fretlessness

[stranker]

alright, my equipment from stewmac should be coming today or tomorrow, meaninig i have all my equipment to start defretting my crap 1st guitar
I have:
Clear 30 min epoxy (full bonding strength in 8 hours)
80 grit sandpaper
120 grit sandpaper
150 grit
180 grit
220 grt
320 grit
masking tape (to mask the guitar when sanding)
and i just ordered a 20' radiused sanding block
and some special fret pullers
So, how long should i use each grit of sandpaper and would you say i'm well stocked?

[sunshineplaysbass]

You really don't need all of that, you will be fine with 150, 220, and 320, plus the fret pullers arent necessary, and you can just take the neck off (if its a bolt on) rather than covering the body.
But other than that start on the lowest grit to get the finish off, it should then be a light brown (rosewood fretboard i am speaking of) and the progressively get to higher grits until it is incredibly smooth.

[stranker]

well also i was wondering if it'd be safe to go for round 2 with the epoxy cause i did a ****ty job on some of the frets
today, i mean
cause its been drying for about a day
full bonding time is 8 hours
and its definetly past that.

[LambofDeth]

I'm not using Epoxy but i'm using something very similar...however i didn't sand very fine (only used 150) before putting stain on it because they stuff i'm using; called Envirotex, is 'self levelling and smooth'. I'm not sure if i should sand it very fine and then stain it again, or if i should just put the stuff on and smooth that out? I think i should be fine how i'm proceeding.

[Thonk]

Do as many layers as you feel necessary.

Before I sold mine, I only did 2 layers (I used polyurethane) and I felt I should have done a lot more..

[sunshineplaysbass]

I almost went overkill on mine's polyurethane, i believe i did about 10 coats clear, sanded it off a little (so the next layer would adhere better) then 3 coats colored poly, then another 3 clear. so 16 coats total, haha

[stranker]

eh. i'm not using a stainer on mine
....although i do kinda wish my fretboard looked like ebony
how would i go about this staining process?

[Son of Magni]

eh. i'm not using a stainer on mine
....although i do kinda wish my fretboard looked like ebony
how would i go about this staining process?
I'm not sure what you mean by staining, but there's an easy way to "ebonize" wood. This is a chemical process that will make most types of wood turn black.

Of course try it out somewhere not too noticable first.

Take a glass jar and put one piece of steel wool and a few non-galvanized nails in the jar. Pour in two or three cups of white vinegar. Wait two days. Now use a rag to put the liquid on the wood, or just put one drop somewhere as a test. Avoid any orange rust that has appeared in the jar.

It will start to turn black right away and continue to get darker for a few hours.

The longer you leave the metal in the jar the stronger it gets, up to a week or so.

For more info google: steel wool vinegar ebonize

[LambofDeth]

^^
If you ask me that's a tad unnessecary, though probably better in the long run. As i'm sure you know you can by wood stains/varnish/polyuerathane in different colors, and you can usually get an ebony/rosewood colored stain at any hardware or paint store. I just bought a cheap 5$ thing of minwax and did 2 coats of it. Then when you want to epoxy/poly it up, run a steel wool along the surface so it has something to grab on to and git er dun.
Simple and so far mine looks fine.

[Vespae]

When I did mine I actually took the fretboard off completely (it was a maple fretboard) and attached a piece of ebony that I got from a company called Touchstone Tonewoods then spent an age gently sanding it, a long and laborious process as Ebony is a bit tough (piece of advice if you do ever plan to do it this way, don't sand it down in the house, the dust that comes off it is very fine, very black and coats everything!) thought I'd leave it pristine and unblemised at the front so only used mother of pearl dot markers on the edge, kinda wish I'd drawn on fretlines though

[stranker]

I'm not sure what you mean by staining, but there's an easy way to "ebonize" wood. This is a chemical process that will make most types of wood turn black.

Of course try it out somewhere not too noticable first.

Take a glass jar and put one piece of steel wool and a few non-galvanized nails in the jar. Pour in two or three cups of white vinegar. Wait two days. Now use a rag to put the liquid on the wood, or just put one drop somewhere as a test. Avoid any orange rust that has appeared in the jar.

It will start to turn black right away and continue to get darker for a few hours.

The longer you leave the metal in the jar the stronger it gets, up to a week or so.

For more info google: steel wool vinegar ebonize
that's pretty cool actually, i might try that on my mod guitar. thank you =]

[Son of Magni]

that's pretty cool actually, i might try that on my mod guitar. thank you =]
I think it's a lot nicer than dye, it seems to give more character, imo