I defretted my bass some time ago, but I never filled in the slots. It seemed to play fine as it was. Well, now I'd like a smoother fingerboard, and I thought it might be neat to plop a metal surface on my current fingerboard. I'm thinking it would have a nice sharp slap tone. What do you guys think? Would it buzz too much?

There's a French company that does that.

Make sure you attach it well. I just made a fingerboard with paduak under a thin layer of galvanized steel, and used epoxy to attach it to the maple neck. A month later, it fell off!

You might just consider filling the slots, and then coating the fretboard with mylar. Works very well, as I have heard. And not very difficult to apply.

Definitely possible...

http://www.le-fay.com/Lefay.com/Bilder/remington_miami_front.gif

Some how, it just seems.... I dunno, unnatural comes to mind. :scowl:

Some how, it just seems.... I dunno, unnatural comes to mind. :scowl:

As so many said about Steinbergers and graphite necks... :smug:

True, but I never found Steinbergers to be THAT odd... This just weirds me out... I can only imagine its GOTTA sound thin & tinny.

tinny.

Now there's a pun. :p


Naw doood, it sounds METUL! :bassist:

And people thought Kramer was daft in the 70's with the 300...

I could go either way with this issue. In order to get the metal board to work with the wood, you'd have to do something to prep the underside or any mating surface mind you, so that the adhesive could create a proper mechanical bond. Metal just isn't that porous in that the glue can adhere properly.

Couldn't even begin to tell ya how to prep it, but it would definitely be key.

Vaccaro uses a T-bar system with a back wood shell for the neck...look into how they do it.

LOL...

Adhesion is the other reason this weirds me out... for all the reasons you listed, Mon. I just KNOW in 6months, the FB would fall off.

Wait wait, it just occurred to me. This HAS to be how its done. The FB has to be a single forge slab of say, stainless steel, aluminum seems soft to me, but maybe that's why you'd use it. Anyway, whatever metal is being worked, they probably have threaded screw holes forged right to the underside of the FB.

Then, a series of small holes could be drilled into the actually neck, where it could be screwed on. Of course, you KNOW it would rattle, unless you put some cushioning material between the neck & the metal fb.

Or gallons of lock-tite. V:O)

Then you could BONDO the screwcaps. ;)

There is a company that sells granite fingeboards. I had the URL to their site, lemme see if I can find it (there was another thread here about them a while back, I'll see if I can find that, too..)

:^)~

is it http://www.nexus-guitars.com/models/hiphuggergstone.html ???

Ya beat me to it, but yeup, that's the one!

:^)~

I think that's a really neat idea.

For rock. Hardy har har. :bassist:

Andreas makes aluminum fretboards.

At one time, I took aluminum foil and put it on my Precis's fretboard for fun back in the 70. It was just too "metallic" with my roundwound, stainless steel strings.

But you never know till you try.

I think the fingerboard would have to be glued. Bolting wouldn't give sufficient contact for even tone across the surface.

A steel fingerboard thick enough to tap useful blind holes into would be too heavy.

Aluminum could not be used because of wear, possibly unless it was hardcoat anodized. Stainless steel is very good with wear though. As I imagine granite would be.

Yea, granite is REALLY interesting to me...

Not if yer gonna bang yer head against that too.

No granite for you! :smug:

I knew I had seen this somewhere, and check it out:
http://www.webcorp.com/btr/f4balu.gif
I saw it in the '96-'97 buyers guide, it's called Born To Rock :) but not only is the fretboard aluminum, but the rest also....
http://www.webcorp.com/btr/btr.htm

one of the guys here, christoph h., has a lefay remington steele with the steel board and he had some sound clips posted...thin and tinny, it was NOT...it actually sounded really sweet...nice basses

Well, since it only sounds mediocre now, and it probably won't be worse than mediocre with metal on it, I think I have my answer. And glue it is, which is what I was thinking anyway. I'll just have to find the right glue. I bet stone would be fun too, but I've never worked with that before. Maybe next time.

Definitely possible...

http://www.le-fay.com/Lefay.com/Bilder/remington_miami_front.gif


Looks like a mix between a ritter and a lakland. Not my cup of tea, but cool.

Stone, huh? Can you say NECK DIVE??????

Wait one stinkin minute! How would the trussrod work with a stone fingerboard????

no, the lefay has a steel fingerboard

Use BLACK screws to bolt on the fretboard. Use one screw at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 15th, 17th, 19, and 21st fret, and use two screws at the 12th and 24th frets!

Use BLACK screws to bolt on the fretboard. Use one screw at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 15th, 17th, 19, and 21st fret, and use two screws at the 12th and 24th frets!

/\ That sounds like really bad advice.

Maybe bolts with glue, but I wouldn't trust just one or the other.

