Toughening and Toning up a Rosewood fingerboard

**Fret Less** · 14th March 2013, 01:42 PM

Before I ask, I just want to say I know this is an incendiary question and I've been trolled and shouted down at a well-known bass forum for even bringing it up. I also know through searching the web that it's not so stupid. I've seen luthiers repairing cracks this way and I've also seen many examples of full epoxy fingerboards.

What I'm proposing is combining the two (repair and coating), and I'd like some help and mentoring on approaching this slowly and seriously.

Q: How can I combine the benefits of Rosewood and Epoxy to make a musically pleasing and mechanically hard-wearing fingerboard for my fretless bass?

It has a Rosewood one already and it's wearing a lot faster than it should, and I also want a brighter tone and slightly better dynamics, whilst preserving the lovely tone of Rosewood as much as possible. I really don't want my bass to sound like a Fender with a plastic fingerboard. I actually had one of those, but that's another story.

There's a lot more to discuss, and I have begun some trials on a spare neck with slow (very old stock, unfortunately) CA. I also believe I may have found a good source of Rosewood and would like some help identifying it accurately.

I also need to know if anyone has tried to use pumice powder to create micro-shavings (I saw this demonstrated in a classical guitar building book).

I'm keen to learn and experiment and I hope we can have a fruitful discussion about this. I'm not after a quick off-the-cuff opinion, but a thoughtful enquiry into this concept. I don't want to be haggled to abandon the idea or shave the neck down and let it wear again and reset the action and everything. I don't want ebony or plastic, I want hardened Rosewood. I know I've written a lot, but I've tried to keep it to the point and avoid any cause for a flame war.

**Ball Peen** · 14th March 2013, 02:26 PM

You're on the right track . Jaco liked round wound strings on fretless and did just that, epoxy on RW. He topped it up as needed.
TalkBass Forums

**Fret Less** · 14th March 2013, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Ball Peen

You're on the right track . Jaco liked round wound strings on fretless and did just that, epoxy on RW. He topped it up as needed.
TalkBass Forums

Thanks for the encouragement. I also had a look at your site and nice basses, I'd like to ask a you a question about the piezo's you used for the bridge on your EUB's. That is, unless it's a trade secret. I was trying to make a short-scale bass and bought these piezo's from the US, but I'm not too happy with them. I'll send you a PM, rather than hijack my own thread.

**Ball Peen** · 15th March 2013, 08:27 AM

Hi fretless, no trade secrets. I use a piezo film from Electronic Hardware

All piezos work best with a preamp very close to the source. On my acoustic DB I use a pickup similar to yours and a " K&K pure preamp " that clips on my belt. I shorten the lead from bass to preamp.

My EUBs have an on board preamp. I use the K&K with my fiddle, mandolin and guitar as well.

**DarwinStrings** · 15th March 2013, 11:19 AM

G'day Fretless, Here is a tute Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum • View topic - Epoxy Pore Filling Demo on pore filling but it should help in your case as well. I have not looked at the tute for ages but am pretty sure Allen uses West Systems (very hard). Pumice from memory is a pore filler used with shellac, if you are pore filling with West Systems you don't need it.

Jim

**Fret Less** · 15th March 2013, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by Ball Peen

Hi fretless, no trade secrets. I use a piezo film from Electronic Hardware

All piezos work best with a preamp very close to the source. On my acoustic DB I use a pickup similar to yours and a " K&K pure preamp " that clips on my belt. I shorten the lead from bass to preamp.

My EUBs have an on board preamp. I use the K&K with my fiddle, mandolin and guitar as well.

Originally Posted by DarwinStrings

G'day Fretless, Here is a tute Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum • View topic - Epoxy Pore Filling Demo on pore filling but it should help in your case as well. I have not looked at the tute for ages but am pretty sure Allen uses West Systems (very hard). Pumice from memory is a pore filler used with shellac, if you are pore filling with West Systems you don't need it.

Jim

Thanks guys, That's enough to keep me busy for a while. That epoxy pore filling demo is exactly the kind of thing I was after.

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