How do I remove a tint from a birdseye maple (BEM) fingerboard?

[Jeff Roller]

Throwing this out here out of sheer embarrassment. I'm leaving a few details out in the hopes I can reverse this without hearing "I told you so" from the builder lol....

I commissioned a build a while back, and requested a plain jane swamp ash body and roasted maple neck. The luthier would not do a roasted neck (because, reasons....) but offered to tint the fretboard.

The tinted BEM neck looked great with the plain ash body, but then my luthier tempted me with a really bold quilted maple top, which I jumped on.

Long story short, I wish now I had left the BEM fretboard alone.

Question:

1) is it possible to remove the frets and have the tint removed? I don't have a clue about how absorbant maple is.....I'm hoping the stain doesn't go very deep.....

2) is it possible to lighten the tint without removing the frets?

And to answer the question before it's asked, yes, I could send it back to the builder, but I wanted to ask the experts here before I eat crow and send it back!

Pics below, unfinished and how it looks now.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Depends if it was stained and then clear-coated, or clear-coated/sealed, and then a tinted clear applied.

You might need to risk embarrassment if you don't know how it was done.

 

[Jeff Roller]

I would really just leave it alone, but I wound up with an older bass from the same guy with an untreated BEM, and side by side it kills me that I had the new one tinted.....

And I won't be mortified if I have to send it back, I'm just hoping the fix is something I can do local without shipping back and forth. I recently had a bass "get lost" for several weeks using USPS, and then finally showed up.

 

[dwizum]

Remove frets, sand fretboard with radius sanding block, refret, refinish, done deal. Not a ton of work but not exactly something where you can just wing it in a few spare minutes. Honestly I don't think the method that the color was applied makes a huge difference since color (or finishes in general) never penetrate super deeply in maple anyways, so the difference between the wood itself being stained/tinted vs the tint being in the finish is just a difference of a few extra minutes of sanding. The time in this project is going to be in the prep, refinish, and refret - sanding off the old finish is the easy part.

 

[Jeff Roller]

That's the word from my local guy, he thinks the finish is so thin we might get away with 0000steel wool and leave the frets in.

 

[dwizum]

I suppose you could try doing it with the frets in. Doing it with the frets in may be a lot of extra work trying to get the last little remnants of color out of the wood right up next to the fret - that'll probably be deceptively hard. 0000 steel wool is going to take a LOT of scrubbing, it's not very aggressive and doesn't remove material very fast at all. Steel wool is also going to result in little steel hairs all over the place, so definitely don't do it with the neck on the instrument without masking off the pickups. At the end of the day, if you trust that tech and that's how he wants to handle it, that's up to him and I'm not going to say it's a wrong choice - but it definitely wouldn't be my first choice, personally.

 

[Jeff Roller]

My gut says pull the frets before trying to remove the tint. It's perfect in every other way, so I may keep it as is.

I really appreciate all the input!

 

[dwizum]

You know, to me, this sounds like the perfect excuse to build a new neck for the body. With the finish options that you actually want. That way, no screwing around - perfect from the start.

And then you'll have this neck as a spare, so of course you'll just HAVE to make a new body to put it on...

 

[Jeff Roller]

I've actually gone down that road in my mind as well!

 

[Beej]

I agree that if you want this finish off, the best way is likely to be through removal of frets, sanding it back, re-radiusing, refretting and refinishing. Doesn't look like it has hidden tangs so it doesn't seem to have any additional complexity to it. Without seeing more of it, that's my thought so far.

Here's a left-field idea... what about doing a similarly brown-hued burst on the quilted top? It might tie the two together better and look amazing. If the neck looks a tad out of place on the existing bass, maybe the bass needs a touch instead. If you put up pics of the entire bass, we'll be in a much better position to come up with ideas on how to spend your money.

 

[Jeff Roller]

I'm dying to put up pics, the builder was overly patient with me, and I was equally as patient as he was. It's just that when we scrubbed the solid Northern Ash body and went with the quilt teal burst, the tinted neck looked out of place.

I have a local friend who is convinced he can get it back to natural BEM without removing the frets, but as previously mentioned it will take a lot of elbow grease. What the heck, I think I'll go ahead and post photos tomorrow, I am thrilled with the bass and the sound options, it's simply cosmetic preference that I don't want to trouble the builder with.....

Stay tuned, and thank you guys for all the suggestions!

 

[Fernando Costa]

It would be nice to see the full bass. Nobody gets everything right every time, a decision mistake is part of life. I've already caused big problems trying to fix the little ones. Does the bass sound how you like it? Leave it as it is.

 

[JimmyM]

I like it.

 

[2F/2F]

This question cannot be answered very precisely without knowing the finishing processes and materials.

You said "tint." That makes me think that a colored finish was used. However, you might not have been being very technically accurate in that statement, and perhaps the wood was actually dyed and then clear coated.

If a colored finish was used, then chemical stripping is the way to go, and you don't need to remove the frets. You just need to be patient, and make a hell of a mess.

If a wood dye was used, then clear coat, you can only make it look worse by trying to remove it.

Since it sounds like you don't do any such stuff yourself, just send it back and ask the builder to change it.

All that being said, it appears to be an extremely mild tint.

 

[MotorCityMinion]

OT. It's can be difficult to keep maple looking new on a player. IMO, the tint and the BEM look good and will hide some grunge. Teal and lily white would have a striking contrast and look good as well.

 

[Ostie]

I like it.

I also like the tinted version better. It makes those birds eyes really pop out. Leave it in the sun, or use an artificial light with UV shining on it. Maybe it will fade out.

If it’s just the neck that bothers you, have a new one made for it. Cheaper than a new build, right?

 

[gln1955]

I wanna see the whole bass. I'm imagining it and thinking that neck would look great on teal.

Anyway, I hope your guy can get you what you want.

 

[Jeff Roller]

I appreciate all the advice, I believe I'm going to go with leaving it alone. This is why I'll never have a tattoo, I like the idea of having one but would not be able to make up my mind on the details lol.....

I've owned dozens and dozens of basses, but only 2 that were ever made for me. I'm not usually this indecisive.

First picture is before with the plain ash body, second picture is what I have now.

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

I appreciate all the advice, I believe I'm going to go with leaving it alone. This is why I'll never have a tattoo, I like the idea of having one but would not be able to make up my mind on the details lol.....

I've owned dozens and dozens of basses, but only 2 that were ever made for me. I'm not usually this indecisive.

First picture is before with the plain ash body, second picture is what I have now.

View attachment 4444488 View attachment 4444489

It looks great as is, although it is up to you what you like.

 

[micguy]

If the stain is pre clear coat, you'll have a fair amount of wood to take off before you get it all off - your neck will be thinner, and you'll have to de-fret and refret. Unless you know what you're doing (by you asking the question, I assume you don't), this is a job better left to a professional.

If it's a one coat finish, you'll have less wood to remove, but still some - the solution isn't really that different, other than you'll lose less neck thickess.