Tips on Dying a fretboard?

[jr_vw2]

I am wanting to dye my rosewood fretboard darker, closer to an ebony fretboard.

 

I have heard this is good stuff to use.

 

Fiebings leather dye

 

Anyone have any tips they want to share? thanks

[mtnb1kr]

Tape off everything you don't want dyed. Wipe off inlays as soon as you apply. I recently did my Epi LP and I think it turned out OK. Someone in a previous thread said don't worry about the inlays cause the dye won't absorb but that wasn't true on mine. There is a little dark spot on one where it sat for les than a minute. Just be careful and wear gloves. Also Clean the fretboard first with solvent.

 

Before

 

After

[soundcreation]

why would you want to do that? Rosewood looks awesome.

[billybilly]

The dye you mentioned works great but like the guy above stated, it will stain your inlays for sure. Wipe off immediately and use lots of tape. Be careful and you can get great results, if your sloppy, don't bother.

[StompBoxLover]

yes.

 

don't.

[jr_vw2]

The rosewood on the neck in question is really light and I don't like it.

[stormin1155]

I've done a couple of necks that have turned out great (not all rosewood looks great). To keep it from staining the inlay I took a Q-tip and applied a thin layer of Vasaline on the inlay. I used a small foam brush so I could get very close but not touch the areas I didn't want stained (the Vasaline was for if I got too close...).

[Metalrulez]

The poor tree is already dead. Why do you want to kill it some more?

[newbuilder]

If you get it on maple, inlays, or anything that you don't want it on...bummer, that's some crazy stuff to try and get off, so prep your area well.

[The Rossness]

if you want a fretboard to die, I'd set it on fire

[ballhawk]

I've done it with black shoe polish and olde english dark scratch remover. Worked perfect.

 

Great tip about using vaseline! You know what else that's good for?..... uh nevermind.

[guitarcapo]

 

I am wanting to dye my rosewood fretboard darker, closer to an ebony fretboard. I have heard this is good stuff to use. Fiebings leather dye Anyone have any tips they want to share? thanks

 

 

 

I've tried that stuff. It's not very good looking after you're done. It DOES make it totally black....but it looks cheesey like a cheap department store guitar's fingerboard. It's not like ebony. More like this flat painted look.

And it goes in DEEP so it's not easy to remove even with sanding if you decide you don't like the look. might also make your fingers black when you play and if you get that stuff on your skin it will take a LONG time for it to come off.

 

I highly recommend using a typical wood stain from Home Depot or something like walnut oil to darken your fretboard a lot instead of going for that jet black. It will look a lot better and can get really dark without looking obviously fake.

[jr_vw2]

 

I've done it with black shoe polish and olde english dark scratch remover. Worked perfect. Great tip about using vaseline! You know what else that's good for?..... uh nevermind.

 

 

 

 

Did you use the shoe polish and old E together or was that two different projects?

[The Munk]

Another thing to consider is if the neck has non-black binding, and/or laquer on the fretboards edge.

Light colored binding (like inlays) will stain. If you have laquer on the fretboard edge, you'll wanna strip that off cleanly before you dye, or you'll have a dyed face and a rosewood edge. That will look kinda funky imo.

[ballhawk]

 

Did you use the shoe polish and old E together or was that two different projects?

 

 

Together. Go slowly and just use a little bit. iirc I started with a small bit of the polish then used another small bit of the scratch stuff. I even made sure to use another rag to sort of semi-buff and soak up excess. It really doesn't take much. The guitars I've done it to were cheapies so I wasn't worried. yymv.

[jr_vw2]

Yeah I'm doing this to an elcheapo. So I'm not too worried about it.

 

Are there any stores that might carry that leather polish or is it pretty much an online item.

[jr_vw2]

So I found some Feibings locally so I think I will give this a try this weekend. Wish me luck I will post before and after pics of the job. THanks for the info.