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I love the look of maple for bindings. I worry about maple as a fretboard binding because of its tendency to turn ugly gray without a good finish on it. What can we do to fretboard bindings to eliminate this problem?

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I use either Fornbie's Glossy tung oil (it is varnish mix not pure tung oil) or Belhen's Rockhard varnish and have had no issues. I an careful not to get it on the FB. If I do I scrap it off immediately with a razor blade

My last guitar had maple fretboard bindings, and I used a little brush (like one that comes in a kid's watercolor box) to apply a thin coat of shellac to the binding, without getting it on the rest of the fretboard. It worked great.

[QUOTE=MichaelP] I use either Fornbie's Glossy tung oil (it is varnish mix not pure tung oil) or Belhen's Rockhard varnish and have had no issues. I an careful not to get it on the FB. If I do I scrap it off immediately with a razor blade[/QUOTE] Michael,
Thank you for the response. Do you finish the entire neck with Rockhard. If I remember correctly, you use KTM9 on the body. If you use KTM9 on the neck, how do you deal with the transition between KTM9 and Rockhard?

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

[QUOTE=Kelby] My last guitar had maple fretboard bindings, and I used a little brush (like one that comes in a kid's watercolor box) to apply a thin coat of shellac to the binding, without getting it on the rest of the fretboard. It worked great.[/QUOTE] Do you have an idea how long it will last. Do you think it should be reapplied in a few years?

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Steve, that's a good question. I don't know the answer, except to say that in my other woodworking ventures, I haven't had any problems with shellac wearing away. With that said, if the player presses hard on the strings and does a lot of bends in the binding area, any finish would wear over time.

I do both but my prefered is KTM9 on the body and Rockhard on the neck. I get a much faster neck than with ktm9 or even nitro. The more I use the Formsby tung oil varnish the better I am liking it. very simple application, dries hard and also makes for a fast neck.

Yes I do the entire neck

The rockhard is very long lasting. My guess is that the Formsby tung oil will need to be reapplied depending on wear. but it is so simple and blends with its self so invisibly I see an issue.MichaelP39022.7353125

Hello Steve,

My experience has shown maple on the neck to eventually end up discoloured .It's not a good look. Mother of toilet seat seems to hold up better ,if you can handle having plastic on a hand built instrument
On my current build , I'm using ivory . Not trying to "big note" here , just can't see an alternate.

Regards, Craig Lawrence

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CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
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I've got two guitars on the go with maple fretboard binding. I used a thin CA on the tops of the bindings as well as the sides. Time will tell if it'll stand-up.