Staining your fingerboard...photos.

[NancyJohnson]

Just wanted to pass on a little advice on this subject.

I've never really been a fan of maple boards, much preferring rosewood/ebony, so a while back I researched easy methods of staining a lighter board to near-black, so a couple of days ago I had a go.  If you look at the photos, you'll see I did it on one of my Lulls (gasp), the board on my JAXT4 (mahogany) would darken a bit after an oiling session, but was very light compared to the ebony of the NRT5.  The board is quite open grained and would take the stain easily enough.

I'd done a bit of pre-research and the one product that came up time and again was Fiebings Leather Dye; I picked up a small pot off Amazon (£6.00), put on some rubber gloves and fished out some cotton buds.  I masked off the nut and set to work.

To be frank, I was pooping myself while I was doing it.  I let the leather dye set up for a couple of minutes and wiped away the excess; the dot markers took a little of the stain, but this came off with a little methylated spirit once things had completely dried (24 hours).  The neck doesn't have any binding and the wiping down after applying ensured nothing went where it shouldn't have. [edit] I also masked around the heel joint so none of the dye got on the body.

I'm very happy with the end result.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Edited July 16, 2018 by NancyJohnson

[Muzz]

That's very very brave (I did the same thing a while ago with a US SUB MM4, and I was cacking myself even with that) and it looks fantastic.... 

[NancyJohnson]

36 minutes ago, Muzz said:

That's very very brave (I did the same thing a while ago with a US SUB MM4, and I was cacking myself even with that) and it looks fantastic.... 

I think once I'd decided to do it, there was no turning back...when the first bit of dye went on, I did think to myself, 'Oh feck, what am I doing?', but after this it was more like 'Well, I've started, I might as well finish.'

[Muzz]

Yep...I'd imagine ski jumping for the first time is similar... 

[charic]

That looks great

[martthebass]

That looks pretty good NJ.  Does the stain stay put well when dried, no chance of sticking to moist fingers?

[NancyJohnson]

I've had a good noodle since...though not a sweaty one.  The dye didn't lift off the wood with the meths, so I reckon it'll be OK.

[LewisK1975]

Have to agree with the above, it looks amazing. Well Done!

[deepbass5]

I was thinking of some DIY ageing too, but not this brave, I was going to start with a tea bag soaked in lemon oil. My other thought was tobacco, both play havoc with your teeth over the years so maybe make my fret-board could look vintage too  

[deepbass5]

Update -  The tea bag and lemon oil doesn't work

I will take up chewing tobacco next week

[EBS_freak]

That looks great. The darker fret board is now definitely more in keeping with the vibe of the bass.

[Frank Blank]

Brave! But worthwhile, it looks cracking.

[Marc S]

Brave indeed. But as others have said - it looks great on that bass. Nice job

[lemmywinks]

Which type did you use? They seem to to acrylic, alcohol and oil based dye.

[NancyJohnson]

2 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

Which type did you use? They seem to to acrylic, alcohol and oil based dye.

It was/is oil dye, so it's not going to dry out the mahogany. 

I'm unsure whether I'll (lemon) oil the board again either; it's the only board I've ever oiled and to be honest I only did it to darken it.

[lemmywinks]

Nice one thanks.

[fretmeister]

Ooo!

 

I've always wanted the board on my Urge 2 to be a bit darker. I might give this a try.

[sprocketflup]

Wow! that has taken really well, looks the business!

So, you gonna try darkening a maple board next?  😬

[NancyJohnson]

On 13/07/2018 at 10:33, sprocketflup said:

So, you gonna try darkening a maple board next?  😬

I suspect not!  

[Hellzero]

Does this finish harden after the 12 hours or even better after a few weeks ?

It's not for a fretboard, but my wooden floors. There is 200 to 400 years of wax in them (our house is very old and already represented on the oldest map of 1604), so we have to put wax every year and give them a good shine. If I could find some wax friendly "varnish", I would be more than happy.

Maybe a very light stain could do the job.

[Hellzero]

And congratulations for your risky work.

[NancyJohnson]

46 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Does this finish harden after the 12 hours or even better after a few weeks ?

It's not for a fretboard, but my wooden floors. There is 200 to 400 years of wax in them (our house is very old and already represented on the oldest map of 1604), so we have to put wax every year and give them a good shine. If I could find some wax friendly "varnish", I would be more than happy.

Maybe a very light stain could do the job.

The dye went off very quickly, but then the grain on the fingerboard was unfinished and open (aside from a handful of previous oilings).  I'd doubt that product would set up that well on a waxed surface.

[Reggaebass]

Hi lm a carpenter/joiner  polisher you can’t put anything over wax except wax.  You would have to sand the wax off first then varnish the floor. In my opinion the wax looks better more natural 

[Hellzero]

Thanks @Reggaebass. I know that wax accepts only wax, but the wax has gone through the other side of the planks over the years, so it's impossible to sand it. I have an old recipe with turpentine to make a varnish for waxed wood, but I sure it will never dry, according to that kind of varnish that my grandmother used for windows and tablets in our now house : not dry yet after more than 50 years. 

[Paul S]

Zombie thread resurrection   @NancyJohnsonHow did this last? 

I have a little project and this looks perfect!