Finish for a neck after defret?

[Wilson_51_]

Hey all

i am currently in the process of doing a defret on a peavey milestone. i have managed to get to the point where i am trying to work out what form of "protection" to use on the fretboard.

I was going to leave it natural and just play the snot out of it, but after playing for an hour i already have some light grooves appearing.

my options as far as i can find are:

super glue - stewmac have a tutorial
some sort of varnish or lacquer

i have however stumbled across this [url="http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_764641_langId_-1_categoryId_165495"]Halfords lacquer[/url]

i was wondering if it may work and be a simpler than any other options, it does say "ideal for protecting garden furniture" or am i just being hopeful!

any help or past experiences are much appreciated.

Simon

[Bloodaxe]

I left my rosewood board unfinished. It does tramline over time, but that can be mitigated by using either flats or groundwound/pressurewound strings & a lighter touch. Rounds + a heavy hand will tear up the board.

I've settled on Rotosound pressurewounds & keep my heavy-handedness, but, tbh, board wear is something I regard as 'fair wear & tear' and I'm now inured to the idea that I'll have to get it levelled every 2-3 years (just as you would with frets, although the intervals between levelling ought to be longer there).

I'm not convinced by the Halfords stuff, although I doubt you'd damage anything other than your wallet by trying it. Superglue is pretty much a tried & tested solution, as is using a two-pack polyurethane lacquer such as these:

[url="http://www.rustins.eu/Details.asp?ProductID=857"]http://www.rustins.e...p?ProductID=857[/url]

[url="http://www.axminster.co.uk/rustins-clear-plastic-floor-coating-prod23019/"]http://www.axminster...ting-prod23019/[/url]

If you have a chandlers anywhere near you they could be worth a look, as a two-pack Marine epoxy is likely to be as good as it gets (& according to legend/history what Jaco used)..

P.

[Myke]

I just used some lacquer, pretty much the same as that one.

But I used groundwound strings on mine so it doesn't groove it too much

[LawrenceH]

I've only used one-part poly lacquer like that a limited amount (to touch up dings on a body), so I could be wrong, but I dont think it would offer worthwhile protection against roundwounds.
I've used Rustin's Plastic Coating that Bloodaxe mentions on a defret, a two-part (acid catalysed) thing, suggested on here as a simpler alternative to epoxy. It's held up ok, overall, but there are clear superficial marks from the strings and the bass isn't that heavily played. It took me quite a while, as I brushed on several coats and these required sanding between. It also sank into the pores quite a bit over time suggesting it probably doesn't fill as well as epoxy. If I was doing it again I'd probably try superglue or just get the West systems epoxy and do it properly.
The coating does change the sound btw, it is very grindy now which I like.

Edited June 23, 2013 by LawrenceH