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When spraying lacquer, my fretboard was carefully masked off with blue 3M tape.

Two questions:

1. After having pulled off a tiny chip of lacquer when I pulled off the tape, when do you guys generally demask? Before or after a two week wait?

2. There is a good deal of cleanup to do where the fretboard edge and the lacquer build meets. What are some of the processes use to recreate or tidy up this edge? I'm tempted to run my finger over this edge when spraying each coat but I've not tried that yet.

Perhaps there are some nifty tricks that can avoid some of this mess in the first place?

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Hi Zlurgh
In my (limited) experience I pull the tape off after as soon as the coatings are all on, the finish is softer, and the tape is easier to remove as well.

Cleanup at the FB edges - I tape right to the edges, and when tape is off and coats dry, I sand the edge/finish gently at an angle (feathering the edges across the F/B side bevel if that makes sense) starting about 240 grit up to 800 and then polish with micromesh sticks like
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Abrasives,_polishes,_buffers/Micro-Mesh_Touch_Up_Stick.html or fingernail buffs which seem to be much the same.
I also polish my frets with them (shiny!), so I don't have to worry about the fret ends.
I'll be interested to see what other suggestions come up in this thread.
Colin

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I leave my FB masking tape a hair inside the edge of the board. This seems to help with reducing chipping along the edge. Like Colin, I sand through the finish, right at the edge of the board using a hard rubber sanding block, then remove the tape. It's important to cut through the finish, right down to the wood, before pulling the tape off.
Once the tape is removed, it's easy to remove the very thin line of finish left on the top edge with a razor blade.
This method gives a cleaner edge than anything else I've tried.
I don't think a finger wipe along the wet finish would be a good idea. You will probably mess up the finish on the edge of the fingerboard.
I usually let the finish dry for a day before sanding the corner & removing the tape.

Stuart,

I mask the top of the fretbroad about 1/16" from each edge. I don't remove the tape until I am ready to buff out. If you roll the tape back over itself as you peel it off, it cuts the seam along the tape line rather than lifts the finish. If I have some particularly thick finish and I am concerned of pulling up the finish, I'll score with a blade prior to removing the the tape.

Because of the way I mask, I end up with finish on the top of the fingerboard/bindings. Similar to Colin, I'll run some 400G paper right down the edge of the f/b, sanding down to bare wood. This separates the finish on the top of the f/b with that on the side, and I can easily clean up the top of the f/b with a razor blade and not worry about chipping the lacquer off the sides. Once the f/b is cleaned up, I'll hit the edge with sandpaper up to 1000G, then buff the top of the f/b with 0000 steel wool.

I guess if chipping were a problem, I could sand along the f/b edge prior to pulling up the tape, but I have never had a problem with the finish chipping on the f/b.

Just another approach.

Ken

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