Staining a Rosewood fingerboard to a darker more even colour

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:19 pm

Want to darken my streaky Epi 339 fretboard darker, to a more even and darker colour.

Anyone know any suggestions ?

The Streakiness is accentuated due to the colour of the guitar being black, I think lemon oil will just accentuate the grain further and not bring an even tone.

I need something more substantial.

thanks
O

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 2:04 pm

I've heard from multiple sources that Walnut oil (particularly Black Walnut oil) will do the trick.
I haven't tried this for myself yet but that seems to be the general consensus.

Here are before and after shots (small aplication) I've pulled from this thread on http://www.strat-talk.com/

Before Walnut oil

After teh Walnut oil

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:25 am

Well and THEY do make fretboard dye. Even fretboard oil makes it slightly darker.

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:38 pm

Cheers guys, that's pretty much what I'm after... my board is pretty streaky like the one above.

Perhaps that method is a little extreme though.

Would Walnut oil make it more uniform ?

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 8:13 pm

I would assume you could use any wood stain. The stuff at Stew Mac appears to be regular Fiebling's dye that is used for shoes. They make it in other colours than black if you buy it elsewhere.

http://www.fiebing.com/catalogue/dyes/

dren68 · Post by **dren68** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 6:34 pm

I was actually looking to do the very same thing, and after searching online found that most suggestions other than some kind of stain, were some kind of oil for conditioning wood - either linseed, lemon, walnut, etc. Another suggestion I read about was bore oil, which is used mainly on woodwind instruments, so I ordered some Roche Thomas Bore Oil and I'll see how it works as soon as I have a chance to try it out. Anyway, I hope that helps.

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:52 am

From my experiences with bore oil, it does not darken rosewood but instead gives it a richer colour, which has never lasted very long for me.

dren68 · Post by **dren68** » Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:29 am

Narco Martenot wrote:From my experiences with bore oil, it does not darken rosewood but instead gives it a richer colour, which has never lasted very long for me.

That's kind of disappointing to hear. Oh well... I guess I'll find out soon enough. I only spent like $4 on it, so if it doesn't make it darker, it's no big deal. I was trying to keep from staining the neck, so I might try walnut oil if the bore oil doesn't work.

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:15 am

It does make the fretboard much richer in colour and is a lot prettier, in my opinion. It's worth a shot to see how you like it. It smells kind of nice as well.

dren68 · Post by **dren68** » Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:06 pm

Narco Martenot wrote:It does make the fretboard much richer in colour and is a lot prettier, in my opinion. It's worth a shot to see how you like it. It smells kind of nice as well.

Cool. Yeah, I'll at least try it and see how it looks. Probably this weekend.