Hi folks! Newbie member/builder here. I have walnut. 100+ board feet, kiln-dried, waiting patiently in the frigid shop. Last woodworking activity was in 7th grade (50+ years ago). Am a bit rusty.
Am looking for opinions on finishing necks. Built a grand total of one. It's walnut. W/ walnut fretboard. Yes, I know, "walnut is too soft for a fretboard." Too bad. Until one of these sugar maples falls over, everything's going to be walnut. I'm intending on finishing the back of the neck with shellac (because we've gone to the Dark Side with antique Singer sewing machines and they need to be refinished with shellac, so...). That's a whole 'nother discussion.
What recommendations do folks have for the fretboard finish? Of course, because I have no friggin' idea what I'm doing, I fretted the thing before finishing it. Duh. I'm pretty sure that wasn't covered that in my 7th grade shop class. Anyway, I see all manner of ideas out there--tung oil, lemon oil, nitrocellulose explosive spray, varnish, everything but shellac. I don't care if the fretboard gets grungy or stained. This ain't an L-5 I'm building here. But I suspect it could stand just a bit of protection nonetheless.
So, fill or no fill? Oil or no oil? Varnish? Llama spit? Advice welcome.
Ziggy
Replies
We use black walnut all the time as fretboards (when I say all the time, I mean hundreds and hundreds of them) and it's absolutely fine. It does not need a finish, just a light application of lemon oil or similar fretboard treatment. Don't put lacquer, shellac ,TrueOil, Danish Oil, tung oil or anything like that on it, just lemon oil will do the job.
Thanks for the info. Question: what are you using for lemon oil? Furniture polish stuff? Pure lemon essential oil? Specialized fretboard treatment stuff (eg: Dunlop)? Your own concoction? The Intergoogle is full of conflicting info (surprising, I know), so would appreciate some first-hand input. thx
We make our own fretboard treatments - a pure food grade mineral oil with essential lemon oil, and also a fretboard cleaner and conditioner with oil of Atlas Cedar. Don't use furniture polish as it usually has stuff you don't want such as silicone in it - the commercially available fretboard oil by Dunlop etc is fine, but as we make so many guitars, we prefer to make our own fretboard treatment and make it available too the public rather than buy it in.
Cool, what I needed to know. I suspected that the furniture polish had elements that might not be desirable. I'm a scientist by trade, but I'm retired and really don't feel up to running organic chemistry experiments! I think we'll go with the commercial stuff. Thanks, man, appreciate it!
They ALL work... Purists will say to use Lemon oil, but any drying oil will be fine, as will be shellac... Wipe it on thin, wipe off the frets...
It's all good.
Note response to Matt above. The sewing machine oil worked nicely. And, yeah, we've somehow started on restoring old sewing machines, so we have about a gallon of the stuff lying around!
You can also look into Tru-Oil, its a gunstock finish made by Birchwood/Casey. You can get most anywhere that sells sporting goods. Its an oil blend that dries fairly quick and has good build ability. I've used it on walnut several times Put a few coats on, buff it down with steel wool and repeat and it will give you a nice smooth semi gloss finish.You can always take steel wool to it to dull it to a matte finish if preferred.
Yeah, I looked hard at the Tru-Oil. Seems easy to work with, relatively non-toxic, and easy to find, which is one of the crucial elements here in the middle of nowhere! I may still experiment with that. Right now this is all a "discovery learning" exercise.
Since I started this thread, I've taken the plunge and gone with the white oil on the fretboard. It's a bit dull, but it's walnut and I haven't buffed it or anything. Over-oiling is not a good thing, I realize, but I may dab a bit more on and give it a good polish, as you suggest.
Also did the shellac trip on the rest of the neck. Washcoat, slurry fill, about 20 French Polish rounds. Given that I have no idea whatsoever of what the heck I'm doing, I'm astonished at the shellac finish. It's gorgeous. Found a few streaks left by the pad (it was the pad, not me...:)...) and just ran a pad lightly-wetted w/ alcohol over it, they came right out. It's astonishing. And beats trying to set up a spray booth in a tiny, unheated shop when it's 6 degrees outside!
Thanks for the tip!
Let us know how that works out. You're talking about just the fretboard, or the whole ax?
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