Shellac on necks

S

swarfrat

Guest
So I'm sitting aroud waiting on somebody to sneak into work at Warmoth and pick my neck out of the pile to randomly ship out.  And i'm watching youtube videos on fretless necks. And I'm like - there's no way I'm going to ever break open that much superglue at once again. I put it on a body and that was a never do again. And I'm not thrilled with epoxy either. I thought about a wipe on acrylic, but then what about good ole shellac.

Shellac has a ton going for it for a DIY finish. Yeah, it's not bulletproof but it dries quickly, is infinitely repairable, if you change your mind anything goes over it. But what about the fingerboard? I've got an ebony board coming, and while ebony is hard enough for flats, I'm thinking I'd like the wet look of a finish on that grain.  Can I just shellac the whole neck?  Will it bump the contrast on the figuring and give it the wet look? I know it can buff. How I've found examples of people using shellac on maple boards, but nothing else so far.  Not having to worry about bleed from the neck to the fingerboard or vice versa is attractive.

 
I use shellac on my HiFi speaker cabinets.  I would not say it's super durable.  It's pretty easy to scratch actually.  I imagine that if you put it on a fretless fretboard you'd wear it off pretty fast.  Mind you, the wear patterns might look cool.
 
I probably wouldn't shellac a neck as it is definitely one of the most fragile finishes. Tru-Oil could give some of the things your looking for.
 
I did Tru-oil a Bubinga fretboard once, Rickenbacker styleé. No wear, but it's a fretted neck, so there wouldn't be would there?

I wouldn't Tru-oil a Ebony fretless. It's softer more vulnerable to wear than the wood it'll be protecting.
 
amigarobbo said:
I did Tru-oil a Bubinga fretboard once, Rickenbacker styleé. No wear, but it's a fretted neck, so there wouldn't be would there?

I wouldn't Tru-oil a Ebony fretless. It's softer more vulnerable to wear than the wood it'll be protecting.
Ah right, forgot it was fretless. In that case, definitely leave it unfinshed.
 
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