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Hi Peeps,

I'm looking for ideas to help solve a problem that I keep running into.

Like most (I think!) I mask off the top and sides of the fretboard prior to spraying finish on the back/headstock etc. on a neck. I don't want finish on the fretboard top or side surfaces. The spraying goes well, and I let the stuff dry before removing the masking tape. Here's where I run into the problem. There's always a small ridge on the side of the neck where the finish ends and the fretboard begins. This is most annoying to players.

I've tried smoothing the ridge with 600grit wet/dry paper - no good - it always seems to remove too much finish from the neck wood and looks cruddy. I've tried tapering off the amount of spray finish on the sides as I spray - no good - the ridge line is still noticeable. I've tried just masking off the top surface of the fretboard only, leaving the finish line right at the edge of the fretboard - no good - the ridge line at the edge of the fretboard is just as noticeable and looks cruddy IMO.

So, what do you guys do to either forestall this problem or correct it?

Puzzled,
Dave F.

P.S. I can take a piccy of my latest neck to show the problem if anyone wants....

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

What kind of finish are you using? (it may not matter) I only tape off the top of the fingerboard. After it's done I kinda....round the corner with 1200 grit, then 2000 grit. I've got a neck that's finished, but still taped in my shop. I'll take some pictures when I un tape it.

FWIW I use ML Campbell 2K urethane on all my necks, unless the client specifies something different. I doubt this matters.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
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Dave bro I fret my necks after finishing and my necks are finished on the sides of the fretboard right up to the transition from the side to the top of the fretboard. When I fret my boards on the finished neck I take a very fine file that has been epoxied to a wood handle, not unlike what you can purchase at Stew-Mac but shop-made and finer than the commercial offering and I file the ends of the frets even with each other. This action also takes the ridge left from where the finish ends on the side/top of the fretboard and bevels this ridge into a bevel that is much less pronounced than when the tape was removed. It's really just breaking that edge with a very fine file. You can see where the finish ends but it looks good but more importantly the ridge is beveled away to nothing and I don't think that it can be felt by a player.

Hi Dave
I can't claim much experience but felt the same about my necks after finishing although I run the finish up to the top of the fretboard edge.
After gently fine sanding the edges of the lacquer, I used micromesh sticks (like the nail buffs, 3 faces with increasing fineness) on edges of the laquer before applying oil to the fretboard and polishing up with a cloth with good results. (They polish up the frets really well too!)
The thing is with the way you are finishing to the bottom of the fretboard, you will always have the transition from finished to unfinished wood on a "level" surface, rather than on the curve at the edge of the fretboard - I'm not sure that even the micromesh will completely resolve your problem.

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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 only mask off the top of the fret board and spray the sides. It will give you a cleaner appearance .

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I mask only the top of the fret board. After spraying and curing, pull the tape and sand the small bevel on the fretboard created when beveling the frets. This leaves a flawless transition that you cannot even feel.

Chuck

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Thanks for all your replies folks. Most helpful. The reason that I was doing it this way is that I really didn't want any finish on the fretboard extension edges or underside. It seemed easier all round to apply the masking tape also.

So, I just tried fine-sanding the ridge on my latest neck to try and smooth it in a bit. It didn't work. It took off too much finish from the neck and looked ugly. So, I sanded all the finish back to wood again, and tried the method of taping only the top of the fretboard. This was really fiddly to do, but only took about 15 minutes in the end. Since my fretboard is already fretted, with dome-end frets that end about 15 mil short of the side of the fretboard, I was able to mask just the top and trim the tape at the edge of the fretboard nicely. On the fretboard extension, I decided that just a super-thin strip of finish only on the sides of the fretboard would not last long, and would probably look ugly, so I unmasked the first half inch of the underside of the fretboard extension also. I just put on a new first coat, and it looks good so far!

Thanks again for your help and advice everyone. I think it's going to work - I'll bevel the fretboard edge ever-so-slightly with a super-fine file when the finish is dry!

Cheers,
Dave F.

P.S. I'm using General Finishes "Enduro" water based pre-catalized urethane on this one, sprayed on with a Turbinaire HVLP.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"