My Custom Fingerboard Job.

mrtn400 · #1 01-31-2009, 09:17 PM

I'm having a friend who's pretty good with woodworking help me replace the PoS puttied fretboard on my Squier MB-4 with a flat-sawn piece of zebrawood.

So far we've taken (most of) the rosewood down to the truss rod and the maple neck, and we still need to glue the new fretboard down and sand/cut it to it's final size. But before we glue it, we're probably going to sand the paint off of the headstock and also cut the tip to look like a Rick's.

After that, I've got a piece of cocobolo, and we're going to cut it into a nut and then sand the grooves in.

I can't wait to get this thing done.

Before pictures:

Everything so far (I need to finish sanding the neck

; it's only like 1/64" left):

Here's the cocobolo:

Some mock-ups (no, it's not glued yet

):

I'm also curious how you figure out how curved the fretboard needs to be sanded to. I really don't want to do it by trial and error.

mikeyswood · #2 01-31-2009, 09:26 PM

Stewmac.com

You want the sanding blocks for the radius.

mrtn400 · #3 01-31-2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeyswood

Stewmac.com

You want the sanding blocks for the radius.

I thought it had to be tapered? Or do you taper it with two sanding blocks?

And what would be a good radius to use?

chicago_mike · #4 01-31-2009, 09:51 PM

Heres a cool trick...

I forget what its called, but its basically like a plaster of paris...

You make a "negative" of the fingerboard you took off...

Now this plaster negative is your radiused sanding block.

this is also a good way to make long sanding sticks when you dont have a planer or jointer.

mrtn400 · #5 01-31-2009, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicago_mike

Heres a cool trick...

I forget what its called, but its basically like a plaster of paris...

You make a "negative" of the fingerboard you took off...

Now this plaster negative is your radiused sanding block.

this is also a good way to make long sanding sticks when you dont have a planer or jointer.

Well, we didn't really take the old fingerboard off. We used a planer, a belt sander, and some hand sanding. There's not really anything left over.

The fingerboard on it was in pretty bad shape (it wasn't curved evenly or tapered correctly), and I wouldn't want to try to emulate it.

mikeyswood · #6 01-31-2009, 10:18 PM

You will sand to match the taper of the neck. For the radius I like 12" and 14" is pretty common on basses. That is a choice that you make based on your comfort.

mrtn400 · #7 01-31-2009, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeyswood

You will sand to match the taper of the neck. For the radius I like 12" and 14" is pretty common on basses. That is a choice that you make based on your comfort.

Does the radius mean the radius of the circle that has the same degree of curvature as the neck?

If so, I'm going to figure what my Dean's radius is and get the same sanding block.

Edit: I don't think I can remember enough geometry to get the job done.

I think I'm just going to get the 14" block.

vbasscustom · #8 02-01-2009, 07:39 AM

yeah, if you completed the circle made by the curve in the FB, you would get a circle, a fairly large circle mind you, but a circle

mrtn400 · #9 02-01-2009, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vbasscustom

yeah, if you completed the circle made by the curve in the FB, you would get a circle, a fairly large circle mind you, but a circle

Yeah, I don't remember enough geometry to figure out what the full circle would be for my Dean.

Could someone explain how to find what it is (I know the math part, I just can't remember the rules/equations/etc to get the job done)?

vbasscustom · #10 02-01-2009, 03:17 PM

well, if you can, draw a buncf of perfect circles, different sizes. 12,12,16,18" ect. and use the off cut, not the circle itself, lay the off cut, with the rounded side on the FB, and see which one matches

mrtn400 · #11 02-01-2009, 08:47 PM

How do I draw such big circles? The biggest my compass will do is about 10".

I also just realized that my Dean has an oddly radiused neck. It's very flat at the top (be the head) and gets more curved towards the body (it's probably still only a 16" or 16" radius). Don't builders normally do the opposite?

vbasscustom · #12 02-01-2009, 08:55 PM

no, thats what a compund radius is for, it starts out a smaller radius, like 14, then ends up at say 20, and as for the circle problem. take a peice of wood, and set the paper on it, tack a nail into it, where yoj want the center of the circle to be, and tie a string the length of the diameter to it, and to a pencil, making sure the pencil tip, when standing up right, should be at the length of the diameter from the nail, draw a circle, shorten the string for smaller circles

Dirk Diggler · #13 02-01-2009, 09:12 PM

Personally I enjoy a flat board for fretless. And are you planning on coating the fingerboard? I hope so since Zebrawood isn't really that hard, it's dense but the light wood will dent fairly easily.
Good luck,
Dirk

mrtn400 · #14 02-01-2009, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vbasscustom

no, thats what a compund radius is for, it starts out a smaller radius, like 14, then ends up at say 20, and as for the circle problem. take a peice of wood, and set the paper on it, tack a nail into it, where yoj want the center of the circle to be, and tie a string the length of the diameter to it, and to a pencil, making sure the pencil tip, when standing up right, should be at the length of the diameter from the nail, draw a circle, shorten the string for smaller circles

Why didn't I think of that.

Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler

Personally I enjoy a flat board for fretless. And are you planning on coating the fingerboard? I hope so since Zebrawood isn't really that hard, it's dense but the light wood will dent fairly easily.
Good luck,
Dirk

I think I also like flatter fretboards. Like I said, I like my Dean's neck, but I never noticed it was so flat.

What should I use on it, and how many coats? I know this says for Ebony and Rosewood, but wouldn't this work?

mrtn400 · #15 02-02-2009, 07:39 PM

I just ordered a 16" radius sanding block and four nut files from StewMac.

I'm still looking for suggestions for what I should use to coat my neck.

SDB Guitars · #16 02-02-2009, 07:57 PM

I'd probably coat your neck with System 3 epoxy, or a nice tough poly finish (maybe Verathane?)

msiner · #17 02-02-2009, 08:20 PM

Did that bass used to be black? What did you do to strip it; sanding, chemicals, heat gun, or a combination? Did you apply any sort of finish afterward?

mrtn400 · #18 02-02-2009, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDB Guitars

I'd probably coat your neck with System 3 epoxy, or a nice tough poly finish (maybe Verathane?)

Varathane looks a lot easier to apply than the System 3 stuff. If I did get Varathane, I should get the oil-based stuff, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by msiner

Did that bass used to be black? What did you do to strip it; sanding, chemicals, heat gun, or a combination? Did you apply any sort of finish afterward?

Yeah, it was. Fender used some kind of resin/glaze on it and then lacquered it, so I just sanded the lacquer off of it, stopping at the resin/glaze.

It used to look like this:

62bass · #19 02-03-2009, 05:24 AM

If you use a polyurethane use the oil based stuff. It's a bit tougher than water based. I like Minwax Wipe On Poly myself. Build up about 12 very thin coats. It's easier to get even coats without runs and drips with wipe on rather than brushed and the thin coats dry quickly so you can apply up to 3 coats a day. Less problems with dust in the finish too.

I'd go with the System 3 epoxy if I wanted a harder finish.

62bass · #20 02-03-2009, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrtn400

What should I use on it, and how many coats? I know this says for Ebony and Rosewood, but wouldn't this work?

That won't give you any protection at all. Doesn't matter if you don't care about that though.