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A while ago I mentioned a client that wants a powder blue coloured acoustic bass guitar. A couple of days ago I sent her a picture of the ebony I intended to use as a fingerboard and, to my surprise, she responded by saying that she was really hoping that the fingerboard could be powder blue like the rest of the guitar. What can I say. Anyway, I just wanted to get opinions from people to see if anyone thinks it's possible to finish what I guess would be a maple finger board (it's going to be fret-less) in a way that would hold up against flat wound bass strings.

Thanks,
Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Corian (or similar)?

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Sure, presumably you were going to spray color finish on the rest of the guitar so simply spray the board too. Fender has been spraying maple boards since Leo first had his vision.

Couple of considerations are Fender sprays clear on the neck AFTER frets are in. Powder blue may require more attention to how to get the color off the frets. Spraying after fretting taping off in between the frets to protect finish and then a proper fret dress would remove the color from the frets.

Just to re-iterate: it's going to be fret-less. On the one hand that makes it easy for spraying but on the other hand gives me more concern about finish wear. My understanding is that on fretted guitars with a finished fret board, the frets do a lot to keep the strings from wearing off the finish. In fact, I've had people tell me that on electric guitars with a finished fret board, the strings don't actually touch the fret boar at all. So my question is in the case of a fret-less fingerboard would flat wound strings wear off the finish.
Thanks,
Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

I have seen a old fenders with maple boards that have the finish worn away between the frets and all kinds of finger gunk in the wood. I have no experience with fretless bass fingerboards but I can't imagine being anything but worse. I like Trevor's suggestion (assuming corian itself can hold up I have no experience there) but would add that you would be best served finding a blue that compliments the powder blue of the top rather than trying to match it. I think close but not quite, would look worse than further apart. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Will it wear? Of course it will, eventually, depending on how much it's played, how hard it's played, the type of strings, the weather, etc., etc.

I did a quickie test of durability of normal fretless fingerboard finishes and found that epoxy glue applied as a finish seemed to be the most durable.

Barry, was CA included in your test? It's not usually considered a finish, but I've used it for pore filling, and I think it could work as a finish.
The problem would be the application, it doesn't go on very evenly. It would be too much work to build it up and sand it level for an entire guitar, but I think it could be made to work for a fretless fingerboard.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

What about powder coating? I read a thread on PM recently where they were discussing powder coating MDF, so I imagine maple would be possible.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

+1 for Corian great solution ----- 1/4 inch is available, shapes with wood working tools. Think about the old timely instruments that have fingerboards of bone, ivory and shell. Corian is just a modern variation. I can visualize endless design possibilities.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Lacquer on a fretless board will wear eventually as Barry said and for a plethora of reasons but it is not going to wear quickly. Regardless of the presence of frets on a lacquered board many players still mash their fingers into the finish on the board. It wears, sure, but not for a long time.

This ax is also going to a female and although I make no claim of any limitations what so ever for females I would take the bet that it may wear less quickly.... I'd also take the bet that an acoustic bass is going to get used a bit but IME they are like 12 stings, even worse.... in so much as lots of people want them until they have one and then folks move on or don't play the things much.

A good percentage of my clients are women including semi-pro, gigging musicians and when you see as many guitars as we do you get a sense that the instruments are generally better cared for.... AND cleaner.... than what I see from males. By the way since I tend to be very much data driven less than 1/2 of one percent of the instruments that we see in a given year are acoustic basses. They were more popular some years ago than they seem to be lately.

Flat wounds would be less abrasive on any board but I don't think this is necessary. You also said that it's an acoustic bass and even though it may have a pup presumably..... you would be interested in the best acoustic tone that you can get or why bother with an acoustic and simply make an electric bass. As such flat wound strings have far fewer choices.... not sure if they even come in anything but nickel silver, and tonally speaking they would never be my first choice on an acoustic.

Regarding how much wear to the finish on a fretless board, acoustic bass, female player, and the history of how often folks spend time for months and years to come playing acoustic basses you may be addressing a problem that will never be there IMO.

Corian is an option and so too is mother of toilet seat but call me a snob all you like other than the occasional nut made out of corian it's just not he vibe that I think of when I am thinking high-end acoustic instruments. True Martin makes lower end instruments with high pressure laminates and plastic fret boards but again this is not what comes to mind when I consider Luthier built instruments.

Instead I'm envisioning perhaps a maple instrument, maple, fretless board, sprayed with translucent powder blue lacquer. Figured maple to add some interest would be cool too IMO.

Toilet seat -- that reminds me that when taking commissions 1975 ish (not any more) its important to make what the customer wants and what makes them happy. The guitar that I made for Phil Garrard has been photographed a lot, he was happy. The harp well I really took a huge loss on that one -- fixtures and tooling took more work than the instrument --- the customer was happy.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Yeah, that sounds about right to me. I'd probably lightly bleach and dye hard maple first though, and then spray translucent blue lacquer over it. That would avoid anything too jarring once the lacquer starts wearing off.

As someone with an unfortunate appreciation of kitsch, I wouldn't at all be above using some blue MOTS or corian for a fretboard either, if that was the look that was desired. Probably I'd go for MOTS, as vintage kitsch is better, and chix dig it.

I think that if dyed wood and lacquer/tinted lacquer are used, your client needs to understand and expect there to be some wear due to her demands, and not your skills.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Definitely, and while you're at it you might mention a fretless acoustic bass will not make much noise without plugging in.

A plate of blue pigmented epoxy would do the job. Hard, colour all the way through, etc.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Hey Pat,

I’ve been using Tru-oil on my neck for a while and it might be an option for your fretboard. I think that the wearability would be better than lacquer. I’ve done a few colour necks with Tru-oil. I start with spraying a layer of tinted Shellac with the colour I want. After that comes a clear coat of shellac to seal the colour. I follow that up my regular Tru-oil finishing schedule. It would be fairly easy to do some test pieces to see if it would work. Using flat wound strings will improve the wear of whatever type of finish you use.

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Pat -- I'm not really digging any of the suggestions. Some are definitely viable but almost all have potential issues. Generally, if a client requests such a thing then I would say no as it will end up becoming a headache for you.

Fortunately, I do have a suggestion for you -- although it might be expensive, I believe it is by far and away your best option. You should look into acrylicized Maple or similar wood species. It will be rock hard and phenomenally durable and stable. The color will also run throughout the entire material. I'm not sure about gluing but I'm guessing Epoxy would work just fine.

Come on guys,

Hesh, you get a pass because of the medication.

Blue Mahoe. http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/blue-mahoe/

Steve

I could actually help you out with that. I have a few boards. Not really powder blue and not all that hard though.

There was someone on this board who made "acrylicized" wood. If I remember right he had some fingerboards and woods with pretty wacky colors. Perhaps some one else can provide a link.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think its important to point out that the idea of using Corian for this project is not an imaginary solution, its actually been done before why would one experiment on a commissioned project? -- still its most important to get the customer's input $.02

http://marinucciguitars.com/TheStratCorianHat_build.htm

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Larry Davis with Gallery Hardwoods was doing acrylized fret boards? He might be able to help, if he is still making those.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. Much appreciated, you're a great bunch of guys.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

I say do the whole thing white, and get her a nice pair of fancy blue tinted goggles !!!! .. everybody sing along now ....crystal blue persuasion ....

Short of that .. dye some birdseye maple, epoxy over that, and call it a day ... my $.02 ... actually in Canada now, my $.02 is actually free, since we round down and don't have pennies !!!

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I still have hundreds of those pennies. Some day, they'll be worth a couple of bucks!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker