What do you make of this discoloration?

DaveCustomMade · #1 11-26-2006, 12:31 PM

I have had the same strings on my Gecko fretless for about 3 years. Elixirs. I decided that I should change strings because the A string was starting to sound flat around the 9th fret and several before and after. However, when I put different strings on it, . . . . the A string STILL sounded a bit flat (flatter than the D and G, for sure) around the same spot.

Also, when I removed the strings, I noticed a discoloration (and string grooves) I hadn't noticed before.

Attachment 46167

Attachment 46168

When I got this neck from Warmoth, I put 4-5 coats of lindseed oil on it, then sprayed it with a polyurethane for protection. Appears to not have protected it all that well.

Any thoughts?

Dave · #2 11-26-2006, 12:41 PM

Did you try another coat of oil?

guy n. cognito · #3 11-26-2006, 12:49 PM

Have you attempted to clean it?

tplyons · #4 11-26-2006, 01:23 PM

Looks like it's just scratching in your poly coat. But that's just from the pictures.

saxnbass · #5 11-26-2006, 02:37 PM

Looks like normal fretless fingerboard wear. Nothing to be alarmed about, since you don't have a hard coating on it; one coat of poly isn't usually enough. You've been using roundwounds on it for 3 years now, so that's actually not that bad.

DaveCustomMade · #6 11-27-2006, 07:20 AM

I'll attempt to answer all the replies in one post (the admins can thank me later

)

I'm confident that applying more oil would take away the discoloration.

The discoloration wasn't as noticable until AFTER I cleaned the board.

I'm not sure if it is just surface polyurethane wear or not, but when I started cleaning it (or whenver I do use cleaning stuff), the discoloration goes away, but when it dries, the discoloration returns.

Yes, the round wound strings seemed to do a number on the fretboard. I don't play it a whole lot, and didn't know that it was that "extensive". It still plays well and sounds fine. However, I HAVE noticed that, on the E and A strings, around the 9th fret area (becoming noticeable after the 6th or so), the string tone seems to have a bit less...presence. It doesn't seem to have the same "mwah" characteristics up there, and I think it's a recent thing.