I have no experience with Warmoth, but I do a lot of oil finishes on guitars and other wooden things (even a 60s Gibson - maho is very open grain - it came to me stripped to bare wood after a neck joint repair with the surviving hardware in a plastic bag so no guilt - almost a decade later that thing is still wonderful though no longer my main player). I very much doubt that Warmoth sands down to 600 grit..... but you also don't have to go that far with oil finishes (holy overkill Batman). I use Tung Oil, vs Linseed (like Tru-Oil) so there might be a difference between them. When I did the Gibson I didn't even have 600 grit paper (I do now - for wet sanding pedal enclosures). With tung oil at least I went down to 220 or maybe 400 (which is pretty damn smooth to the touch) and then started oiling with 0000 steel wool rub downs between coats. That really smoothes it out a lot and does some transparent naturally colour-matched grain filling.

You're going to have to sand the body at least a bit, but it should be minimal.

Incidentally either linseed or tung oil are great for fretboard conditioning (anything unlaquered - nevermind what that one youtube loudmouth guitar expert says - in the Great White North, if you don't oil your otherwise unfinished board you will get cracks eventually - especially ebony; learned that the hard way). Purpose-sold fretboard conditioner is petroleum based (vs a natural wood oil) and overpriced ($20 for 150ml, vs 10 bucks for a quart of tung oil). Also note most 'lemon oil' furniture polish isn't - just lemon scented petroleum.

 

Linseed oil is what was once known as a long oil, it never quite dries, so it will move as the wood moves, better protection outside, shovel handles etc. Minwax also makes finishing oils, and gives you a choice of gloss, satin, and oils are easy to use and touch up scratches

 

and i just noticed I should have put this in the build section. Mods, if it's inappropriate move it or not at your discretion


I actually did e-mail Warmoth but they took forever to get back to me. I got tired of waiting, posted on here and got the email about 30 minutes later. LOL. They told me it will be sanded at 220. Since I am using mahogany should I be using a filler? Tru-oil makes one as well. Also I think i'd like a satin finish. I saw a mahogany tele in satin true oil and it was gorgeous.

 

you can use regular tru oil as a grain filler.
lightly sand, but do not remove the dust.
tru oil lightly, let dry, lightly sand again- repeat.

gloves are for sissies though.

 

Pure linseed oil, yes, but most of what you'll find is boiled and that is not the case (not sure about Tru-oil - never used it - but since the manufacturer's own literature calls it 'linseed based' I think it's unlikely to be just pure oil)

Anyway, there's some handy comparison of Linseed (BLO) and Tung oils in this article: Canadian Woodworking

 

So where can I find pure tung oil? According to that article it is almost impossible to find it pure. I have a couple ebony boards that i should take care of.

Also do you aplly liberally then wipe off the excess? Ive been using lemon oil forever but it seems like natural oils would be a lot better than most commercial crap

 

Lee Valley has it. (100% Pure Tung Oil - Lee Valley Tools )
as well as partially polymerised.

They have a locations downtown on King, E of bathurst and in Scarborough at Morningside and Sheppard (just N off the 401).

I don't use pure (you have to thin it as per that article, you only need pure if you are finishing cutting boards or counter tops, i.e. food safe). I use Circa 1850 brand (available at most home improvement stores last I checked but it's been a while as I got the big bottle and it lasts forever), which is pre-thinned/partially polymerised : "ready to use finish made with raw tung oil, and does not contain any other oils, resins or varnish."

Incidentally, Circa 1850 is what 12th fret uses (or did use 10 years ago when I got the recommendation from them) on all non-laquerred fretboards when you put your guitar in for a setup.

 

so i want the polymerized then? forgot that lee Valley has stuff like that. I have one on Burlington on the way home.

 

Thanks for the help guys. After tons of searching and humming and hawing, I have decided to go a slightly different route. I am going to get a Telecaster in mahogany, with mahogany neck ebony fretboard. No pick guard, no control plate. Just 2 Lindy Fralin p90's 2 knobs and a three way with a Callaham American Standard hard tail bridge which looks like a strat hard tail, but still has compensated brass saddles. Vintage style neck and machine heads.
The guitar will be finished with a satin tru oil finish. I'm hoping that it will look something like this when done, but with the p90's instead of the traditional pup setup.


Here is what i am hoping the finsih will look like, this guy used a toggle but i will be using a 3 way blade

The Calaham hardtail bridge

What are your guys thoughts on tuner brands? Gotoh, Schaller, Grover. does it really matter?