Ebony fretboard

[bog]

G'day - Just about to start an AIB-1Q build. It's got a 1cm scratch on the ebony fretboard that looks like somebody has tried to repair with CA glue and left a glue ring. I gave it a bit of rub with 1200 sandpaper but it's dulled up the surface.

First question: Is it really ebony? Looks nothing like my Les Paul fretboard. It looks a bit artificial with a very smooth semigloss finish and no tooling marks.

Second question: How to finish the fretboard and bring back the shine.

Cheers
bog

[Simon Barden]

Yes, it’s ebony. Ebony can be naturally very smooth indeed. Like rosewood, there are different varieties of ebony and whilst they all have a much smoother surface than rosewood, some have no surface roughness at all.

Have you got a set of Micromesh pads or cloth? Running up the grits with those should get back the near-gloss finish. Standard sandpaper grits don't go quite fine enough. Micromesh is also very useful for other polishing applications on guitars. I always use it on frets.

[bog]

Thanks for the reply Simon. I had a look under better light and there is a faint grain.

I've only just ordered some micromesh pads last week so I'll have a job waiting for them when they arrive.

[Simon Barden]

I do find that figured ebony tends to have less visible grain than the all-black stuff.

[McCreed]

Second question: How to finish the fretboard and bring back the shine.

Further to Simon's advice and in regard to your use of the word "finish", I will just point out that (typically) rosewood and ebony fretboards are not "finished" in the way the back of the neck or body are.
That may not even be what you meant, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

As far as what you can put on ebony (or rosewood), a bit of lemon oil on the fretboard is all that's required. It only needs to be done periodically and just a few drops goes a long way.

[bog]

Thanks McCreed. This ebony is unlike anything I've seen before and had me a little stumped when 1200 grit paper left a mark on it so I was wondering if it needed special handling or something. I've concluded it's just a really dense bit of really black wood. I'm thinking of doing a build diary once all the rest of the bits turn up.

I'm on the hunt for dyes tomorrow and I think it was you who recommended an old bloke in the gap who sells wood turning supplies. So thanks for that too!

[McCreed]

I'm on the hunt for dyes tomorrow and I think it was you who recommended an old bloke in the gap who sells wood turning supplies. So thanks for that too!

Yes, they sell the U-beaut water based dyes in a 7-colour pack.

Here's a link to their very archaic site:
https://www.woodturningsupplies.com.au/

Site navigation is horrible. The U-beaut dyes are under "Polishes & Adhesives", Fifth item from the bottom.