OM-1 Stratabond refinish

[jmjohnson]

jd,

One other tip - the oil finish (let it dry well) could be so smooth that the neck almost feels sticky - like trying to rub your finger across glass...I took some 0000 and lightly rubbed it across the grain of the neck and it now feels...perfect....still smooth and very fast.

[jdflatten]

Tackled it tonight. Waiting for the final coat of oil to dry. Tomorrow I'll be putting some new gotoh 510's on and back in the saddle again.

I'll post pics when it's done. My before looks like they all do........pink.

[jmjohnson]

Happy with it so far?

[jdflatten]

I think it looks fantastic. It is a bigger improvement than I expected.

[Fred]

I think you taught Martin a lesson. A lot of people are turned off the the appearance of the Stratabond...your staining makes it look like it really fits the rest of the guitar. Martin isn't afraid of stains...the glop it on their 15 series way to heavily, in my opinion. Don't know why they don't follow your strategy on the Stratabond. I hope somebody sends them this link!

[Idaho John]

just wanted to say congratulations on the change. The neck looks like it was matched at the factory and fits well with the sapele. Now it makes me want one!

john

[jmjohnson]

Thanks...I'm sure cost has a lot to do with it...they likely couldn't keep the price as low if they had to add in more hours of finish time, drying time etc. Way back when someone at UMGF mentioned the rust statabond matched the best after cutting...seems questionable to me what with brown and other colors available. Ahh well.

Cool, JD...looking forward to seeing it.

[acme97]

Hi,

I came upon this old thread...which is exactly what I was thinking about yesterday.

Where are all the pics? Would love to consider this further if I could see the results.

I could be so much happier with Martin's Stratobond necks on their economy guitars if they didn't look so much like a candy cane.

Thanks!

[dcmey]

Originally Posted by acme97

Hi,

I came upon this old thread...which is exactly what I was thinking about yesterday.

Where are all the pics? Would love to consider this further if I could see the results.

I could be so much happier with Martin's Stratobond necks on their economy guitars if they didn't look so much like a candy cane.

Thanks!

It's how they feel in your hands that's important plus how the guitar plays. Maybe you can do something with it. I just play my OMC-1E that has a stratabond neck.

[frhdpicker]

I did something like that with the Stratabond neck of my Martin D1-GT when I got it about three years ago. Buffed it lightly with steel wool, then put a couple of drops of Watco Rejuvenating Oil (a furniture refinishing product) on an old cotton T-shirt and rubbed it into the neck. I let it dry for a day, then repeated one or two more times, I think. It darkened up nicely, I thought. I found it a little more difficult to darken the heel, which has a different mix of end grain/ side grain exposure. I'll try to attach a photo below:

[jmjohnson]

Where are all the pics? Would love to consider this further if I could see the results.

Oooh - that might be tough - I'll have to see if I can find any pics on an old PC.

But it did look really good, for little (& fun) effort.

[acme97]

Ok, thanks.

I just picked up a used Martin OM-1GT. That has a Stratobond neck, I just don't understand why they didn't develop a darker color for them.

I also have one of those little Martins too, same neck.

They feel fine to me, I just never liked the way they looked is all.

[mz-s]

Originally Posted by acme97

Ok, thanks.

I just picked up a used Martin OM-1GT. That has a Stratobond neck, I just don't understand why they didn't develop a darker color for them.

I also have one of those little Martins too, same neck.

They feel fine to me, I just never liked the way they looked is all.

I'll never understand why they don't paint them or something. They use a photograph of koa or mahogany or whatever on the formica for the back, why not the stratabond neck?

I for one would love to see a marble finished Martin X series guitar.