Unfinished FB

[fdesalvo]

As long as the core wood was finished, I dont see how an unfinished fretboard would hurt a neck- there's a layer of glue between it and the core wood.  Any opinions?

 

[DangerousR6]

As long as the core wood was finished, I dont see how an unfinished fretboard would hurt a neck- there's a layer of glue between it and the core wood.  Any opinions?

Most necks are done in that fashion, for instance maple neck with rosewood fb, which is probably the most common neck combo made. The maple neck has a finish and the rosewood is unfinished...

 

[JaySwear]

what kind of fretboard? i think a raw maple fretboard on a finished neck (of pretty much any wood but maple) might be risky. apparently maple fretboards don't glue well to other neck woods. otherwise i don't see why not, but i'm curious as to what the neck woods are

 

[fdesalvo]

qtr sawn maple/qtr sawn maple.  I love the figuring of this wood.

 

[JaySwear]

i think it'll be alright. the fretboard might dirty quickly (see most peavey wolfgangs) but the finished neck back should keep it safe from warping or anything i would think

 

[Cagey]

As long as the core wood was finished, I dont see how an unfinished fretboard would hurt a neck- there's a layer of glue between it and the core wood.  Any opinions?

I think that's true. It must be, because other than maple, very few fretboards are finished and maple is the most common neck meat. I have seen bubinga finished - Rickenbacher uses that for fretboards.

Personally, I can't stand a finished fingerboard, which is why I've never been happy with a maple one. They feel funny to start with, then after a while the finish wears and they start to look and feel even worse. But, without a finish they start looking bad early, so you can't win. Ebony is harder, and feels/wears/looks/sounds good forever. Although, Warmoth has some really nice alternatives. Pau Ferro, for instance, is nearly as hard as ebony, but it has some beautiful color/figuring.

 

[line6man]

Why on earth would you want a Maple/Maple neck with a finish on the neckback, and no finish on the board? I've never heard of anyone doing that.

Provided that it doesn't warp, it will definitely start to look real bad very quickly as it gets dirty.

IMHO, if you want a raw fretboard, Maple is not a good choice at all.   :dontknow:

 

[fdesalvo]

cool cool.  I just went with jb ebony.  Fat city.

I asked initially bc i was admining the qtr saw maple grain on my neck.  It would look bad ass as a fb.

 

[Cagey]

apparently maple fretboards don't glue well to other neck woods.

No, maple glues up just fine. It's some of the more exotic woods like ebony, rosewood, and a few others that are glued to maple that have problems because they have an oil component that keeps the glue from grabbing. But, it's not an issue. They just don't use wood glue; they use epoxy. That stuff adheres to damn near anything and cures like rock. But, those same exotic woods also can't be finished for the same reason. Fortunately, they don't need to be finished. They're so dense and hard that they don't need any kind of protection. Unfortunately, they're usually pretty expensive, and some of them produce toxic dust, which is why some guitar manufacturers try to sell you on the maple fingerboard.

 

[DslDwg]

I have maple/maple with satin finish all around - that neck totally kicks ass. Not sure how it will hold up long term and I won't be going on stage and sweating all over it two hours each night - so for me should hold up great. It actually plays faster/smoother than my goncalo alves/goncalo alves neck which is unfinished. My guess is if I didn't tell people that it has a finish on it they would have no idea - it's very subtle and feels great.

 

[BigBeard]

I put I don't know how many coats of rattle can satin poly on my maple on maple neck and the fingerboard is filthy up to the third fret and it is starting around the 5th fret also.  Oh well, I never intended on selling this guitar.  I wanted it all maple, flame top, maple body and maple neck and fretboard.  It' is a really cool monochromatic look, but I didn't take into consideration that the fretboard would get so grimy so fast.

  Any way, short of  spot sanding the dirty spots and re spraying the neck to clean it up a bit?  I don't know if I wore through the finish, or if the finish is really dirty.

I do know that I am pretty sure that is my last maple neck (other than my 51 nocaster project I have cooking in my mind right now, but I'm not going to finish that guitar at all, I want to naturally relic it by actually playing it, not belt sanding a perfectly finished guitar the way they do it now!!)  Rosewood doesn't show dirt nearly as bad as maple.... Besides i have 3 maple homebuilts, I think it's time I start thinking about some other types of wood