Glueing a Tru-oiled neck

[Michiel Wildenberg]

For my recent builds, I want to finish my neck with tru-oil and the body with a Nitrocellulose finish. Therefor I want to oil the neck and finish the body seperately and then glue them togetheter. Is it possible to glue a tru-oil finished neck to bare wood or should I glue first and then oil?

Thanks in advance

[Mark Fogleman]

It's never stopped me. Just be neat. It polymerizes near the surface.

[Christ Kacoyannakis]

You could also mask off the area to be glued, so it doesn't get oil on it. Glue it on, and then I think it would be easier to apply a little more oil at the joint just to touch up any areas that didn't get covered. I would feel better about doing it that way (if I was going with this finishing plan), because I had good clean surfaces to glue together.

[Michiel Wildenberg]

Hi Marc, interesting. What exactly do you mean with polymerisation? Does the tru-oil reacts with (for example) titebond in some kind of way?

[Bryan Bear]

I'm not an electric guy so forgive me if I am missing something obvious here. What type of neck joint are you using? It sounds like you are asking if you can glue together parts that have finish on them. I think you should always be gluing bare wood to bare wood so masking before finishing and or scraping finish away form the gluing surface is in order.

[Michiel Wildenberg]

Hi Bryan,

The neckpocket will be bare wood. Only the neck will be finished in tru-oil before gluing the body and neck together. The body itself will be finished before joining with the neck but the pocket stays unfinished.

[Peter Wilcox]

I would glue first and then oil, but if you glue first, I'd make sure the neck heel gluing surface is bare wood too.

[Freeman Keller]

Just mask the tenon (and the pocket) and finish the neck and body. Tru-Oil will soak into the wood slightly but shouldn't contaminate the joint too badly. The few times I've used Tru-Oil I have found it necessary to let it cure for at least 30 day before working with it - longer would be even better (I apply two very very thin coats a day, usually with a scruff of steel wool each day. Twenty or more coats)

This is a barn wood tele body with Tru-Oil on it and a commercial neck. I didn't mask the pocket and you can see how some oil has worked its way in, also I just oiled the entire heel on the neck. I think if you mask both those areas your glue joint will be fine.

[Freeman Keller]

I would glue first and then oil, but if you glue first, I'd make sure the neck heel gluing surface is bare wood too.

I would be very concerned about one finish contaminating the other at the interface. Your masking will have to be perfect, you'll be using different preps for the two finishes and it will be hard to buff. Its really no different than a set (dovetail) neck on an acoustic - they are almost always finished apart and glued later. Just keep the glue surfaces clean.

Every time I have finished a set neck instrument with the neck glued on I've used the same thing (nitro) for both neck and body.

[Mark Fogleman]

Hi Marc, interesting. What exactly do you mean with polymerisation? Does the tru-oil reacts with (for example) titebond in some kind of way?

Polymerization is the process of becoming solid by crosslinking molecules.

The earlier reply about multiple light coats is critical. If you are getting runoff onto the glue surface of the tenon you're using too much. I use a folded paper coffee filter to apply Tru Oil and dry in a warm dry location between coats. Sunlight is helpful to speed up the process allowing me to apply multiple coats in a day.