I have an early 90's Englehardt S1 and I want to remove the black paint from the ebony fingerboard. Any suggestions?
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Double Bass stripping painted Englehardt fingerboard
- Thread starter bgbass101
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- fingerboard
The ES1 has an ebony board. Is it shiny like the nitro lacquer blasted all over the rest of the bass? They actually finish those AFTER they put the board on, and spray the entire instrument.
Hi and thanks for your response. My luthier, the awesome, Jerry Fretwell recently told me this fingerboard is painted ebony. The instrument is an "S1" (I'm told this is a swingmaster) not ES1. Thanks again.
No disrespect to Jerry, but while the original Kay model was labeled S-1 (part of the Swingmaster line of S-1, S-8 and S-9 basses all of which came with ebony boards) the E prefix was applied after Kay folded and was bought out by the Engelhardt folks in 1970 so the S-1 became the ES-1.
So it's a distinction without a difference. I hope that clears it up.
The lacquer/paint/whatever can be removed with steel wool. I've done the "satin finish" treatment to a bunch of Engelhardt necks using it. Just remember to tape off any areas you don't intend to scuff up. Black electrical tape works for me. It's tough and peels off without damaging the finish.
So it's a distinction without a difference. I hope that clears it up.
The lacquer/paint/whatever can be removed with steel wool. I've done the "satin finish" treatment to a bunch of Engelhardt necks using it. Just remember to tape off any areas you don't intend to scuff up. Black electrical tape works for me. It's tough and peels off without damaging the finish.
Thanks again for your help. The model is confusing. The label inside the instrument is an Englehardt label with "S1" but the ser # is an Englehardt number from the early 1990's. Thanks again for your help...anxious to get to work on the fingerboard.
BC
I presume the black lacquer thing applies to non ebony boards as well. I have just got my hands on a lovely old American Standard that got played quite a bit in bluegrass context. You can see where "let's pretend its ebony" lacquer was worn off. I presume I should not care and maybe steel wooling the stuff off and oiling what I have would make sense.
A lot of American Standard basses came with Macassar ebony or similar striped ebony fingerboards, that are often mistaken as not being ebony. It is common practice for many repair shops to go ahead and darken the board with a black dye to give the uniform black color of higher grades of ebony; ironic because I pay a premium for high grades of Macassar these days because I like the color vairation....
j.
www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com
j.
www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com
It looks not like rosewood, maple, or whatever and macassar ebony may be it. Just looks that way to me.
Would you mind explaining how you do it? I hate the finish on the neck of my bass
It's a pretty easy job. I tape off the edges of the fingerboard, the heel and the bottom of the pegbox and use steel wool to knock down the finish until the desired effect has been achieved. You can strip it all the way to bare wood and seal the neck with tung oil or another product, but to me a blindingly white and newly bared maple neck is visually inharmonious with the...uh...vivid tones of Engelhardt finishes so I leave some finish in place.
