Tru-Oil on Maple Fingerboard: next steps

[Dan Hehnke]

I have only used maple fingerboards a couple of times in about 12 years of building. I decided to just sand very fine (up to 1000 grit), and then apply one very thin coat of tru-oil. This looked fine, until I finished the rest of the maple neck, which turned out somewhat more glossy, and now makes the fingerboard look kinda dull in comparison.

I've used Tru-Oil many times for guitars, but just not much for fingerboards.

My fingerboard is now fretted. Can I still apply one more coat, and have it come out looking professional? One coat is all it would need to match the gloss of the rest of the neck. I was thinking just a really thin fast wipe on with cloth, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to remove from the frets...

Any experience, ideas are appreciated.

[Brian Evans]

I wouldn't hesitate to finish it the way you want, and just plan to clean and polish the frets after you are done. I would tape off the frets and polish with 600 grit to start, and then however you finish frets.

[Dan Hehnke]

Oh I did forget to say that I already levelled and polished the frets. I suppose I could just tape off again and remove finish from frets with some 0000 steel wool or white 3m pads?

[Gordon Bellerose]

I realize this is too late in the game to help with this guitar, but I have been using a product called "PolyX Oil". If I remember correctly, David King told me about it.
It is an oil base product, as the name suggests, but is very high in solids.
It seems to coat really nicely, and with 2 coats wiped on polishes to a nice satin gloss. It dries very hard and clear also.
I have used it on the back of necks too.

It is expensive, but like most good products, is worth the extra money.

[Barry Daniels]

In theory you could buy or cut some thin strips of masking tape and mask off the frets. In practice it would be a very fussy job. But it would probably be less work than having to sand and buff the frets again.

[Dan Hehnke]

Thanks for the ideas. Gordon, I will definitely check that stuff out. I like Tru-Oil alot, but I'm always on the lookout for something even better.

I decided to just wipe on a thin coat for now, without masking the frets, and then just wrapped a clean cloth around my foam sanding pad and rubbed what finish I could off the frets. Maybe if there is still some left I can use an eraser or something to get the rest off without having to resand the frets.