Ebony not black enough?

[grimjim]

I'm having a fretless neck made for a build I'm doing. The motif is black. Black everything. I would like to make the ebony fingerboard black as well. What do the knowledgeable people here suggest?
Stain? Dye? Should I just stick with plain ebony? Will it cause problems later? Finish bleeding or fading? Do I need to put some kind of finish over it, like epoxy or something else?
I'm pretty new to even a parts build, I've done two, they came out great, but it was just parts switching so not too difficult. This is undiscovered territory for me and I don't wanna screw anything up.

 

[KohanMike]

I actually used India ink on one of my rosewood fretboards, have to say it came out very well and does not bleed.

 

[Slidlow]

Feibings leather dye. Available from any show repair shop.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Ebonol.

 

[James Collins]

Solar lux jet black dye is what I normally use to dye black. But not sure if it would cause problems or wear through in practical use on a fingerboard. I would go one of the engineered fingerboard routes if I was going all black.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Uniformly black ebony is going to be somewhat difficult to find and probably more expensive. “Standard” ebony can be dyed with Feibings or another leather dye. The synthetic ebonies are also a good way to go. I have a fretless 5 with an Ebanol board and nothing wrong with it. There’s some discussion on them here and I’m sure there’s a few other threads. There has also been 2 or 3 threads recently about coating fretless boards if you search a bit.

Rocklite: The Latest Synthetic Ebony For Fingerboards

 

[T_Bone_TL]

If you want dead black, synthetic-and-or-engineered is the way to go.

 

[dwizum]

Feibings leather dye. Available from any show repair shop.

This is the best route IME. Many luthier supply shops sell either actual Feibings or re-labeled Feibings and many big name brands use it on their ebony fretboards. It'll get as jet black as you could ever want.

 

[Killing Floor]

You're welcome...

 

[Claymore]

The very first thing I thought of.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

There is none blacker.



The above video includes the installation of an ebony fingerboard. I think he was using old stock. But he discusses the process of sanding and finishing it.

I had a rosewood fretless board, and I actually preferred the ebonol on the Jaco Squier.

 

[Chrisk-K]

Feibings leather dye. Available from any show repair shop.

+100,000,000

One bottle is more than enough to blacken hundreds of fingerboards.

 

[equill]

I'd have suggested Vantablack, but for Anish Kapoor's antics around it.

Instead, I'll suggest Stuart Semple's Black 3.0, via Invalid Link Removed.
No idea whether it's actually tough enough for this, unfortunately.

 

[Glenn McNemar]

I made a fretless with a rocklite board, turned out great. Uniform color, still looks like wood. Check out the thread posted above, that’s what convinced me. Doesn’t weigh a ton like ebanol

 

[ardgedee]

I'd have suggested Vantablack, but for Anish Kapoor's antics around it.

Instead, I'll suggest Stuart Semple's Black 3.0, via Invalid Link Removed.
No idea whether it's actually tough enough for this, unfortunately.

From the product FAQ:

Q. Can I paint my car / bike etc…
A. NO - 3.0 is quite fragile and will just scratch off, it won’t weather well.
Q. Can I put a topcoat over it then?
A. NO that will destroy the matte effect, and many topcoats (including our COAT) will react with the paint and ruin the finish.

Too bad, because a fingerboard that totally light-absorbing would be interesting.

 

[Glenn McNemar]

Uniformly black ebony is going to be somewhat difficult to find and probably more expensive. “Standard” ebony can be dyed with Feibings or another leather dye. The synthetic ebonies are also a good way to go. I have a fretless 5 with an Ebanol board and nothing wrong with it. There’s some discussion on them here and I’m sure there’s a few other threads. There has also been 2 or 3 threads recently about coating fretless boards if you search a bit.

Rocklite: The Latest Synthetic Ebony For Fingerboards

Just looked it up, it’s called rocklite ebano, LMI sells it. Rocklite Ebano fingerboard 5/16" thick, 1st grade, 5 string bass

 

[dwizum]

I'd have suggested Vantablack, but for Anish Kapoor's antics around it.

Instead, I'll suggest Stuart Semple's Black 3.0, via Invalid Link Removed.
No idea whether it's actually tough enough for this, unfortunately.

It's basically just black paint with a totally flat sheen. Inappropriate for a fingerboard, you'd wear through it in minutes or hours of normal playing. Not to mention it would just obscure the texture and feel of the wood, so at that point you might as well just put a piece of plastic on there. It's also nowhere near as over the top black and light absorbing as the marketing material makes it sound - it just looks like flat black paint. I tried some and was so underwhelmed I threw most of it away. It is very, very flat in that there are no reflections on the surface, but it's almost like they tried so hard to make it light absorbing that it almost takes on a really dark gray color in normal lighting conditions, which kind of kills the point of a blackest-possible paint.

You really want dye on a wood fingerboard. Dye penetrates and colors the wood itself and doesn't just create a black film on the surface of the wood. The feibing's product is not a finish - it's just color. After using it, you can apply your own finish on top if you want (in the case of an ebony fingerboard, something like stewmac's colortone fretboard oil finish, or CA or epoxy if you want something harder). Wood colored with dye still looks like bare wood, it's just a different color.

If you wanted to get crazy, leather dyes like feibing's come in a rainbow of colors. You could have a fretboard that was reddish black, or blue, or whatever color you wanted.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Trans tint black, works great. A tiny bottle will last you for a long time.
I tend to use poly over it for protection (especially fretless), but plenty of other options including just an oil finish.

Good luck,
Dirk

 

[Yellow Bang66]

I actually used India ink on one of my rosewood fretboards, have to say it came out very well and does not bleed.

Me too,Kinda, I have a Black acoustic with a rosewood bridge, but it stood out cause it was more reddish brown than Black! or dark brown. I looked up what I could do & on Stew Mac I found people who used leather dye to stain it darker, but I discovered SM suggested India ink! worked well on the bridge! but decided to hold off on the FB cause it was so new & is bound! Plus the FB looked good & dark with regular mineral oil! so yeah ink works, my bridge is still very dark brown/black, & theapplication was real simple & looks great! + dyes can get very messy!

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Genuine India Ink is blacker than many dyes, including Solar Lux, and is very light fast.

I've used Blick "Black Cat" ink to turn ash, a very light wood, jet black many times over the past 20 years or so.