I've got 2 rosewood and one purpleheart fretless fingerboards on which I'd like to use roundwound strings, but I don't want it to cut into the wood like what often happens.
I've heard using Cynoacrylate (super) glues will help this a lot, as well as Jaco's Epoxy method.
Also, there's this stuff called
Minwax Wood Hardener which looks promising--I noticed someone here used it for their thickness sander.
Also,
Sally Hansen also makes a hardener--granted, it's not
designedfor wood, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. (Afterall, if no one had experimented with house siding and electrical insulation building materials, two really big bass companies wouldn't be in business.)
My questions:
- Has anyone experimented with any of the above, or anything else? What are the results?
- I understand superglue can be thinned with acetone to make it more spreadable on the fingerboard. What's a good mixture? With what do you apply it, and how do you avoid getting that glued to the fingerboard? I've heard that just putting a few layers on and then sanding down the bits of brush and skin works, but it doesn't seem to be the best idea.
- With Epoxy, I've heard it's best to thin with alcohol and then squeegee it into the grain to use it as a pore filler--is the same method used for fingerboard coating? Do I use isoproply or denatured alcohol? How thin/what's a good ratio?
- I don't want to change the color of the wood--especially the purpleheart, as it's one of the most purple purpleheart ones I've seen (not that I've seen much). Sally Hansen and superglue are clear and transparent. Epoxys tend to dry opaque--is this true even with a thin coating? What about the minwax wood hardener?
Thanks in advance,
Skippii
