Ebonol Fingerboard Refinishing

[Malachi71]

I have a Squire VM Fretless. I recently sanded the fingerboard because the white fret markers were sticking up a bit and causing some buzz. I used a sanding block with 400 grit to start then I moved up to 600 then 1000 and finished with 2000. This smoothed out the white fret markers but left a white cast with no shine and the fingerboard was gray which I expected due to sanding. But then...I buffed the fingerboard by hand with 3M Perfect It III to remove the 2000 grit scratches and to hopefully bring the fingerboard back to a shiny black. Perfect It removed the scratches but did not blacken the fingerboard nor produce any shine. Instead the fingerboard still had a white cast with gray mixed in. So then I tried No.7 Polishing compound by hand and buffed again. This made the fingerboard a little more of a charcoal gray with a satin finish. I tried buffing 3 more times and each time there was little to no improvement. The fingerboard still has a charcoal gray color and a satin shine. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Is there another compound that I should be using that will give the fingerboard a black shiny finish? Should I have finished the fingerboard with a lower grit like 600or 1000 then used compound. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Parabolic Box]

Ebonal is synthetic, isn't it? I don't think you sand plastics the same way you can with metal or wood.

At least did the sanding remove the buzzing? Or else it would have been a setup issue.

[Low Main]

When I first saw the ebonol boards on the VM fretlesses, I thought they were polyester coated, something like a budget version of what Pedulla does.

Then I had a closer look, and now I think that the boards are just buffed out - no coating.

To get back the shiny black look, you probably need to go to power buffing with a wheel.

BUT, when you do that, you re-introduce irregularities along the length of the board because buffing won't maintain the flatness of the surface. Buffing will also re-introduce any variations between the board and the inlay lines. Because the wheel will affect the two dissimilar materials differently.

I've seen some VM boards where the lines were sunken rather than raised. I'll have to check to see what the lines are made of. They may be made of a thermoplastic material, so the heat of the power buffing could cause a dimensional change in the lines and cause them to shrink.

I have a VM board that needs leveling, so I'm glad to read this thread. If I get my board flat and level, I guess I'm not going to worry if I can't restore the original blackness and sheen. If the board isn't a totally sick gray color and I can see the lines OK, that's fine - if I had to choose, I'd rather have the accuracy than the look.

[Low Main]

I just re-read your initial post. I think you have to go to finer abrasives (higher than 2000) before using the compounds.

The compounds won't remove the scratches from the 2000 paper.

Oil-free 4-0 steel wool used with a radius block is a good intermediate step between the paper and the compounds.

If you buy the wool in pad form, unroll the pad like toilet paper and cut off a flat length with scissors to use with the block.

Then, you can burnish the surface with materials like fine burlap. Using a block for each step helps keep the board flat and level as you work.

Hopefully, the neck is off the bass for all this so if you were to use steel wool, the metal dust and fragments from the wool wouldn't be swarming your pickups.

Also, hopefully, you removed the nut before starting any of this work so you could take your sanding and polishing strokes past the end of the fingerboard up by the headstock so the board would be accurately leveled from end to end.

(The nuts on the fretless VM basses are low quality anyway. Replacing the nut is job one.)

Then maybe some power buffing with compounds. I would do as little power buffing as you can get by with. Even chucking an inexpensive buffing wheel in a power drill can be effective. But you have to use a corded drill because most cordless drills don't crank sufficient rpm's to do any good. Try the buffing wheel dry before using any compounds. Sometimes a dry wheel is sufficient if you don't have to have a hot sheen.

Personally, when I'm done leveling my VM board, I hope it ends up looking more like unfinished actual ebony than the hot greasy shine it has now. Just a nice satin black look with the lines visible.

Final tip: if the board still doesn't look goo after all you've done, grab some naphtha and paper towel and wipe the board down. If the deep black appearance returns, then you can keep that look by wiping on a well-thinned coat of finish, such as urethane. Don't use lacquer, because the solvent may attack the white lines. Wipe off all excess immediately. And make to sure to keep the nut slot clean. You don't want any buildup of finish. It's just there to help get the appearance back.

[Malachi71]

Originally Posted by Low Main

I just re-read your initial post. I think you have to go to finer abrasives (higher than 2000) before using the compounds.

The compounds won't remove the scratches from the 2000 paper.

Oil-free 4-0 steel wool used with a radius block is a good intermediate step between the paper and the compounds.

If you buy the wool in pad form, unroll the pad like toilet paper and cut off a flat length with scissors to use with the block.

Then, you can burnish the surface with materials like fine burlap. Using a block for each step helps keep the board flat and level as you work.

Hopefully, the neck is off the bass for all this so if you were to use steel wool, the metal dust and fragments from the wool wouldn't be swarming your pickups.

Also, hopefully, you removed the nut before starting any of this work so you could take your sanding and polishing strokes past the end of the fingerboard up by the headstock so the board would be accurately leveled from end to end.

(The nuts on the fretless VM basses are low quality anyway. Replacing the nut is job one.)

Then maybe some power buffing with compounds. I would do as little power buffing as you can get by with. Even chucking an inexpensive buffing wheel in a power drill can be effective. But you have to use a corded drill because most cordless drills don't crank sufficient rpm's to do any good. Try the buffing wheel dry before using any compounds. Sometimes a dry wheel is sufficient if you don't have to have a hot sheen.

Personally, when I'm done leveling my VM board, I hope it ends up looking more like unfinished actual ebony than the hot greasy shine it has now. Just a nice satin black look with the lines visible.

Final tip: if the board still doesn't look goo after all you've done, grab some naphtha and paper towel and wipe the board down. If the deep black appearance returns, then you can keep that look by wiping on a well-thinned coat of finish, such as urethane. Don't use lacquer, because the solvent may attack the white lines. Wipe off all excess immediately. And make to sure to keep the nut slot clean. You don't want any buildup of finish. It's just there to help get the appearance back.

Thanks for all the good info. I will try the 0000 steel wool as you suggested. How do I check to make sure the fingerboard is level. What technique should I use? I am thinking that I will continue to buff it by hand with a terry cloth. I don't want to reintroduce irregularities by using a power buffing machine. I'd rather have a charcoal gray, satin finish that is more level than shiny black that's not level. I do wonder what the fret lines are made of? I did not remove the nut because I don't know the proper way of doing that and i don't have the tools or know how to put a new nut on. I don't know of any luthiers in my area either that can do the work. For what it's worth, the amount of material and dust that came off the fingerboard only amounted to the size of a dime. My main objective was to knock off the high spots on the fret markers. I sanded more with the 600, 1000, 2000 grits than I did with 400 and when I initial used 400 I keep very light pressure and long strokes (almost the length of the entire fingerboard). I still would like to know how to check for levelness.