Finishing Engineered Rosewood

[JimC]

Are there any thoughts on this (other than that the stuff isn't very satisfactory!). I've kinda acquired a barely started ESB4 kit which has got one of those fingerboards, and its quite obvious that the stuff is picking up every little bit of fluff going, and really badly needs sealing, unconventional though it might be.

My background is boat building rather than guitars, and I have some very low viscosity epoxy sealing primer, and I was wondering whether it might be worth using that to seal the surface and consolidate the loose fibres. Is there any experience with that sort of concept?

Jim C

[Cliff Rogers]

Watching, I have one on order.
From what I have read, you can oil it if you want to, it is dryer than the real thing & will suck up the oil.

I swiped this off another site.

If you flood a drying oil or other finish that dries and hardens onto the board, some of it will likely get under the frets and make them harder to remove cleanly down the road when it's time to re-fret or defret.

So applying the finish sparingly and carefully is important, regardless of what finish it is.

[JimC]

Having checked out my sealing primer its way beyond its expiry date, so we'll drop that idea!

[Fretworn]

I’ve only done one guitar with an engineered rosewood fingerboard.
1) You do need to sand the fingerboard. I’m not talking 80 grit, but probably 240 grit and up. Basically polishing the fingerboard.
2) Oil the fingerboard heavily with your fingerboard oil of choice before you mask it for finishing or doing fretwork and use low tack masking tape. Others have had tear outs from the board when removing masking tape, but I found this method meant the tape didn’t really stick to the front of the fingerboard where the issues will be.

[JimC]

Update/report.
I splashed out and bought a new lot of epoxy sealer primer which Simon and I will share. Truly horrendous price for something we'll use so little of.

My fingerboard was definitely the worst of the two. I mixed up 20cm3, and without thinking too hard gave it three (very tiny brush) brushed coats. This was much too much since I had definite brush strokes on the finish, and so I had to sand scrape and goodness knows what, and by the time I got it satisfactorily flat some of the board had turned decidedly purplish. On the other hand all the loosish fibres were thoroughly encapsulated and I was happy with the mechanical integrity. Simon and I took a look, and decided to give it a go with lemon oil, and to my relief the colour turned acceptable, and I'm content with the result.

Simon's fingerboard is much better. I've given this a single wiped on and wiped off coat. Simon hasn't seen it yet, but I think its close to good, although lemon oil ill be an obvious thing to do.

[jugglindan]

Resurrecting this slightly old thread, as I have a similiar decision to make: what to do with the very unsatisfactory engineered rosewood fretboard on my kit. I seem to have three choices, and with no previous experience I am not sure how to pick between them.

1. Seal the fretboard with GluBoost Fill and Finish, to improve the finish and integrity, then sand.
2. Sand and use lots of lemon oil, applied frequently
3. Pretend it's a maple board and sand and varnish the whole thing along with the rest of the neck

TBH, I am wondering why I didn't just go with a maple board. Option 3 is tempting since it doesn't require spending yet more $ on a product that I will likely never use again. But has anyone here used clear poly or lacquer on an engineered rosewood board? How did it go? How does it feel to play?

Option 1 requires buying more stuff, but seems like the best long-term choice.

And yes, I know I have much the same topic, with some good advice, in my build diary. I am resurrecting this thread specifically to cast a wider net (is that possible here?) for other builders experiences with these options.

[Simon Barden]

Not 1. It's the wrong product as its basically a filler, and hasn't got the strength to hold the fibres together. And you'd actually sand first, use the product, then sand again.

Not 2. You aren't addressing the basic problem of lack of structural integrity of the fingerboard fibres. Sanding improves the feel, and will be necessary anyway, and lemon oil improves the looks (for a while) but again does nothing to hold the bits together.

3 is a possibility, but whilst the finish will help hold the board together, it won't do as good a job as using thin CA.

[jugglindan]

Thanks Simon. Which GluBoost product is the right one to order then? I can get it delivered in Au from Southern Tone Woods.

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

[Simon Barden]

See my reply in the build thread.