Colored fingerboards

[bagman67]

Hi, folks -


Some of you may have been following the machinations over at Carvin over the last couple years.  Jeff Kiesel, the grandson of company founder Lowell Kiesel, has pushed the guitar line in a very interesting direction, ultimately culminating in the division of the company in two - the amp/pro audio company on one side, and the guitar company on the other side, with a Kiesel marque for the freakishly custom guitar/bass line.  Whether it's good or bad is a matter of taste, and I personally find some of the new designs and color combos a little more in-your-face than I prefer.  But among the new finish options on offer are colored fingerboards,  which seems a very interesting thing.  Obviously you need to color the fingerboard in a way that allows you to machine the wood or finish the frets without worrying about sanding or machining through the color.  Does anyone have any idea how they're doing this?  It seems to me that they're probably putting the fretboard stock into a vacuum bag with dye so it penetrates the entire piece, but if someone is otherwise informed, I'd be interested in knowing.  I have this fantasy about eventually scratch-building a guitar, and this seems like a real nifty custom touch when I finally get around to it.


Here's an example:
http://www.carvinguitars.com/images/guitars-in-stock/large/125104b.jpg

 

[Cagey]

Just for you - a round tuit...

Now you've got no excuse  :icon_biggrin:

I doubt those fretboards are colored before they're milled. I suspect they're Maple, so as to have as little effect of the final color as possible, and they're dyed after milling. You could cut the fret slots without worry, as the raw color would be hidden by fret overhang.

 

[line6man]

Holy crap! That is stunning!

 

[bbl4ck]

That is pretty coool  :headbang1:
When I had the neck for my Black Dog LP made, I had my luthier try to dye a flame maple fingerboard black and he had very little success. 
The maple fingerboard would just barely absorb any of the dye.  I know he darn near soaked it in the stuff and it just would not take. 
I would be interested to know how they do those dyed boards...
:kewlpics: :rock-on:

 

[Cagey]

Maple is a closed-cell wood, so it doesn't take dye well.

I wonder if maybe they do a process like the deck lumber treatment guys do? Place the wood in an airtight containment, pull a vacuum, fill the container with preservative, then let it come back to atmospheric. Makes the wood suck up the preservative. Might be able to do that with dye as well.

 

[bbl4ck]

Here is a one-off Warmoth did a few years ago.  A beauty of a neck, but as usual it was a standard thin and had to pass. 
I do remember someone at Warmoth mentioning it was quite a PIA to finish and they probably would not be doing any more...

:rock-on:

 

[stratamania]

Here's another one from 2013.  This ended up with a UK dealer and I had the chance to play it prior to it being sold. It truly was a stunning guitar both visually and playability wise.

[youtube]LFWK3IOdkMA[/youtube]

I've been thinking for a while of trying to do a similar project.

 

[Perry Combover]

I live in San Diego.  Next time I'm up in there, I'll ask and report forthwith.

 

[dmraco]

I do not think that would be too hard.  Black sand back and then some Amber (or what ever color you choose)  The hardest thing would be making sure you maintain the fretboard radius when sanding.