Hiding Old Dots

[Gemm012]

Hey,

I have a fairly dark rosewood fretboard that desperately needs to be refretted. I'm customizing the rest of the guitar and thought I'd change the boring old dots. I may try and get a precut vine inlay from one of the suppliers in the supply section. I also thought that I may do offset dot inlays. Anyway, I wanted to know if there was someway that I could fill up the old dot inlays and make them hard to see. I was thinking about dyeing the board black anyway, so that may help hide it. If there are any rosewood dot inlays I can get, that would be cool. Anyway, if anyone can help me out, that would be really nice. I noticed on one of Jeremy's guitars (the blue sparkle RG to Jem convert with the blue vine) he made the dots practically invisible. Thanks for all the help to come.

Galen.

[DannoG]

I have a plug cutter bit in .25" size that makes nice position marker dots. If I had any scrap rosewood, I'd make you a set. Send me a small chunk if you have some or can find some that matches the tone of your board. Dan

[Gemm012]

That's really awesome of you, unfortunately I don't have any extra rosewood. Thanks alot for your offer though. If I find any I'll contact you. Again thanks alot for the offer, that's really cool.

Galen.

[Southpa]

Fill the holes with rosewood dust (sanded from your fretboard) and superglue mix. Pack it in, let dry, sand flush and you have a clean slate for new inlays.

[Gemm012]

Thanks, I had a vague idea of how that worked. I just wasn't sure if you put the glue in then sprinkled some sawdust over it. Will that method be visible if I were to choose not to put in any new inlays and have a blank fingerboard? Would the super glue mixture accept ebonizing dyes?

Thanks.

Galen

[thegarehanman]

The epoxy(not superglue) mixture would not die well. If you want to ebonize a rosewood fretboard, use graphite dust and epoxy or just straight black epoxy to fill in the dots. Then ebonize the fretboard after you've sanded the filled holes flush. If you put epoxy in then sprinkled sawdust over it, you'd most likely end up sanding that layer off. That's really not the way to go.

peace,

russ

[Gemm012]

The epoxy(not superglue) mixture would not die well. If you want to ebonize a rosewood fretboard, use graphite dust and epoxy or just straight black epoxy to fill in the dots. Then ebonize the fretboard after you've sanded the filled holes flush. If you put epoxy in then sprinkled sawdust over it, you'd most likely end up sanding that layer off. That's really not the way to go.

peace,

russ

←

Thanks. I actually kinda knew that sprinkling it on wouldn't work but I thought I had heard of that somewhere, and questioned it's validity because of that very reason. I know I'd have to sand the new inlay dots smooth to the board, but if I did that then stained the board, would it stain the dots (most likely shell dots)? What dyes should I use to stain the board? Thanks for all the help.

Galen

[Gemm012]

Oh yeah, also, do I need to put a finish on it to keep it from wearing off and staining my fingers? I really don't want to put a finish on this neck. I already tung oiled the back. I like the tung oil. Also, on a different guitar I've got, that has a maple fingerboard, I'd like to tung oil that. It already has no finish on the board or the back. If I just put the tung oil on over the frets, would it have any negative effects? Thanks

Galen

[Southpa]

No need to dye the SUPERGLUE and rosewood dust mix. Epoxy is fine but it turns into a bit of a gooey mess, its like playing with snot trying to level it out. I put a drop of superglue in the hole, then dump in a good pinch of dust and press it in hard with my finger. Then I add another drop of superglue which whickers right in. Leave it to dry then sand with a radiused block. You might need to apply more than once, it depends on how thorough you are. Its much faster, cleaner and easier than using epoxy.

I made the dots on this maple neck with superglue and aussie gumwood dust. It took me about 1/2 hr. total.

Edited September 29, 2005 by Southpa

[thegarehanman]

If you're going to dye the fretboard though, don'tuse superglue. Superglue penetrates wood and prohibits dye from doing so also.

[Gemm012]

But I can use epoxy?

[thegarehanman]

Yes. This only applies to staining. Epoxy will not wick into the wood like superglue. You can't stain superglue or epoxy, but epoxy won't absorb into the wood, preveting it to accept stain, like superglue.

[Gemm012]

So if I filled the old holes with black epoxy, put the new offset dots in, sanded it flat, and stained it and put tung oil over it, it would work pretty well, right? How about my question about a maple board with black dot inlays that I want to make into a blank black finger board. Would just staining it black then putting a coat of tung oil over it work? Thanks for putting up with all of my newbie questions.

Galen.