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I keep looking at these pores and I'm thinking what I should do about them if anything. I spent some time removing some dried wax from them with a dental pick and I can see junk getting into them in the future and I was wondering if I should try and fill them. I was wondering if just using linseed oil on the board would be all that's needed to help keep them clear. I was thinking of maybe filling them with Z-poxy and maybe leaving an alcohol thinned top coat on it. Any suggestions or just leave it alone? It's Madagascar Rosewood and I still have to dress the frets.

I've pore filled Madrose and Braz fingerboards with medium CA. It's kinda aggrivating to keep it off/clean it off the frets but it looked good when I was done.

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I'm no fan of linseed oil. I do use Howard's on my fretboards to freshen them. It's really good on dry Indian rosewood. It would likely leave beeswax residue in the pores, which may not be such a bad deal.

Rick Turner used a sealer type product on all his fretboards. I don't remember at the moment for sure so I'll just see if anyone else remembers. Sylvan Wells uses medium viscosity CA as pore fill under finish, but I don't recall him using it on fretboards.



Howard's FeedNWax, beeswax and orange oil. A customer brought some over to use on his Alembic and Wall bass neck fretboards. We tested a number of products over several days and Howard's won on a Bare sample of Bubinga. Most purchased fretboard treatments seemed to evaporate away. The Howards held and leaves a soft luster. Mineral oil seemed too wet, it would likely be best cut fifty fifty with a light solvent so it would be somewhat thinner.

Frank Ford uses Mineral Oil, and he sez it doubles as a laxative, says so right on the bottle.

One bottle of Howards would last a lifetime treating fretboards....

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Wax in the pores not a good idea as it took me 2 hours to get dried wax out of the pores already. I'm concerned that buffing compound will get into them again. It looks hell with that stuff in there.

Don't use anything. Sand to 800 or 1000 and call it good. Over time, your finger grime will fill the pores anyway.

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I guess I'll just polish it with micro mesh since that's what I'll use to polish the frets then.

Didn't Rick use Waterlox on his boards?

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In my experience, the Howard stuff does not leave a visible wax residue in the pores. I'm sure some wax gets in the pores, but it doesn't look like an ugly white residue at all. The stuff just makes FBs look really good. I've been using it lately (thanks to the recommendations I got here) and liking it a lot. I'd suggest getting some and testing it out for yourself on some scrap.

If I were going to fill the pores in a FB, I'd do it before the frets are in, and I'd probably use CA. I'd insert plastic strips into the fret slots to keep the goo out of them (I do that anyway when gluing binding to the board, so glue doesn't get in the slots). Cut up coffee can lid material works great - got that tip from Al Carruth.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

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I got wax in the pores from sealing the board with a paste wax and running CA under a few frets, I have some fret board oil but to me it seems to darken the wood when tested on a piece of scrap. It's OK for IRW or Ebony but I don't care for it on the MRW. I was thinking that the bit of amber that comes with Z-poxy would inhance the color. I've never used Z-poxy and was wondering why no one has use it on a board? I didn't realize the pores might be some problem until after fretting. This is my first time working with MRW also. I have to say that I do like the color of the MRW.

That has happened to me with paste wax, too. Now I know that if I want to use that method with CA, I need to get a colored wax that matches the color of the wood. Anyway, the Howard stuff isn't a paste wax, it's more of a penetrating oil that has some wax in it, and it won't leave the pores full of white wax residue. It does darken the wood somewhat, like any penetrating oil would, but not excessively if the wood is sanded/polished to a fine grit before you put it on. I would describe the darkening effect as "deepening" or "bringing out the color"; in other words, I think it looks really good on a wood like Mad rosewood.

I would be concerned that with epoxy, even thinned, you'd be laying a film on the surface more than penetrating the wood, and therefore you'd have it wearing off in patches and looking like crap before long. That's the beauty of a penetrating oil for a FB - it may start to appear somewhat worn or dry after a while, but it's easy to renew with more oil.

I would really recommend getting some Howard Feed 'n' Wax. Polish up a piece of Mad rosewood to 800 grit or finer and put some of the stuff on. You might be pleasantly surprised at how nice it looks.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

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I'll give a go. Any thoughts on Tru oil?

I don't have a lot of experience with Tru-Oil, but, given that it's really a varnish, I wouldn't think it would be the best choice for FBs. Then again, I do recall Rick T saying he used Waterlox, which is also a varnish. I don't know. I'm happy with the Howard stuff, so I have no motivation to experiment further.

I just had an idea, though, about filling pores on FBs - not an original idea, I'm sure. I'm presently making a couple of Mad rosewood FBs myself, and the pores are indeed pretty huge. Like a cat clawed the board. I wouldn't mind filling them, if I had a method I liked. Since we were talking about how paste wax gets in the pores, I'm thinking about trying a colored wax - like a "liming wax" method of pore filling for contrast, but with a wax colored to match the rosewood, rather than to contrast with it. I might experiment with using rosewood dust to color some neutral colored Black Bison wax I have. Or some pigment. If I follow through with this idea, I'll let you know how it goes.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

How about dyed baking soda. Pack the pores and when you hit it with CA the soda accelerates the CA. It would be an instance fill. I'm not sure if the finish product would be a gloss but it might depend on the degree of sanding or polish.
Cat scratches, that's pretty good.

