Fretless fretboard finish?

[mattsbass]

Ok I decided to make my bass fretless but now I regret it. I used wood filler after I removed all the frets. Now it all looks really ugly.

After I sanded it I can still feel some grooves in the frets? I sanded like crazy with 200 grit sandpaper then 400 to make it smooth.

Is that normal?

Is it possible to stain the fretboard then apply the polyurethane or the other way around?

I need help!

Thanks

 

[pringlw]

It sounds like you need to go to a qualified luthier very quickly. If you're not really sure what you're doing (and this bass is worth more than a few bucks) I would pay someone to get this done.

I will say this though - you should put no coating (ie stain or polyurethane) on it until it is perfectly perfectly smooth. Whether polyurethane goes on at all is a choice. My fretless has a finished fingerboard but many do not.

To be clear, if you put polyurethane on a fingerboard that isn't perfectly perfectly flat you are really going to regret it.

 

[Fajah]

First off, you should spend some time reading through the following thread for there's some wonderful info on the subject:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71144

The amount you have to sand a fretboard down is directly related to the method you used to remove the frets and how much excess filler you took off after filling the spaces. It definitely needs to be sanded down more, especially if there was allot of chipping. It should be done with the neck and nut removed from the bass. The neck has to be adjusted so it's perfectly flat, and you must use a radius sanding block at the stage you're at.

As far as finishing, it's depends on what type of fretboard you have. The thread I pointed you to goes through this. I have a rosewood fretboard and finished it with pure lemon oil for a natural look. I just recently converted my bass into a fretless, and I have a post on the last page of the thread above.

If you're not confident that you can finish the fretboard properly, there's nothing wrong with taking to a pro to complete the work. Finished and set set-up well, you won;t regret that you did the conversion.

 

[D.Don]

Ok I decided to make my bass fretless but now I regret it. I used wood filler after I removed all the frets. Now it all looks really ugly.

After I sanded it I can still feel some grooves in the frets? I sanded like crazy with 200 grit sandpaper then 400 to make it smooth.

Is that normal?

Is it possible to stain the fretboard then apply the polyurethane or the other way around?

I need help!

Thanks

If you still feel the grooves, you either need to refill and sand again, or just sand a lil bit more. Get a long (30cm or so) radius beam that suits the radius of your fretboard, and sand it down with 150-200 grit so the grooves are gone, then continue with other grits until it's smooth and ready for finishing.

Finishing could be done with danish oil, it's quite a process, but the result will surprise you.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4448639_finish-wood-danish-oil.html

I skipped the last step, the wax step, and instead I put on a last coat danish oil with a rough piece of cloth, and left it for 24h, buffed it with a rough piece of cloth until it was nice and shining..



D.Don

 

[mattsbass]

Ok I'll get some pics of the bass up. I think sand some more and if nothing happens then i'll just refill.

The bass looks like crap now.