First build - TL-1TH

Thanks Sonic and McCreed. For some reason I assumed that kits sold within Australia had real rosewood, but kits shipped overseas had engineered. I thought the dry appearance was just from unconditioned rosewood. Given other reports here, I think I got lucky that the masking tape didn't do any damage. Good thing I used my expensive blue low-tack tape.

After reading both of your posts, I am very strongly leaning towards sealing the neck. I will still get most of the look of rosewood, but the smooth sealed fretboard of maple (which I am used to and like). I don't mind having to sand and polish the frets again after sealing. I saw a couple of fine scratches with the benefit of sunlight today.

So, assuming I am going to seal with acrylic lacquer, should I still smooth the fretboard with 0000 and 1200?

I have plenty of CA so I will try to capture the sawdust and mix. Perhaps sanding over a sheet of plastic or paper so I can form a funnel and capture dust into a dish.

Panic (noun): the feeling caused by not being able to find the bone nut you carefully put somewhere safe.

Relief (noun): the sudden removal of panic upon realising the bone nut was in fact in the first place you looked, and it was just hidden by later additions to said safe place.

Question (noun): Will it matter that the bone nut is a fraction of a mm thinner than the plastic one? Or will the adhesive take care of this? I haven't measured with feeler gauges, but it's definitely less than 1 mm thinner and probably less than 0.5 mm.

Shouldn't be a problem, just make sure it's up against the 'forward' edge of the slot.

I prefer a decent fit for the nut. If it is 0.5mm, then a light sand of some veneer, and you should be able to squeeze a sliver of veneer down the side of the slot. I'd leave it long and sticking out when gluing, (just press the nut in, don't glue that yet) then cut down flush afterwards with a sharp knife when it's all dry. I'd then glue the nut in place with some PVA or Titebond and fit the strings so that it's held down when drying by string pressure.

Another + for thin CA, as it will wick into the 'wood' and hold things firm. I just wiped it on with a soft cloth (wear latex gloves), and scraped it smooth with a sharp single-sided razor blade. That leaves the finish smooth enough to sand with 800 grit or higher,. You may have to scrape some glue off the frets and sanding the board may mark the frets slightly, so you'll probably have to polish the frets again.

I saw a video of a guy finishing a violin with CA and he was using small folded squares of office paper to apply it with instead of a cloth. I’ve tried it a couple of time’s and it does work well and stops fibres getting in the glue. I am yet to really master the technique tho, it’s easy to make a mess with that stuff. The thin CA is really good as it sort of flows and ‘wicks’ into the wood easily.

So the suggestion is to apply thin CA to the entire fretboard (scraping smooth with a razor) to seal the blackwood. Should this be done regardless of whether I decide to seal the fretboard with clear or not?

I don't trust myself not to make a mess with that stuff, so I will probably mask the rest of the neck just in case. It might also be tricky to find some latex gloves. They have been in short supply lately from the whole panic buying thing. I could always raid the first aid kit...

I don't have any veneer, but I will dig out the feeler gauges tomorrow to determine just how much gap I have between the bone nut and the slot.

You won't need to seal the fretboard with clear if you use CA.

This is an engineered rosewood board I treated with CA. The surface is now smooth and satin-like. Unfortunately I discovered after doing this that the neck was very twisted and unusable, so I won't be progressing further with it. It could do with another application in couple of places - you can still see a small surface crack where some wood has fallen out (though real rosewood has far more surface faults than this).

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/rkWJrt.jpg

This board was as rough as yours is now before I started. It is actually a lot smoother to feel than it looks.

Great, thanks. Glad I bought a jumbo 10 pack of CA glue :)

You need thin, or extra thin CA, not normal medium CA, or it won't wick into the board and help hold it together, but mainly just stick to the surface.

I'd certainly tape up the whole neck and even the sides of the board, as the thin CA loves to run everywhere.

I used GlueBoost CA, as that's non-fuming (well a lot less so than normal as I occasionally got a few whiffs). Even so, it's best done outside for ventilation.

Thanks.

It seems like every step in this build requires another trip to the hardware store :(