Official Luthiers Forum!

I assume some of you use this stain to darken your ebony fingerboards. But, would you use this on fingerboards like ziricote? Would this stain totally hide the crazy grain or would it just mute it a bit?

I would just use fb oil. StewMac has a very good product.

I am not a fan of the dye... even for ebony.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

If I have to "ebonize" a cheap pale wood fret board I use Fieblngs Oil Dye
that I get from a local shoe repair shop. That said, I agree with Brock in that I
am not a fan of dying ebony boards. Bringing a board down to a solid black
seems to aesthetically sterilize it in my opinion, and I prefer character to
uniformity. I typically use Howards Feed 'n' Wax to oil the boards, and it
darkens the color without muting the grain. Pretty much any fingerboard oil
will do the same.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I bought several ebony fingerboards a while back that had a lot of "character" to them, as in stripes, etc. I used Feibings to darken them. I didn't apply a thick coat, and I wiped it down pretty well after application. As a result, the grain was still visible, but muted. I like having a bit of visible grain showing, even for a classical. Otherwise, the fb just looks too artificial.

Best,

Michael

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

My experience with the fingerboard dye from SM is pretty black and make your fingerboard black. If you want grain showing then I agree with Brock, use the fingerboard oil.

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Hi-

Using just a small amount of fingerboard oil (boiled linseed oil) will darken the wood significantly but it still looks like wood.

_________________
John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

The trouble with stain is that in time it will fade where the strings are fretted. To me it's better oiled or left natural. If you like the homogenious look of all black than it generally is better to start with wood that has those characteristics. Just my opinion.

Stain does work ok on bridges and head plates, but again, I like a little character showing through.

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

    Use Fiebing dye , this stuff made my particle board workbench pure ebony. This is actually a dye and not a stain.   CF Martin uses it as does most builders. This will permanetly color the wood to BLACK. This suff will work
john hall
blues creek guitars
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints ,_and_stains/Black_Fingerboard_Stain.html

My Feibing's seemed to take a long time to dry when I used it. Then it would rub off when I thought it was dry. Don't like it much, don't have much use for it

Clairol #57 (I think that's what My wife uses) it works great. I bought some dye from Stew Mac once but the Clairol works as good if not better.

     The dye must have been bad in your case Terry. Mine dries in a matter of minutes , I wipe it on ,let set a few minutes and wipe off then polish.
      I also like wood but I build what my customers want. Most like black ebony with pearl .
   If you are in the area call and drop in
john hall
blues creek guitars
      

Hmm. I wondered about that...It does indeed blacken anything it touches quite well. I do find an occasional use for it. Blackening fingerboards hasn't been one of them.

Now I'm curious. I'm gonna be getting back in the shop a lot more as cold weather sets in. Then I'll tackle all my shop questions. Be prepared, I'll be a posting!

Thanks you all!