Luthier to apply epoxy???

Gastambide · #1 03-29-2006, 01:32 PM

Can anyone suggest a luthier in Michigan who does the epoxy application to fretless fingerboards? I'm a little hesitant to take this job on myself, and a bit reluctant to get on Thor or Pedulla's waiting lists. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Mark

Linas · #2 03-29-2006, 01:45 PM

dont know any in michigan who will do it but take on the job yourself. Heres a tutorial i made. Long Awaited Epoxy Photo Tutorial Its not that hard to do, yes there is room for messing up your neck, but if you do it right, theres no need to worry. Save yourself 250$. But, it all depends on what kind of bass your planning on doing it to. I had no problem doing it to my SX, but an american jazz bass i could see not wanting to do yourself.

Gastambide · #3 03-30-2006, 09:50 AM

Thanks, Linas. I was reading your tutorial, and actually thinking of doing this myself. The bass is an Ibanez Mini-Musician (2 pickup version of the one Sting played at one time), which I am afraid to screw up because it's irreplaceable - having been discontinued for 20+ years. It's a beautiful little, 2-tone natural finished instrument that I had professionally defretted and splined with ebony years ago, then installed Bartolini's in it. Since reading your tutorial, I took sandpaper to it, removing all the rough spots created in the rosewood from years of roundwound strings, then painted the whole thing flat black (to resemble a plain ebony board). I then put a couple of coats of a wipe-on polyurethane which I sanded to a slight sheen with paper, then steel wool. This is nothing like an epoxy job. It looks great, but did not give that epoxy brightness, or glide. I'm also sure it will wear through and need to be redone frequently.

I have a question for you. What is the best way to mask off your neck, and create a "dam" for the epoxy? I wasn't able to tell exactly what you did in the tutorial. This will be extremely critical, since it is a "neck-through" bass, and any spill over/leakage would be a disaster.

Thanks for any light you can shed!

Mark

Linas · #4 03-30-2006, 05:04 PM

I just taped off everything on my neck that wasnt fretboard. I have heard Dingwall makes a dam around, but ive never done this and done know exactly how, but im sure its not that difficult. After building the dam, just take a radius block and reradius.

Gastambide · #5 03-30-2006, 05:14 PM

On another reading of your tutorial, it makes sense to me now. I think building a dam would be counterproductive, and necessitate re-radiusing the board later on.

Did you apply more than one coat? And what about sanding/polishing between coats and after the final? Just wondered how you got the final finish. Or was it smooth and satisfactory after the first "sqeeging"?