The pattern in the ebony fretboard suggested to me a sort of splashy camo pattern on the body that extended the markings on the neck.
On the topic of the fretboard, how would you suggest I finish that? I used tru-oil on the last kit which seemed to work out ok.
I have always used fingerboard oil for violins, I have almost finished my first small tin after spilling some and having it for 30 years… but I haven’t tried anything else. From a music shop.
It is mostly linseed oil I think, and is great at cleaning crud off used fingerboards too.
Normally you'd use linseed oil, lemon oil or mineral oil (often sold for conditioning chopping boards). Whilst you can put TruOil or varnish on an ebony board, it's not common practice and defeats the whole object of having an ebony board in the first place with its smooth, hardwearing surface.
Your TLA-1 had a maple board, which you do normally put a hard finish on. But rosewood and ebony boards are normally left unfinished and just oiled from time to time, to stop the wood from becoming too dry.
Last edited by Simon Barden; 10-10-2021 at 03:21 PM.
Ok. Thank you both. That's helpful.
I think Rickenbacker is one of the few manufactures that use a clear finish on their finger boards (which aren't true rosewood), The only other finger boards with clear finish is maple finger boards, but I think that is more to make it easier to clean because they show up the grot more than darker timbers. The oils mentioned seem to work.
Ok. I've grabbed some of the Mohawk fingerboard oil, I'll see how that goes.
I've also managed to get hold of some ash wood off cuts so I can try out a few staining and finishing options ahead of trying it out on the guitar.
And one final update, which is that my Seymour Duncan pickups are due to arrive from the US any day now. Not that I'll be able to do much with them for a while...
All the goodies have now arrived. Boy it takes some time now with Aussie Post obviously overwhelmed. So as per the last post (10 days ago), the Seymour Duncan Nazgul/Sentient pickups finally arrived after more than a month. Together with some stains from Crimson, some push/pull pots and a few other electrical bits and pieces.
Time to start the mock build and try out some stain options with my spare bits of wood. Looks like I ordered enough stain from Crimson to last me until the end of time so it's not like I'm going to run out.
You did well with that shipment. I ordered a part from the US that, after 2 months, had gone from Arkansas to Illinois via Canada. Another 3 weeks go by and I've just discovered it's been returned to sender because it couldn't be delivered. Not just Aus Post that's struggling by the look of things.