Has anyone here refinished a Jackson neck thru with tru oil?

[Snow007]

I've thought of doing it since I've had success with bolt on necks but I don't understand what to do to get a nice transition between the old poly on the neck/body and the new oil finish on the neck. Anyone care to explain because I've looked at multiple forums and I can't find an answer to that anywhere.

[Matt_B]

Have you looked at how Jackson does this transition on factory guitars?

[warlok]

I'm almost positive sully did what you're asking on the Les Paul restoration. A while ago but ask him. Videos possibly still up on youtube or his site..

[sully]

The way that Jackson (and I, for that matter) do it is with masking techniques in the paint process. Tape it off, shoot some sealer, tape off a line that will be left clear, shoot your color, pull the tape that you laid down to make the sealer/transition line, and then clear it. Gives you something along these lines:



Since you're looking at removing the finish around the neck, you don't really have the option to have a transition unless you want to reclear the body (which I wouldn't recommend). What you'll need to do is tape the area off that you want to keep, remove the finish (scrapers are your friend), and work up to your tape line. It's tough to get a clean line, but if you're careful and take your time, it can be done. Sadly, you still won't have the color/clear/oil transition, although you probably could build up a transition line with medium/thick CA glue where the paint stops, and scrape/sand/buff the CA glue so it blends in to the paint. 3M vinyl tape (the purple tape in the pic) is your friend and the only way you'll get a clean line, though.

Sully

[Snow007]

I had a bad dream about the JCF banning me because I didn't respond sooner but I think the forum was just down for everyone!

Thanks very much for the great information. I was going to use regular green painters tape but the 3m vinyl tape seems like a much better idea and I'm glad to find out about it.

I definitely don't want to refinish the body because it's a lightning sky graphic and I have no problems with the finish there. I'm going to tape off where the neck meets the body in a nice pattern where it wouldn't interfere with where I would place my thumb when playing and so that it is far enough away from the body so I don't affect it's clear coat and end up with a similar situation as the neck. Then sand the neck/back of the headstock down to the wood because the finish is flaking off everywhere. Then time to go through with the whole tru oil process.

This project is going to take me some time but I think I will post pics in the future to show the process and results.

[sully]

You can actually knock this out in an afternoon, for sure. One more recommendation is to use a scraper to get the finish off of the neck instead of sandpaper (it'll go faster).

[Snow007]

You can actually knock this out in an afternoon, for sure. One more recommendation is to use a scraper to get the finish off of the neck instead of sandpaper (it'll go faster).

Knowing me I don't see this getting done in an afternoon :P

I couldn't find that 3m purple tape anywhere around here or anything comparable so I just ended up ordering it off ebay which is partially why it's taking me so long to get started. Finally have the stuff and it looks like this weekend I'll get the ball rolling. Definitely going to take a lot of pics for this compared to the last time I did my Ibanez RG.

[sully]

Cool man, good luck! Just be careful with the sandpaper.

Sully