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Thread: Fretboard finish

  1. #1

    Fretboard finish

    So when I bought my bass, I cleaned the nasty stuff off the fretboard from the previous owner and took off the finish a bit from aggressive cleaning. I think it was just oiled finish anyway on a natural maple fretboard.

    I'm rebuilding it this weekend, new strings, pickups, pots and bridge. Bought some shellac to refinish fretboard but think that might be too soft and not the right stuff. Wavering between just mineral oil or tung oil. What are your thoughts?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
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    12,402
    If it's a Fender bass,with a natural finish maple fingerboard,it was lacquered originally. If you put oil on it,it will very soon just look gray and dirty. Oil will not keep dirt off of the fingerboard.

    I do not at all recommend shellac either. It will possibly get softened and turn sticky from being handled.

    What you really need to do is re spray the fingerboard with lacquer. Possibly you don't have a spray gun,or lacquer on hand. Then,you are limited to spray cans. Do not use DEFT. It is a mixture of lacquer and sanding sealer(which is VERY soft). Order a spray can of nitrocellulose lacquer from Stewart MacDonald. Or Acrylic lacquer if you wish. I prefer the nitro because it has a warmer color than acrylic. Acrylic has a BLUE resin base. Nitro is yellow. Acrylic leaves me cold. No warmth to it. But,actually,acrylic is tougher than nitro. Old instruments were mostly sprayed with nitrocellulose lacquer.

    Don't worry about spraying the frets with lacquer. Fender sprayed right over the frets and sanded their tops off with a sanding block so as to not scratch the finish on the fingerboard. Just use some 400 wet or dry paper,or finer(like 600) if you wish. The strings will very soon burnish the tops of the frets bright.
    Last edited by george wilson; 08-24-2016 at 10:26 AM.

  3. #3
    Thank you! This exactly what I needed.

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