Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

Sanding down the neck is easy and imho very worth it.

Dying a fingerboard however sounds like a mess waiting to happen to me. Cant you oil it to make it look darker? Think about the sweat and dirt the dye would have to put up with.
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

No sanding necessary. Just play it for 35 years…

 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

Sanding down the neck is easy and imho very worth it.

Dying a fingerboard however sounds like a mess waiting to happen to me. Cant you oil it to make it look darker? Think about the sweat and dirt the dye would have to put up with.

The fingerboard is done. I sanded off just the very top of the fretboard. Then using the dye, I wiped it on, and wiped off the excess. I'm waiting for it to dry and the tomorrow I'm gonna apply some lemon oil and be done. It looks very good. I'll try to post some picks.
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

Don't use steel wool. Unless you feel like getting tiny steel shavings attracted to the pickups (it will happen, no matter how hard you try to prevent it). You do not want those steel wool shavings anywhere near the coils, as the shavings rust, which can become sharp enough to sever a coil wire and end up killing a pickup. Just use sandpaper or a scotch-brite pad.
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

Don't use steel wool. Unless you feel like getting tiny steel shavings attracted to the pickups (it will happen, no matter how hard you try to prevent it). You do not want those steel wool shavings anywhere near the coils, as the shavings rust, which can become sharp enough to sever a coil wire and end up killing a pickup. Just use sandpaper or a scotch-brite pad.

Yeah I didn't plan n using the wool. I've got tons of sandpaper back home. But I didn't know if there was a generally accepted way to do this.
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

Myaccount876 is right,
Scotch brite is great. I withdraw my 0000 steel wool remark. But I still stick to 600 or higher sandpaper for a final smoothing. I missed it-what type of dye did you use. I have a very very light rosewood board I finally used some Old English Dark Scratch eraser stuff. My board has kept it's darkness for a year now. I diid use about 3-4 coats, this rosewood was almost light brown pale.
sj
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

Dying a fingerboard however sounds like a mess waiting to happen to me. Cant you oil it to make it look darker?

Dyeing the board is literally no messier than applying oil to it... Well, it can get messy if you don't tape off your edges. Oiling the board is temporary (it will lighten up again as the oil dries out) but dye it once and it will be permanently dark.
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

One thing about Feibing's is it sucks to get off of binding. Maybe I need to try taping off the binding. Nah.
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

kramersteen, nice looking stain job on those boards. How did you get the fret markers so clean afterward?
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

kramersteen, nice looking stain job on those boards. How did you get the fret markers so clean afterward?

Hmm good question. I think i just wiped them off clean each time. As you wipe the dye during the application you turn your rag or whatever over and keep wiping the excess off. Because the markers are plastic it didn\t penetrate them like the wood.

Also when i used the dye i did it along side a citrus blend oil. I think it made the dye soak in more.

I did those a few years ago now. I did another neck too but i removed all the markers minus the 12th and filled them with wood filler. The filler stains like the wood.
 
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Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

So you coated the board with the citrus oil first, then stained it?

Did you seal it afterwards? Like with a tung oil? Or a sanding sealer? Or just wipe the stain and let it dry?
 
Re: Dying a Fingerboard and Sanding a Neck

So you coated the board with the citrus oil first, then stained it?

Did you seal it afterwards? Like with a tung oil? Or a sanding sealer? Or just wipe the stain and let it dry?

I didn't oil it before I stained it. I sanded off the board just slightly, and then dyed the board and let it dry. After it dried for 2 days (wasn't sure how long to let it dry and figured 2 days was a good time) I oiled the board with lemon oil, and restrung it. Plays like a dream right now.
 
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