Finish on a maple fretboard neck

[Slobrain]

Well fellas,

I'm sure this one is beat to death but I'll ask as I value you guys opinion.

I have a Warmoth strat conversion neck that is the 24 3/4 scale with Dunlop 6000 frets which to me looks smaller that the 6100's they put in my last neck surprisingly...

I'm doing a Tung oil finish on the back of the neck and sprayed 3 coats of satin Polyurethane on the fretboard. I then used a 800 grit sandpaper then quad 0000 steel wool to get that fast finish.

What I'm trying to achieve is the same feel the new Charvel So Cals have on their satin finish maple necks.

I also see that some of the Fender Squier necks on certain models feel fantastic with a satin finish and wanted to get that too but reading they use satin poly on the Squier necks to get that fast feel.

I love the sound of a maple neck but really like the feel of a rosewood neck. If I can just get best of both worlds in a maple neck.

I have a Warmoth maple strat neck on a Fender Lone Star ash body and love the tone. The Warmoth neck on the Lone Star was sprayed with nitro lacquer on the fretboard which isn't bad but has the danged finger drag...


Any good suggestions on getting the fastest feel on a maple fretboard?

Can you do light coats of Tung oil over nitro lacquer to get a better feel?

Slobrain

[jrfrond]

I'd recommend multiple coats of Birchwood-Casey Gunstock Oil finish. If you want to know what this feels like, check out any new Ernie Ball guitar. They lacquer only the headstock. The rest of the neck is gunstock oil. You still have a nice, satiny wood feel, but with excellent protection and grain "pop".

[Chuck H]

Tung oil is a penetrating finish. You basically turn the surface of the wood into a plasticized film that keeps most of the raw wood feel. Since it cannot penetrate lacquer or poly it does no good applying tung oil on these finishes.

I agree with EB. Finish only the headstock and oil the rest. But you already have finish on the fingerboard.

I have a franken strat that was 100% oiled (no "finish") twenty years ago. Tung oil, like most wood treatment oils, are "hard" oils. They do penetrate, but they also harden. This strat of mine has developed a very smooth finish, bordering on gloss on the back of the neck from years of playing. Happy to say it doesn't stick to my hand at all.

Failing to use some kind of hard finish like lacquer or poly voids the Warmoth warranty. Ny neck is still straight after two decades.

Also, be careful using steel wool on maple. OK for finishes like lacquer or poly but not oil. It can leave grey black stains that look smudgy in the wood poors.

[David Schwab]

I don't see a problem with lacquer on maple fingerboards, and I have a maple Tele neck on my Charvel. Your fingers sit on the strings, which in turn slide on the frets. If you keep the neck clean and polished, and also keep your hands clean, a gloss finish is nice and fast. If you have sweaty hands (a problem I thankfully don't have), a little powder works wonders and has been used by guitarist for many years.

But I think it's a good idea to put a durable finish on the fingerboard, unless you like the look of it being dirty and stained. I know some people like their guitars to look like crap these days, but I'm an old fogey, so what do I know!

[Chuck H]

I know some people like their guitars to look like crap these days, but I'm an old fogey, so what do I know!

+10

I do understand the cool factor some might percieve, but "relic'd" instruments don't appeal to me at all. My main guitar is the franken strat mentioned. It's a road dog of many years and at it's age is quite relic'd enough on it's own.

I think the relic trend may have started around 1992 when both Gibson and Fender introduced instruments that had a "broken in feel". After that it just mounted and today you pay extra for a guitar that's intentionally rusted and beat up !?! I'm not overly careful with my road guitars so I relic my own in my own time. No rusty bridges and pole pieces on my guitars though, I never neglected them THAT bad. Who ever thought that looked cool? That's the kind of crap your supposed to fix, not pay extra for.

[jrfrond]

But I think it's a good idea to put a durable finish on the fingerboard, unless you like the look of it being dirty and stained. I know some people like their guitars to look like crap these days, but I'm an old fogey, so what do I know!

I agree 100%, because I am ANOTHER old fogey! I never saw the appealing in making a new instrument look old and beat up, but hey, if players want to throw away their dollars, go right ahead. I mean really, are they trying to give the impression that they play alot?

I prefer to see instruments aged by usage. Having said that, I have an absolutely stellar-sounding Tele that I threw together. My son uses it A LOT, and the couple of coats of tung oil I threw on the neck did nothing for long-term protection, and in retrospect, I wish I had AT LEAST done gunstock oil or a few coats of nitro. Maple does NOT look pretty when it gets dirty, and that is the reason that a) Leo Fender switched to rosewood fingerboards in the early 60's, and b) When Fender DID switch back to maple fingerboards much later, they went with a thick polyester finish that just did NOT wear through. However, it was so brittle that chunks would sometimes pop off at sprouted fret ends. So, unless grey fingerboards are your thing, go with lacquer on the fingerboard. You can always dull it down to a satin finish if you want.

