Official Luthiers Forum!

First time building with a maple fingerboard.
Should the fingerboard have a finish ?
I'm thinking Tru Oil ?

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

I have always used Nitro but I don't see why Tru-Oil wouldn't work.

Dave we on occasion will do a Waterlox finish on maple boards and our clients seem to really like it and say so. The idea to use Waterlox came from Rick Turner RIP. I've also seen these boards a couple years out and it seems to wear well and be wear resistant to a degree.

Super easy to use too.

Fender has used both nitro and some sort of poly, finished over the frets and then the crown is scraped clean. I've refretted one maple fender neck and had to touch up the nitro. It was enough of a hassle that I will let others do it in the future.

A shortcut is to finish the fingerboard before fretting. I use Minwax Wipe-On Poly which is similar to Tru-Oil.

I have never done that, but it's a darn good idea I think I will try the next time I do a maple board.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

A pre-fret finish also makes it easy to keep the fingerboard clean during fret work. I liked it so much that I had to talk myself out of finishing every fretboard in the shop.

How do you prevent the finish from filling the fret slots?

Wipe sideways to apply. Then one light parallel swipe to level.

I thin Minwax poly with mineral spirits and wipe several coats on the un-fretted finely sanded board.
Long, uninterrupted wipes.
I can get a very shiny surface this way.
I found the wipe-on poly is too thick out of the can.
I have not had any issues with the poly in the slots.
On some species with small open pores, Tru-Oil works better for filling the pores.

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