It was a joke...
Sorry if that didn't come across

I just meant you wouldn't have to worry about dot inlays...

It was a joke...
Sorry if that didn't come across

I just meant you wouldn't have to worry about dot inlays...

Hmm. :D

I was just making sure somebody didn't ruin a good neck by drilling holes into it.

back in the 80's there was a company called SwitchBoard or something similar. they offered a system which allowed you to change fingerboards. it was held in place by magnets and only took a few seconds to change one to another. among the options were fretted, fretless, and "continuous fret". this last was a flat metal fingerboard, like a metal fretless.

people said the sound was cool, but the problem with the system was that after a while, changing the 'boards sharpened the edge of the neck and cats would cut themselves while changing one ingerboard for another!

on another note, Jesse from Ergo Instruments has a bass with a metal fingerboard and he says the sound is dynamite!

from the lows,

Stew

Metal fingerboard is a cool idea!
You can adjust the tone by the thickness of the plate!

I'd vouch for a really thin one, perhaps .2mm steel or .5 mm alu. And make sure to glue it in well!

If you go for thick plate, you will no longer need a truss rod. You might, hevever, need a neck support...

If you go for thick plate, you will no longer need a truss rod. You might, hevever, need a neck support...
You probably would need a (dual-acting) trussrod, to give it some relief!!

Get a lightwave system on it so that you could put some Nylon string on there. That would sound wicked on a metal fretboard.

Been there, done that...back in about 1976 when I was running the Alembic bass building operation. The Fleetwood Mac song, "The Chain" has a famous bass riff that was done on a stainless steel fingerboard Alembic fretless that John McVie got from me in about 1976 or '77. It's on Rumours. That one even had LED side markers...

Hard to do, but pretty incredible when it works...and 10 million plus albums later, it still works.

Been there, done that...back in about 1976 when I was running the Alembic bass building operation. The Fleetwood Mac song, "The Chain" has a famous bass riff that was done on a stainless steel fingerboard Alembic fretless that John McVie got from me in about 1976 or '77. It's on Rumours. That one even had LED side markers...

Hard to do, but pretty incredible when it works...and 10 million plus albums later, it still works.

hey Rick,

doubt you remember me, but I'm one of 2 cats named Stewart who played Fodera 6 strings back in the 80's/90's in LA and you worked on both of our basses! never got the chance to thank you then, so... THANKS!

I had no idea the bass for Rumours had a stainless fingerboard. that's so cool! and a great sound indeed!

from the lows,

Stew McKinsey

Sorry for getting in on this late but I've got some ideas that might help your brainstorm along a bit...

As far as glue - there's only one type that I would recommend and that's one from the family of 2 part polyurethane adhesives specially designed for metals. We use a brand called "Plexus" from Lord Adhesives in our operation to glue aluminumn together all day long. And it stays glued unless you can get it heated up to about 250º. There are different work times - up to 20 minutes so assembly can be accomplished before the stuff sets. It's been tested and works well - just ask the Lotus car people - they use similiar adhesives to glue their chassis together.

Attachment might be done another way and that's with welded studs. With the proper tool, you can pop weld threaded studs onto the back of just about any metal. Then you could actually bolt the fretboard down. How is your problem - I just come up with the tools :D

Don't leave out aluminum as a possiblity. Hardened aircraft alloys - the 5000, 6000, and 7000 types are very, very hard and, with a polyurethane topcoat would be nice for a fretboard. Also very easy to roll and form.

You might also think about ceramic coating a metal board. There are products out there that don't need special techniques that can make a hard polished, shiny, metallic ceramic coating. You can also have this applied professionally. JetHot coatings is one in particular.

Ahh, that's enough to muddy the water for now :p

True, but I never found Steinbergers to be THAT odd... This just weirds me out... I can only imagine its GOTTA sound thin & tinny.
I can assure you, it sounds anything but.

...
Attachment might be done another way and that's with welded studs. With the proper tool, you can pop weld threaded studs onto the back of just about any metal. Then you could actually bolt the fretboard down. How is your problem - I just come up with the tools :D Potential problem: Permanent dimple created if too much pullback force is applied, if the fretboard is thin.Don't leave out aluminum as a possiblity. Hardened aircraft alloys - the 5000, 6000, and 7000 types are very, very hard and, with a polyurethane topcoat would be nice for a fretboard. Also very easy to roll and form. Don't forget hard anodizing. Aluminum oxide is one of the hardest compounds there is.

You might also think about ceramic coating a metal board. There are products out there that don't need special techniques that can make a hard polished, shiny, metallic ceramic coating. You can also have this applied professionally. JetHot coatings is one in particular.

Ahh, that's enough to muddy the water for now :p

Definitely possible...

http://www.le-fay.com/Lefay.com/Bilder/remington_miami_front.gif

That's a well dudey bass.