....

_________________
Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Depending on the size of the knot, I've filled them with CA glue with success. I've got an LP almost finished that has a couple of smaller, less than a Nickel sized knots and they're smooth now, at least. Of course, they still show, but they're stabilized.