Do I need a poly or similar finish over stain?

[bassist11]

Quick question for everyone..

I stained the rosewood neck on my fretless bass a dark ebony and I'm just wondering if it needs some sort of protective finish on it or if it's fine without.

My concern is that over time the strings will rub the stain off and I'll have a streaky looking fretboard.

Would some lemon oil over the top harm anything? Or just put a few light coats of poly over the top?

Thanks.

 

[Pilgrim]

Did you stain the neck, or the fretboard? Those are generally referred to as separate things. I'm guessing that you stained the fretboard, not the neck.

If you stained the fretboard, my guess is that you will eventually wear away the stain unless you put a hard shell coating such as epoxy over it so that the stain cannot be worn away. If you had asked, I would have recommended against staining unless you wanted to have a reason to put a permanent hard finish over the rosewood.

Lemon oil is not a finish of any kind, it's just a moisturizing agent - and there are many kinds of witch's brews that people call lemon oil. I wouldn't use the stuff on any part of a bass myself.

I'll defer to others on how you should best finish that neck, but IMO it's going to require a hard-shell finish of some kind that will require some work.

OR - maybe you'll just want to re-stain wear marks occasionally.

 

[Jazz Ad]

Stained or not, over time a rosewood fingerboard will show some tear.
It will just show more on a stained wood.