Comment

Comment by Estone Villan on June 22, 2017 at 2:14pm

I doubt yours are untidy at all. It's just worth bearing in mind if someone hasn't used stain as position markers before.

Comment by Dave Lynas on June 22, 2017 at 12:01pm

I just sand off my paint on the sides of the fretboard. I guess my work would be termed untidy. I don't mind.

Comment by Estone Villan on June 21, 2017 at 11:20pm

Yes. I stained after fretting the first time - school boy error. It just pools around the frets and it's more difficult to get a decent consistent stain.

Cutting fret slots first also means that you can use the cuts for the painter's tape to slot into and mask the fret board up tidy. So no stain gets onto the parts you want unstained.

Rubbing the stain rather than brushing gives a better finish too.

I think i'll go back to trying fret marker dots at some point but staining the frets works ok for me at the moment and along with others who do the same thing on here, makes the guitars look different and serves it's purpose well.

The issue i have then is that the stain runs to the side of the fretboard. Not so much of a problem for me because i bind them to hide my sloppy fretwork. But if anyone else is considering doing this, it's worth thinking about how to avoid that if you're fretboards are not going to have binding.

Comment by Dave Lynas on June 21, 2017 at 11:06pm

I use oil paint so I can mix colors. I was a painter in college. I like your stain though. Looks sharp. Fretting after staining is a cool way to do it. I always get paint on the frets. Your way would eliminate that. I like pearl markers in addition. I use a Forsner bit for neat holes without chipping.

Comment by Estone Villan on June 21, 2017 at 10:45pm

Wood stain. I'm really bad at drilling and making frets look nice and tidy so this is the easiest option for me. I've seen others on here do it to but they may do it differently. I've only built 4 though.

So i:

* Cut the fret slots
* mask the fretboard with painter's tape
* rub (not brush) wood stain on the exposed parts ( i have ebony for black boxes too)
* add the frets
* use modelling hardwood strips as binding (2mmx6mm) - my fretboards are 6mm thick.

Comes out quite nice and i haven't ripped wood out of the fretboard trying to drill for dot markers.

Comment by Lonman on June 21, 2017 at 5:02pm

cool, what did you use for the neck colors. Are they painted on?  

Comment by Dave Lynas on June 21, 2017 at 11:26am

Fairy house too.

Comment by Dave Lynas on June 21, 2017 at 11:25am

I love this one Estone. Stripes, box, neck, everything.

Comment by Uncle John on June 21, 2017 at 3:33am

I do the same thing and sometimes have the same problem.

Comment by Estone Villan on June 21, 2017 at 3:27am

I know but didn't want to until I could tell whether the cheap tuners I brought would hold. I think I may be changing them out unfortunately

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