Fretless Bass

[Mahelcaya]

Hi,

I have a 5 string fretless bass to build, I was wondering about the fingerboard wood that is most recomended.

I see most of them made in ebony, will Rosewood, or other hard woods work?

Do they sell graphite fingerboards (not the hole neck like the MOSES GR )?

thanks

Rob

[Dugz Ink]

My Washburn AB-20 has a fretless neck that has a Rosewood fingerboard. It's 12 years old, and it still looks pretty good. Not perfect, but it's a long way from needing replacement.

You just have to take care of it, and don't use round-wound strings.

D~s

[www]

You could either, but I would coat the fretboard with epoxy for a longer lasting board.

As is seen here. Scroll down aways

[PerryL]

You could use just about any wood you like the best. Be it Looks or Just workability. IF you wanna do the finish yourself you can always tape up the sides of your completed Fretboard and apply this Envirotex.

http://www.dickblick.com/zz029/18/products...am=0&ig_id=2338

[Mahelcaya]

Thanks for the link guys,

Those neck finished in epoxy HG THOR are beautiful !

So I shoud just apply a regular hard glass epoxy finish and buffit up?

Never worked with epoxy, should I apply it with a brushor pour it on the fingerboard? I don't have a spay device

[erikbojerik]

Yeah, brush. Use the hardest epoxy you can find. Be sure to radius the board first. Mix it up (make sure it's really well-mixed) and brush it on. It doesn't need to be too thick, but you want to make sure you cover the entire board with a thin layer. Try to brush it as smooth as possible to reduce the amount of sanding you'll need to do after it hardens.

Let it cure out in the garage or something; most epoxies give off a toxic cyano-something vapor.

Let it cure for a week; if you can dent it with your fingernail, it's not done curing. Then re-radius and finish-sand all the way down to your smallest grit sandpaper (2000 or 2500 grit), then buff out like a regular finish.