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Fretboard staining, finishing, etc

I'm working on my first ever commissioned CBG and I've got a few questions for the more knowledgeable folks out there.

I've heard that fretboards are ideally "conditioned" with a little linseed oil. Is this correct and are there any alternatives to linseed oil?

I'm also looking into trying some epoxy inlays for the first time and was wondering if anyone had recommendations on a brand/type of epoxy or pigments (I'd like a nice pearl look).

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Permalink Reply by Jason W. on January 16, 2011 at 10:51am

I think this is what I'll try for the inlays next if the embossing and epoxy stuff doesn't work out.

I invested in some tung oil and have used a bit of it on an unfinished box I had laying around. It's very nice. Glad
I picked it up.

Glaze said:

I have painted over 400 guitars in my life. I have also experimented with many finishes on guitars. Polymerized tung oil is superior to linseed oil. One of my electric guitars is finished with Sutherland Welles polymerized tung oil, this finish is very natural looking and very durable. You can research this product here:

http://www.sutherlandwelles.com/tung-oil/why/

It's not cheap, but it is the best tung oil I have ever used.

I have done some custom inlays in the past. I bought some nice turquoise from a rock hound once who told me I could smash the turquoise into a powder and mix that with epoxy to do custom inlays with it. I tried it and it worked great. Just fill your inlay and sand it flush after it hardens.

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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 16, 2011 at 11:10pm

Jason W. said:

I think this is what I'll try for the inlays next if the embossing and epoxy stuff doesn't work out.

I invested in some tung oil and have used a bit of it on an unfinished box I had laying around. It's very nice. Glad
I picked it up.

Tung oil is a great natural looking finish. It's perfect for CBG's. I would not do the epoxy with powdered turquoise or some other powdered material inlay technique on very large areas. I did it with real turquoise on small round side marker dots on a fretboard. Would also work as fretboard marker dots on the top of the fretboard which would be extremely easy by just drilling shallow holes and filling them. I just smashed real turquoise with a hammer until it was reduced to a fine powder and mixed the turquoise powder with epoxy.