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Clear Coat with Ebony?


daveq

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Up until now, all of my necks have been oiled - that's it. I'm building two guitars that will need to have the necks clear coated (maple necks with Ebony fretboards). Is it standard to tape off the side of the ebony and just clear the maple only or am I supposed to clear the side of the fretboard also? The thing that has me wondering is - if I tape off (or cover somehow) the side, won't the clear build up and kind of stick out where the fretboard begins (leaving a small ledge)?

That's my limit of stupid questions for the day. Thanks.

Dave

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maybe tape off 2 or 3 mm of the fingerbard so that some of the side of the fingerboard is done, then you can just blend sand any lines left by the build up due to the tape, or just tape off the top of the fingerboard and do the whole side.

are you planning to fret before or after you clear the back?

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Tape just the face of the board - you want the sides cleared. When you've finished spraying you can run a bit of 400 grit on a cork block along the sides of the board at 30 degrees or so(depending on the angle you put on your fret ends). This will remove any ridge which builds up, and feather the edge of the finish. You will probably get a small amount of finish creeping under the tape by the fret ends - deal with this by scraping back to bare wood with a straight razor blade, taking care to avoid chattering.

You can follow up the 400 grit with some finer paper if you want to polish up the fret ends. The higher grits can be used freehand, this will break over the edge of the board and make it really comfy.

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Thank you very much. Any idea why it is normal to clear the sides? Is it to prevent the build up line that I was talking about or is it something else?

Why finish a guitar at all? Finish keeps dirt and moisture out of your wood, and away from your glue joints (and as Wes said, out from under you fret ends). It also means the sides of the board and your neck will have a similar lustre, and feel, rather than having a piece of unfinished timber on top. It's also easier than taping of the sides of the board :D

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Why finish a guitar at all?

Well, I'm not a complete idiot. The reason I was wondering is that I know it is not common to clear the face of an ebony fretboard. If you don't clear the face but you do clear the side, are you really protecting the wood that much? I could see an argument that oiling would be enough. If I owned a guitar with an ebony fretboard - I probably wouldn't have bothered you guys with this question - I just wanted to see what is considered the "normal" thing to do.

Thanks for the replies.

Dave

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Why finish a guitar at all?

Well, I'm not a complete idiot. The reason I was wondering is that I know it is not common to clear the face of an ebony fretboard. If you don't clear the face but you do clear the side, are you really protecting the wood that much? I could see an argument that oiling would be enough. If I owned a guitar with an ebony fretboard - I probably wouldn't have bothered you guys with this question - I just wanted to see what is considered the "normal" thing to do.

Thanks for the replies.

Dave

I'm sure you're not, and I apologise if you though that was what I was implying! I simply meant you finish the sides of the board for the same reason you finish the rest of the guitar - protection.

The ebony sides could be left unlaquered without any problem to the ebony itself, but ideally you want to seal the gluejoint between the neck and fretboard. As it happens, I do have a padauk neck with RW board, that is unfinshed, just treated with Danish oil, and it's been trouble free - so you could leave the ebony unfinshed, but since there is no advantage the extra time masking and feathering the finish edge between the board and neck would be time wasted. You also run the risk of complicating the finshing process by applying different finshes to two parts in such close proximity.

Basically, it's easier to apply whatever you put on the neck to the sides of the board, and it has no negative effect on the guitar, and some possible possitives. As such, it has become the "normal" approach.

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on my les paul style guitar kit i put a clear coat on the whole neck except the fingerboard. i like the unlaquered fingerboard, it feels natural, however the laquer wont protect the ebony from much it cant resist at the moment, its very hard. unless your hands sweated like someone takin a piss the ebony can hold its own.

p.s. i like oiled f.boards. the oil protects like the laquer, but you need to oil every so often

mike

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