[David Schwab]

I think Gibson and Fender were trying to use factory seconds... they had some bodies with dents and scratches, and maybe even found some old rusted parts.

Maybe the younger players think it makes the guitars look like the old vintage stuff they can't afford. But those old beat up guitars were the ones that were not cared for and ended up selling for dirt cheap, until all the mind guitars were snapped up by collectors.

Another ridiculous thing is the "faded" Gibsons, i.e., didn't want to pay workers to buff them out, and then made it a feature, and the BFG Les Paul. Now there's an idea... take a guitar that's not even complete, slap some stain on it, and rusty parts, and sell it! Sanding? What's that? It's all a way to make more profit with less labor.

I'm sure the person who came up with that idea got a big promotion.

[Chuck H]

I think I'm going to market relic guitar strings. Complete with tarnish and tuning peg curl at the ends. "Just the thing to get that relic tone from your relic guitar".

[David Schwab]

I think I'm going to market relic guitar strings. Complete with tarnish and tuning peg curl at the ends. "Just the thing to get that relic tone from your relic guitar".

Hey, just save your old sets and resell them! Think of all the strings that get thrown out that can be turned into $$$! lol

[Slobrain]

Thanks for the replies fellas,

John,

I'm removing the lacquer from one of my Warmoth maple neck fretboard. I'm going to give the gunstock oil a shot to see how it feels.

I do like the raw wood feel but want to protect the wood from sweat and the ugly look...LOL...

The back side of this neck has Tung oil, Do you think true oil can be applied over that?

I figure if I’m going to redo the fretboard finish then maybe do the whole neck again.

Also, I wonder how well true oil would work on a rosewood fretboard to give it a better feel and look?

Slobrain

[Steve A.]

I'm removing the lacquer from one of my Warmoth maple neck fretboard. I'm going to give the gunstock oil a shot to see how it feels.

This thread is over 3 years old but I was wondering how the maple fretboard turned out using Tru-Oil.

Also, I wonder how well true oil would work on a rosewood fretboard to give it a better feel and look.

Did you get around to trying this? I'd guess that a little bit would do wonders. I was just reading how rosewood has its own oils (maple doesn't) so I don't think that you would want to put too many coats on.

Steve A.

[Chuck H]

The only oil I've seen applied to rosewood is lemon oil. It's thin as water and is probably as much a solvent as it is a lubricant. It smells nice though. I've used it to clean rosewood boards that were grimy but I've never used anything as a regular treatment on rosewood. I think Rickenbacker use to finish rosewood boards. It looks cool. I imagine it could make for sticky bends just like finished maple does. I suppose if you use really high frets or scallop the fingerboard then, indeed, your fingers never even touch the board and it doesn't matter. In the real world it does. I don't care for finished boards and I don't think rosewood would benefit from oiling or finishing. At least a finished maple board avoids grimy stains. Rosewood suffers no such malady.

[Steve A.]

I've been reading up on Tru-Oil and the mfg says it will not be absorbed properly by rosewood (which has its own oils.) Most of my guitars have rosewood fretboards and I will treat them with Fast Fret (white petroleum) until they are lubricated by their own natural oils. (I had thought that they were just absorbing the oils from my fingertips, which I think does contribute to the finish.)

Steve A.

[David Schwab]

I've been reading up on Tru-Oil and the mfg says it will not be absorbed properly by rosewood (which has its own oils.) Most of my guitars have rosewood fretboards and I will treat them with Fast Fret (white petroleum) until they are lubricated by their own natural oils. (I had thought that they were just absorbing the oils from my fingertips, which I think does contribute to the finish.)

Steve A.

I use lemon oil on rosewood fingerboards. They aren't "lubricated," it's just oily wood. Some rosewoods are so oily they are hard to glue.

I don't use Tru-Oil, but I do use Watco Danish Oil. I don't think I'd use that on a maple fingerboard though. But maybe if you built up enough coats. It doesn't absorb much in maple. It's film finish. Watco is good because it has varnish in it. But sooner or later you are going to wear through it to the wood, and it's going to look nasty.

But I guess some people like that dirty worn maple look.

[Chuck H]

But I guess some people like that dirty worn maple look.

In case you just skimmed, I mentioned that my own frankenstrat is finished entirely with tung oil. And yes, the fingerboard is looking shabby after over twenty years. I'll admit that I was disappointed when I first noticed it happening. I accepted it, but I won't say I like it. I'm not into the "distressed" thing. Because the oil penetrates, an oiled board won't ever look as bad as when a surface finish fails and exposes raw wood, but it's not much better. I think, lacking OCD maintenance, that a maple fingerboard is just an ugly eventuality waiting to happen. Or is it!?!..

The bass player in my high school band played a fretless Jazz Bass. Yep, a fretless Jazz Bass. It was purchased used. Some shop pulled the frets from the maple board, inlaid wood strips and then treated the board with some sort of wood surface hardener. I have no idea what sort of toxic business that must have been, but my mans finger board was already old when he got the guitar and looked good the whole time I knew him. I wish I could report on what was on there.