Interested in your thoughts on my blue fretless neck

[dcartoon]

Hey all,

A while ago I decided to try my hand at defretting a cheap bass(Rogue), courtesy of EBay. After removing the frets and filling the slots, I decided to try a blue stain, and I think that the result is pretty cool, but am interested in your thoughts.
I did end up with some missing chips of wood, but this isn't noticeable from more than a few feet away. I have since added a mirror finish epoxy layer to the neck, and am even getting a nice "mwah" sound, although diminished by the crappy stock pickups. As a bonus, the epoxy helps hide the missing chips. Now I just have to learn how to play it...
Let me know what you think.

Body and neck shot
Side by side comparison with a "normal" rosewood neck

Dan

[Cerb]

Pretty neat, but I'd like to see it with the epoxy... maybe smaller pics though (I'm on a 56k). I actually filled my recently finished self made bass' fretlines with crushed blue azurite, so I naturally would like yours .

[Fong249]

I'm not too big on colored necks and so on. I even got mad when one guitar i had was ebonized. I think it has something to do with the fact that theres still the prevalent brown with the fretboard, and that the blue isnt quite there yet.

[klocwerk]

Can't say it's my cup of tea, but if you like it, that's what matters.

[THIRSTYGUMS]

i think its pretty. Im gonna try it

[dcartoon]

I've included some pictures(sanely sized) of the neck with the epoxy(no sanding/polishing done yet). If you look carefully at the third fret in the fretless-only picture, you can actually see the camera, which should give some idea of the glossiness of the finish. I haven't actually radiused the epoxy yet, because I don't have a radius sanding block. In the meantime, the fingerboard has close to no curvature, since the epoxy self levels during the process.

The epoxy that I ended up using is marketed for coating bar tops(this was actually recommended somewhere else on TB). It's called Kleer Kote, from US Composites, and the epoxy/hardener ended up costing me about $20 for enough to probably do four or five necks. US Composites also sells carbon fiber, and other fibery things, in case one feels the need for a composite bass. A carbon fiber base could be a cool future project, although I I have to wonder how it would sound.

I got the blue stain that I used from Home Depot. I actually ended up discussing the project with one of the employees there who turned out to be interested in guitar work. I used Elmer's natural color wood putty to fill the frets. For my results, I applied and sanded the wood putty before adding several coats of stain. You can also combine the wood putty and stain first, if you're interested in ways to get more colorful fret lines(your mileage may vary with this approach).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Dan

[mslatter]

Originally Posted by dcartoon

I used Elmer's natural color wood putty to fill the frets.
Dan

Hopefully the epoxy will reinforce the wood putty, which is well known to shrink, crack and crumble under duress. And by "duress," I mean "normal use."

Now, the fretlines aren't at all crisp and to me that greatly detracts from the appeal. Is what I'm seeing a result of grain tear-out or finish tear-out from the defret job, or is it just a cheap enough bass that the rosewood wasn't well filled to begin with and I'm just seeing the dyed putty serving as grain filler?

Blue over rosewood isn't doing much for me at all, to be honest, but I applaud your creativity. Colored maple, on the other hand... well, now... Hmmmmm....

[THIRSTYGUMS]

My M-AUDIO Ozone just broke down

[dcartoon]

With regards to the fretlines, the problem is a result of pieces coming out during the defret job. This is a pretty crappy bass, so I'd imagine that the quality of the rosewood fingerboard didn't help. At the same time, some more care during the pulling might have helped prevent the chipping.

I've also been thinking that applying wood putty before doing any sanding would have strengthened the fingerboard, and lessened the amount of chip-out.

It looks to me like the areas without any missing chips do have pretty crisp lines, so I don't think that the problem is a result of the putty filling the grain.

I'm sorry to hear about the Ozone. I actually have a Radium, but I'm hoping that it doesn't die any time soon, since I haven't gotten enough use out of it yet.

Dan