Fretting And Finishing, Order Of Operations?

[82cabby]

Hi all!

I appologize in advance for the rookie questions!

I am working on my first builds. I have two necks that I am working on at the same time. One has a maple fretboard on a mahogany neck and the other is an ebony fingerboard on a maple neck. I am at the stage where the pre-radiused figerboards are glued to the neck , but the frets are not installed, the neck itself is not contoured.

My question is, in what order do I do the following things? I think I have it right but I want to check:

Final sand the fingerboard

Install the frets

Contour the neck

Finish the fingerboard (for the maple one only)

Finish the neck

Install neck on guitar

Seem right?

Thanks!!

[killemall8]

That would work. Or you can fret first, then carve after if you want too.

[82cabby]

So when finishing the one with the maple fretboard (Haven't decided... Lacquer... shelac... both... neither) I mask the fret wires themselves only and then on the maple neck/ebony fingerboard I will mask the whole fingerboard. Right?

I've come this far and don't want to mess it up now!

Thanks for the help.

[Mender]

So when finishing the one with the maple fretboard (Haven't decided... Lacquer... shelac... both... neither) I mask the fret wires themselves only and then on the maple neck/ebony fingerboard I will mask the whole fingerboard. Right?

I've come this far and don't want to mess it up now!

Thanks for the help.

I find that it is quicker and easier to finish maple fretboards without masking off the frets, then clean the frets when the finish has cured.

[soapbarstrat]

It is done both ways. The thick 70's Fender poly sprayed over the frets is about as undesirable as it gets for me.

Finish before fretting looks better to me, but it's a real bitch to keep from scuffing up that finish when finalizing fret ends. Not impossible though. Even face paced factories like Ibanez have somehow managed to do it quite well.

[Musiclogic]

It"s actually quite easy, the FB is sprayed with 3 coats of finish, and radius sanded to 600, the board is fretted, and then the frets are trimmed, beveled, leveled. re-crowned, taped off and then 2-3 coats of finish are applied. The FB is wetsanded with 600, 800, and 1000, then buffed with the frets still taped. The final product looks as if the finish was completely done before fretting, but it is really a combination.

[Narcissism]

It"s actually quite easy, the FB is sprayed with 3 coats of finish, and radius sanded to 600, the board is fretted, and then the frets are trimmed, beveled, leveled. re-crowned, taped off and then 2-3 coats of finish are applied. The FB is wetsanded with 600, 800, and 1000, then buffed with the frets still taped. The final product looks as if the finish was completely done before fretting, but it is really a combination.

If I understand this correctly, they radius after they spray... then they fret and crown... then they apply more finish... then they wetsand (with or against the grain, i don't know), and manage to get in between all the little nooks and crannies of the fret positions, and then untape them...

Unless I'm mistaken, that seems like way more work than there needs to be.

I think it should be:

Slot

Radius

Finish

Buff

Fret

Crown

Finish the ends of the frets

[Musiclogic]

Please read again, your little book guy must have had the book upsidedown. The post plainly says 3 coats then radius sand to 600, fret, level, crown, tape off spray 2 more coats, wetsand and buff. Same operation with 1 extra step(2 extra finish coats...not much work) which is the difference between making the FB look as if the finish was applied to maximize appearence, or the rickenbacker/old Fender method where the finish covers the bottom half of the fret looking very cheaply done. I guess after you develop a clientele that demands a specific degree of detail for the price, you work to please those clients. In my 26 years, I learned to do what the customer wants, and what attracts more customers, and this finishing technique seems to do that.

[FireFly]

I think what he's confused about is the buffing after fretting part.

Narc, after you apply enough of a finish to a fingerboard, grain orientation is no longer an issue. So it's okay if you go across the grain when buffing/sanding etc.