How do I get a white fretboard?

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Wood bleach on maple?  Wood bleach on some other kind of wood?  Vinyl tape?  Wood bleach then white paint?  I'm thinking that most kinds of paint won't hold up too well (by themselves at least), or would they?

Looking at how I might do something like this:

Or maybe this:

 

[bagman67]

The same paint Warmoth uses on a guitar body could be applied to a fretboard - that stuff's pretty dang durable.  I'd recommend huge frets so you're less likely to actually hit the fretboard when you're vibrato-ing.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Hmm... that's a thought - but what if I wanted it for a fretless bass?  How well would wood bleach on maple work?  I wouldn't want something that could wear super easy (even though I use flatwounds), so I'm thinking of working on the wood, but then if there's some degree of paint that would make it work best...

I'm thinking of a yin/yang kind of opposite projects, and getting an all black neck would be pretty easy to do via ebony or some other dark wood dyed, but the white is more challenging.

 

[bagman67]

You could use white epoxy, but even then you've got abrasion from the strings to contend with.


You could try hard-finishing holly - an extremely pale species - for the fingerboard, which would be marginally harder than many species of maple and even cocobolo according to the Janka scale.  But for a fretless bass, I think a true white is probably more trouble than it's worth, unless you want a showpiece instead of a player.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

I'm completely ignorant on this, but: why would white paint wear any quicker than the clear or vintage tint that's used on maple fingerboards every day?

 

[bagman67]

It wouldn't necessarily wear any quicker, but it would be more obvious that the wear is occurring, since it would abrade the pigmented color layer away. 


The situation would be exacerbated on a fretless fingerboard since you can largely avoid contact with the fingerboard on a fretted instrument by choosing big frets and adjusting your technique - but on a fretless you have no choice but to grind the strings against the fingerboard.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Yeah, this is definitely just an aesthetic thing, wouldn't need to be snow white, but I'd like something like a Mary Kaye white on the fretboard.  I'm thinking wood bleach + hard finish might be the best option, but I'll look into some lighter woods. 

 

[bagman67]

Check this out:


http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/170911-bleaching-figured-maple.html


You may be on to something there.


Edit:


More on how he finished the actual body with white-pigmented wash coats at:


http://www.crenshawweb.com/texastele/ttp14.htm

 

[line6man]

I wouldn't imagine that white would look good over time. A durable finish helps, but it might still get pretty gross.

 

[stubhead]

I just looked up "whitewash" and I don't see anything too disagreeable. It's basically chalk. And every once in a while some random thought goes careening around my brain folds (picture a bobsled run, only wet, wild, wooly and... squishy) - and that thought is: to stay white, it will need periodic treatment. You MAY be better off with a low-rent, but easily renewable finish. I mean, picture a really hard, scratch-resistant white epoxy finish. With some dirt and grayness inevitably ground right into it Alas, even epoxy is NOT THAT HARD, really. But it's hard enough that repairing it would be a major pain in ye old Gluteus Max.  Whereas something dumb & simple like whitewash would require prepping for the redo - 30 seconds with a stiff toothbrush per fret, maybe?

Surely you can get some holly wood, I know Jimmy Page just got an all-white guitar made of holly. It looks to be hard "enough." This is the luthier, a different guitar but he seems to like the stuff:

http://www.parsonsguitars.com/image-gallery/parsons-guitars-2013_white-mare.php
http://www.sizes.com/units/janka.htm

If you can find a suitable piece of holly - DRIED - I'm pretty sure LMII would radius and slot it for you - http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-services/shop-services