CoolCat Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Trying to keep my fingerboard nice and black, being it a simple maple one coated with some thick black substance. In some places under the strings the maple is showing through, and being a keen DIYer I would like to know if someone tried to restain / recoat the fingerboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxrossell Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 It would help to know what you mean by "thick black substance". Sounds like the fingerboard has been painted and then varnished, is that right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolCat Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 I don't know what the substance is. It can be just a black varnish or just layers of black paint. Call it a stain is probably not correct since the wood is normal maple colour underneath and if it were, the wood itself would be black and display some sort of figure. something along these lines: [url="http://hmi.homewood.net/vso/"]http://hmi.homewood.net/vso/[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxobass Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 I have stripped back several blacked up f/boards in the past, but they were rosewood and rather nice as a change from ebony. You could try applying a black leather die to the f/board after stripping it of the original finish and carefully preparing it for playing action etc. Next try a trick that bass guitarists doing a `Jaco` seem to favour: apply a coat of super glue very carefully having masked off the remainder of the bass (try spreading methods on a piece of spare wood first.) You`ll probably need at least four coats and each must be `cut back` using wet and dry paper of a fine grade (400 down to about 1200 grit). If well done you should obtain a hard surface finish closer to that of ebony in tonal quality. Finicky and needing some practice, but cheaper than a new fingerboard! A hard clear satin lacquer, (or perhaps even yacht varnish?) might also do the job but would wear in time. I`ve just finished converting a Godin bass guitar to fretless and been very impressed by the toughness of super glue, but there are many formulations and I would do some homework first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macmellus Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 I followed this chap after i sanded down my old Tokai fingerboard. Finished it with 8000 Micro-mesh and it's come up nice and shiny. [url="http://www.bassplayer.com/article/superglue-savior/jun-06/20674"]http://www.bassplayer.com/article/superglu...or/jun-06/20674[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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