How many coats of poly for my fingerboard

[dukerutledge]

I just deffretted my fingerboard and I have decided to use polyurethane instead of epoxy or CA. How many coats should I use to get the best protection and finish?

[Stu L.]

Pardon my ignorance, but you intend to spray poly to protect the board? And here I've spent all this time trying to learn epoxy

Signing up!

[Jazzman]

This may be a really stupid answer, but the more coats, the better the protection.

[dukerutledge]

well, I'm not spraying, I'm hand rubbing it and lightely sanding between every coat. So far I'm up to 4 coats of poly and I started 16 hours ago. As far as I know poly is a viable solution to protecting your board and I want to be able to buff it up to a mirror like shine.

[62bass]

There's no point in going overboard with the mirror shine as it will soon be scratched and marked from playing. The strings, you know. I'd give it maybe 4 coats. Whenever it looks good to you.

[Stu L.]

Originally Posted by dukerutledge

well, I'm not spraying, I'm hand rubbing it and lightely sanding between every coat. So far I'm up to 4 coats of poly and I started 16 hours ago. As far as I know poly is a viable solution to protecting your board and I want to be able to buff it up to a mirror like shine.

What brand, where did you get it, etc. of poly? I'm very curious about this process. How does it look after your 4 coats? Pics?

[Dirk Diggler]

Well I've done this to several basses over the years and my personal preference is in the upper 30's, but I always sand well between coats and make sure it is well cured. If I recall in my last one it took about 2 weeks with about 2 coats a day.
I used Spar Poly with a foam brush, another hint that I tried was lightly heating the poly. I used a hair dryer on the outside of a closed can until it was warm to the touch, much less bubbles that way. I've heard of people putting the can in a water bath, oh and don't do that with a spray can.
One job I did over 20 years ago has never needed a re-coat and I use rounds. The latest was only 4 years ago, but it has seen lots of play time and there is hardly a mark on the poly from the rounds.
You can try it with that little if you're in a hurry, you may have to coat it again in a year or so, it all depends on how well it cures.
By the way you are going to love the mwah in any case.
Good luck,
Dirk

[Stu L.]

Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler

I used Spar Poly with a foam brush

I went to the Home Depot at lunch to look for some poly. As posted above, pardon my ignorance, but is the Minwax poly that is situated with the stains the same poly that we're talking about here?

[62bass]

Originally Posted by stubi19

I went to the Home Depot at lunch to look for some poly. As posted above, pardon my ignorance, but is the Minwax poly that is situated with the stains the same poly that we're talking about here?

It's what I was talking about.

[Stu L.]

Originally Posted by 62bass

It's what I was talking about.

Cool, guess I have a new project then

[62bass]

Originally Posted by stubi19

Cool, guess I have a new project then

To achieve maximum penetration of the Minwax into the grain of the fingerboard, thin the first coat with an equal amount of paint thinner (Varsol or some other brand) and wipe or brush it on heavy and give it a few minutes to soak in. Then wipe off all the residue before it dries, let it dry thoroughly, then apply the following coats. The unthinned poly is pretty thick and on bare wood will not soak in well, but will mainly sit on the surface and dry.

You can also buy Minwax Wipe On Poly which is thinned properly. I've used it and got good results, but I find it cheaper and just as easy to make my own thinned version. It's the same thing.

[Stu L.]

Originally Posted by 62bass

To achieve maximum penetration of the Minwax into the grain of the fingerboard, thin the first coat with an equal amount of paint thinner (Varsol or some other brand) and wipe or brush it on heavy and give it a few minutes to soak in. Then wipe off all the residue before it dries, let it dry thoroughly, then apply the following coats. The unthinned poly is pretty thick and on bare wood will not soak in well, but will mainly sit on the surface and dry.

You can also buy Minwax Wipe On Poly which is thinned properly. I've used it and got good results, but I find it cheaper and just as easy to make my own thinned version. It's the same thing.

Great, thanks for the advise

[Bman83]

I did the same to my Jazz bass. Ripped the frets out and did a poly coat. I did a lot of coats; can't even remember how many though. It came out really nice. I use round wound strings and it sounds and feels awesome. And, yes it has a great shiny finish.

[BobWestbrook]

Here's one of my defretting projects:
http://bobsbassblog.blogspot.com/

[blipndub]

You can safely heat spray cans in a water bath, i do it all the time and it helps he flow significantly especially when you're down to half a can. I just fill up the kitchen sink with hot water and let them sit for half an hour.