That's an interesting idea, Chris. I don't want to get into having to sand back/re-level the FBs at this point, though. They're all perfectly radiused and sanded up to 800 already. The excess wax would just wipe off (maybe with a little help from a smidge of mineral spirits, if necessary) and not add crud to my nice surface. Plus, I don't see the need for a really hard, permanent type of pore fill like one would use under a film finish, as on the rest of the guitar. If the wax idea works, it seems like a perfect solution for a FB, where wax wouldn't pose any problems, and where the "top coat" will be an oil/wax mixture anyway.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Baking soda with CA will look white and be impossible to remove without sanding the board back.
I think Rick Turner uses Waterlox original (a sealer, or really thin varnish) on his fretboards. It will not fill the pores.
Personally I do not really see the point of finishing a fretboard other than maple: after some use it will look like Hell with worn and finished areas.
My method is to mix boiled linseed oil with turpentine (or mineral spirits) 50/50. Wipe on the board, wait a few minutes, wipe off. Before attaching new strings I use Howard feed'n'wax, same thing: wipe on, wipe off. The pores will slowly diseapear with grime as said, meanwhile they're sealed.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Chris, try Howard's, you can thank us later. Grin.

I would never have dropped the ten to twelve bucks for a bottle, just to try it.

A bass player got some for his antique clock on recommendation to feed the wood / finish.

We tested the stuff against what I had already, and it won hands down.

It has a little body, so it will collect and dry in pores invisibly.

I hear what you are saying, other polishing compounds should never touch bare wood. I hate white dried compound which migrates to bridges and fingerboards when final prepping, grrr.

You have to shake the bottle after it sits a while or solvent will be all you get, so be careful to shake before applying and apply sparingly. Like I said, it's a lifetime supply practically for fretboards. I've found myself finding other uses besides guitars. Nice to have around.

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I'd leave it alone as well. Just a dab of fingerboard oil or something similar. Hey it's wood not phenolic.
Terry

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Thanks for the tip on "Howard's" Bruce.
My local Ace ordered a bottle for me.
Nelson

Hi Nelson. I just finished supper, a simple sandwich on really good bread. Home roast coffee bean-brewed fresh, mmmm. So, knowing another slice of that bread was over there, I put the same ingredients on it and chowed.

It just wasn't the same. Why wasn't my sandwich as good? (lightbulb comes on) I forgot the hotsauce, which was added to the last three scrumptious bites.

Moral of the story: It's those little details that make good great.

When Steve had me treat his high dollar bass fretboards with the Howards I learned first hand, the best product I personally ever slathered on a fretboard. I like their description on their website, buffs all wood surfaces to a soft luster and protects with a coating of natural waxes.

I can understand anyone reading the word wax and thinking Rain Dance or Turtle Wax and the dried whitish crusty stuff you might get. I would never put Rain Dance or Turtle Wax on a guitar. Grin.

Oh, and for the purists who say nothing, I agree 100 percent. Eventually those boards get grimed up (think Kentucky Fried Chicken and cigarette smoke) and will require cleaning. For those in the nothing camp, consider Howards then.

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Well Chris,

my philosophy is simple..."if it gets the pig clean ...use it"

In other words...whatever you can shove into them pours that will stay put and not look like they been filled.

Fine sawdust, cayolin clay, chalk, talk, or baking soda, with an add colourant to match the wood and a binder of some sort...CA, epoxy, white glue, hide glue...hell they even use egg whites and in some cases even sperm as a binder. But we don't hear of that one too much any more.

So to recap...filler, colourant and binder.

Now that is one heck of a lot of variations of options...and you know what...they will all " get the pig clean" or the pours filled.

Dang it Chris, even bondo and some colourant will fill em up!

Regarding waxes and varnishes and oils and lacquer and polyurethane ...well they are also viable options.

Next time...fill first, then slot and fret...much easier.

Me, well me a Mr. Natural kind guy and wood just leave it as is. But thats me.

Oh, and thank you for all them videos you produce. Really appreciated.


blessings
the
Padma

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Seconded, Chris I liked the bridge video, and the abalone inlay.....

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i don't think nothing needs to be done. It doesn't affect the tone of the instrument and i kinda like the look of it myself.

I agreee, "nothing" is just fine.
But that's my point of view.
Problem is that the customer's perspective is sometimes an unknown.
My favorite customer is the "nothing" sort of person but the other customer
thinks everything should look shiny like plastic. (grrrrr)

Hi,Chris,
I think it's more of a concern to you than to anyone else. But, it's your guitar and you need to be happy with it. Follow your instinct. I can tell you this, though: One of my factory archtops had a rosewood fingerboard with pores like your fingerboard. Within about three months, the pores were all filled naturally by my constant playing.
Follow your instinct and make it the way YOU want it. It'll work out great, regardless of which path you follow.
Patrick

Chris, I think all of us who've buffed out a guitar, know the whitish dried compound look on fretboards or bridges, it's nasty and must be carefully removed to look good.

The natural products in the Howards, just seem to fit well on a handmade instrument. It like any type of finish or preservative will pop the grain and slightly darken. So if you like the color and don't want it to darken, I'd advise against using Howards. For anyone trying it, go for some scrap wood first, or do a test like I did for my bass customer. In a couple years now of use, I've been very pleased. I don't put it on finished wood, no need to do that. It seems to do as advertised conditioning of dry bare wood surfaces and leaves a soft luster.

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