Easy epoxy fb

[fish man]

Hi all,
I've not been around for quite a while, but I'm in the very final stages of a homebuilt electric bass project. (4-string fretless, black ash body, maple neck, epoxy birdseye fb, nordstrand mm and jazz P/Us, audere electronics) The only thing left is to glue in the nut and do the final setup.

I came across something which may be useful to a great number of other builders and luthiers for successful and easy epoxy fingerboards.

The instructions to the epoxy I used (System Three Mirrorcoat) recommended a complicated polishing procedure involving a special 3M compound, and lambswool buffers etc etc etc, and many ingredients seemed to be unavailable at local sources.

I looked around on the web a bit to see if anyone had reported good results with some other polishing method. Someone—I believe it was on an aviation forum—suggested using Brasso to polish epoxy once finely sanded.

I'd already wet-sanded the fb up to 1500 grit paper, by stages (very important, of course), so I applied Brasso with a lint-free cloth, scrubbing it up and down the fingerboard. I masked off the rest of the neck, because I wasn't sure I wanted Brasso running all over it, but afterward it didn't really seem to have been necessary. After applying the Brasso I scrubbed the fb with clean water to get rid of any traces of chemicals

The Brasso left an extremely glossy finish and was super-easy to apply. The result had obviously come from some sort of chemical reaction, which I couldn't understand, but I was very pleasantly surprised with the ease and success of the process.

No photos yet, but I hope to get some soon enough, maybe once I get the nut in and the setup done.

All the best,
GKS

[OldBluesGuy]

Originally Posted by fish man

Hi all,
I've not been around for quite a while, but I'm in the very final stages of a homebuilt electric bass project. (4-string fretless, black ash body, maple neck, epoxy birdseye fb, nordstrand mm and jazz P/Us, audere electronics) The only thing left is to glue in the nut and do the final setup.

I came across something which may be useful to a great number of other builders and luthiers for successful and easy epoxy fingerboards.

The instructions to the epoxy I used (System Three Mirrorcoat) recommended a complicated polishing procedure involving a special 3M compound, and lambswool buffers etc etc etc, and many ingredients seemed to be unavailable at local sources.

I looked around on the web a bit to see if anyone had reported good results with some other polishing method. Someone—I believe it was on an aviation forum—suggested using Brasso to polish epoxy once finely sanded.

I'd already wet-sanded the fb up to 1500 grit paper, by stages (very important, of course), so I applied Brasso with a lint-free cloth, scrubbing it up and down the fingerboard. I masked off the rest of the neck, because I wasn't sure I wanted Brasso running all over it, but afterward it didn't really seem to have been necessary. After applying the Brasso I scrubbed the fb with clean water to get rid of any traces of chemicals

The Brasso left an extremely glossy finish and was super-easy to apply. The result had obviously come from some sort of chemical reaction, which I couldn't understand, but I was very pleasantly surprised with the ease and success of the process.

No photos yet, but I hope to get some soon enough, maybe once I get the nut in and the setup done.

All the best,
GKS

That's a convenient method to be sure. I'm looking forward to the pics!!


obg

[Linas]

Sweet. Ive done the whole 3m finess-it blah blah polish procedure and although it produces an amazing result, it is a hassle. I would like to see pics of this brasso job, as i am going to re-epoxy a fretboard of mine soon.

[pilotjones]

I read that Brasso contains a very fine abrasive, aside from whatever chemical. If that's true, that would explain it. I recently also did some web searching, trying to find a way to clear up a clouded headlight. Several people recommended either Brasso or toothpaste as containing fine abrasives similar to commercial plastic polishing compounds.

I tried the toothpaste by hand on one headlight and got a pretty decent result. I'm going to do the second headlight next.

[62bass]

Originally Posted by fish man

Hi all,
The result had obviously come from some sort of chemical reaction, which I couldn't understand, but I was very pleasantly surprised with the ease and success of the process.

GKS

No chemical reaction involved. Brasso contains a very fine abrasive in something like a naptha solvent and works much like other polishing compounds. I've used it on small refinish touch ups on body paint and on nitro pickups that have been dulled from chemicals like alcohol. I also have used toothpaste in a pinch.