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Will EM6000 work on a maple fingerboard? I'm thinking about a tele with a nice quilted fingerboard and I'm thinking that I would lay down some shellac and then EM6000... Any other comments?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I've only brushed EM6000 on guitar bodies, so I don't have the experience of spraying.
Based on my results with it, I would not expect it to stand up well at all on a fingerboard.
I've heard that it hardens much better when sprayed, though. So you might want to hear from others before tossing out the idea.

Don't know Steve but wanted to offer and easy alternative. As you know we are in the repair business so refretting Fenders with finished Maple boards is part of our lives here at the shop. It's a hassle, greatly extends the wait time for both Luthier and client, and of course this makes it more expensive too to refinish maple boards with lacquer. When you are done what do you have as well? A thick, glossy finish that not everyone even likes the look and feel of.

So, when appropriate for the instrument..... meaning there is no reason not to make this change..... AND the clients taste and budget we have been using Minwax Wipe-on Poly with excellent results. It's tough, can be done is a couple of days, has less gloss, and is repairable if ever need be by adding more. No spraying, very fast to apply in thin wipe-on coats kind of like True Oil and folks tend to really like the look and feel of it.

It's not traditional in the Fender world but I won't tell is you don't.

That is a great idea Hesh! Thanks for that advice. I have a plain quarter sawn maple neck blank that I thought could be jazzed up with a quilted fretboard that I can purchase from Northern Hardwoods. I'm thinking that with a dark, possibly black body that would look sharp.

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I'm surprised to hear that wipe-on Minwax poly will hold up on a fret board. A number of years ago Mario Proulx advised against using it on necks as it doesn't hold up. Despite that advice, I used it on one guitar because it was easy and the results looked good to me. However, Mario was right. The finish wore off in use and I ended up having to re-finish the neck.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

What about CA? Seems like it would be good for fingerboards since it penetrates somewhat. Especially if you use thin CA for the first coat.

If you can deal with the fumes, I'm sure you can use CA to do the finish. I think I'd go with Tru Oil however... it's tough and players like its feel. I can't really spray lacquers now but I suppose I can keep a can of Reranch lacquer (or seagraves in a preval unit) for the time when customers do demand a glossy maple fingerboard.

The problem is making it look seamless because modern Fenders are finished in poly.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Hesh,
According to Pat, Wipe on Poly may not not be such a good idea... I guess I could get an aerosol can of nitrocellulose lacquer and spray the neck with that. I've been using EM6000 with good success for my other builds without finished fingerboards. For this tele build I thought a quilted board would be nice. I could just use a rosewood or other board that doesn't need to be finished, but then I would have to nix the idea of a quilted maple board...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

We've had good luck with it and we've also had good luck with True Oil on Fender style maple necks. True Oil will darken the wood a bit, test on scrap to be sure that you like it first.

Either of these are an "economy" fix and have to be appropriate for the instrument as well meaning that it would not be appropriate to do this on a valuable instrument with a Fender style neck with the fix instead being more a mater of proper restoration than getting it done.

In the repair business refetting Fender style guitars with maple necks has been problematic for all of time (that these have been out). Why? Because not only is there a refret, if the guitar is old enough the frets may have to be driven out sideways as they were once put in. Leo was a master of manufacturability with his excellent design that could be produced fairly inexpensively considering resulting in more folks being able to have one. He designed and built guitars for the masses and on this goal he hit it out of the park.

When it comes to serviceability there were some issues..... as well as a few design nits too...

One example is the desire to use a standard piece of lumber for the necks. What results is too little set-back angle for the G string breaking over the nut. String trees are a good fix but not all Fenders have that second set of string trees. My strat does.....

Another example back in the day but not these days is the truss rod adjust that required loosening the neck bolts and some creative "hope this works" manipulation of the neck to get to the truss rod adjustor. At least Leo used a truss rod though, not everyone did back then.

Perhaps the crowing example of not building the designs to be all that serviceable was the maple necks with lacquer sprayed on them after fretting. Looks great and folks like it when new. Come refret time not only will the client be paying for the refret (and if the ax is old enough perhaps more because the frets have to be driven out sideways....) but they also have to pop for some refinish work too - not cheap nor should it be if priced in accordance with the time and effort required. And.... since we are spraying lacquer on a fret board where the strings and fingers will be abrading the board while in use that lacquer has to be thick enough AND cured enough too to withstand this application.

You can do SM rattle can lacquer as well and that's the traditional way to do this with lacquer. You will be waiting longer for the finish to cure so that it can be buffed safely and be sure that your frets are all the way down and the ends nice and rounded or the Buffer can catch a fret end, rip it out or worse send the neck flying.... By the way this is not just a possibility, it happens in real life.

If I were spraying lacquer, and sometimes we have to if that's the choice of the client, I would use SM rattle can because of the solids it builds faster and there is no gun to clean, etc. I'd be looking for at least 9 coats, possibly 12.

What I would be reluctant to use is the water based lacquer, EM 6000 or any water based lacquer on the fret board. Just don't think that the stuff is hard or tough enough for this application where again we have abrading happening as standard fare.

I do recall that some including Mario did not like Minwax wipe on poly for necks in general but can't remember specifically if the application was the maple boards of Fender style necks. Electrics and finishing their necks has not been a common topic on this forum and it was only in 2008 or so that Lance started letting the electric folks in here.

By the way these style of maple necks can add 1/3rd to the bill to get a refret, sometimes more because of the lack of serviceability when it comes to the finish being sprayed over the frets. There are guitars that we can refret and preserve the original finish but it's contingent on the current condition and what vintage instrument it is with what finish, Fender has used several over the years and it can vary with the off shore offerings as well.

A white maple neck and a gloss black body is what my strat has.... Mine has two sets of string trees (recommended....) and a hum bucker in the bridge position. I've been planning on replacing the pups with Lindy Frailin pups but just have not gotten around to it yet. Mine is several years old and the action is still rising and falling with RH changes.... I know that any wooden instrument can do this but it was not expected with a solid body Fender. Makes me wonder how well seasoned the wood was.

Fender has committed 1/4 of their production for Guitar C*nter.... Both companies are not in great financial shape either.... I've been hoping for a while that if GC tanks that they don't take Fender with them. Time will tell and I'm digressing again... sorry.