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Hello. I'm building my first fretted instrument. My fretboard is nearly complete, less tapping in the frets and applying a finish. I'm using tru-oil on the rest the maple neck, and figured i would do the same on the paduak fretboard (after a shellac washcoat). However, I'm undecided on the proper order of things. What is common practice? #2 would be ideal if tru-oil or (some other finish) can be easily removed from the frets.

#1: fully finished before glue? .. a pain
Finish fingerboard - top only
Tap in frets
Glue fingerboard to neck
sand sides of fingerboard & finish along with neck/headstock

#2: finish with frets installed? .. what will tru-oil do to frets? alternative?
Tap in frets
Glue fingerboard to neck
Finish the neck/fingerboard/headstock

#3: install frets after gluing? .. sounds dangerous
Glue on fingerboard
Finish the neck/fingerboard/headstock
Tap in frets


Thanks,
-Jack

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Jack buddy is this an acoustic or an electric?

Well, both i guess. It's a small body acoustic, with pickups.

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OK well if you want a Fender-like neck they finish/spray a neck after it is fretted for their maple necks. The electric guys can weigh-in here.

Typically acoustic guitars do not have finish on the fret board.

What I do is sand/true the fret board with a radius beam/block going to 240 grit. Then I fret the fret board and level, crown, and dress the fret ends. Next I hit the entire fret board, frets too with OOOO steel wool. My final step is to oil the fret board and I use LMI's fret board oil but many things would work.

Thanks Hesh... that sounds good. What are some alternatives to LMI's fret board oil? Some of the things i have on-hand are:

Tru-oil
Danish Oil
Spray can of lacquer
Shellac


Thanks for your help!!
-Jack

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i like to do what hesh said but after sanding to 500 grit i micro mesh to about 8,000 and then fret.
i then hit the finger board with a light coat of lemon or linseed oil and then give a quick rub with 12,000 grit mcro mesh.

i like my fingerboards to be smooth as glass if poss i find the guitar plays better that way.

but thats just my pref i will leave the fingerboard sanded with no oil if the client wants it that way but if they have no preferance its micro mesh all way.
I love that stuff,

Joel,

jack,
get some lemon furniture oil its mild enough for the fingerboard and can be used on other guitars as a treatment and to clean finger jam off the frets.
Its also quite cheap

i would advise against any of the products mentioned they are too thick and sticky and may affect the playing action of the guitar.

be aware that your paduak finger board will change color but leaving it unfinished will help delay this a bit.

try just polishing the fingerboard to a high grit and then maybe using micro mesh you may like enough as it is,

Joel.

I'm doing my 6th neck right now with tru-oil. My fret work is totally finished before I start applying the oil. I sand my fb through 400, then fret. Then I continue sanding the fb and polishing the frets at the same time up through 1000, then I hit it with 0000 wool. Now I do the tru-oil finish. You shouldn't get any on the frets. All I do is put a few drops of oil on a piece of t-shirt and rub it on. It's VERY easy to apply. If you happen to get some on the edge of the fb or on a fret, it will come off easily with the 0000 wool after it dries. No problem. Don't use the finishing oils like tru-oil or danish on the fb. I tried that and the fb comes out looking like plastic.
The fingerboard oil from StewMac is great as it evens out the color of the fb and darkens it. Just wipe it on and buff it dry then let it sit for 24 hours to harden.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Joel, thanks. The paduak has darkened quite a lot already and is the perfect color for the project right now. Isn't there something UV protective I can use to preserve the color before applying the lemon furniture oil? I think i read somewhere that it's light that causes the color to darken.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond, it's been very helpful!
-Jack

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