How to Epoxy Bass Fingerboards
The fretless electric bass has been around for about as long as its fretted counterpart, made popular by legions of rock and jazz bassists. If you plan on making the switch to fretless and have done what so many other bass players have done and de-fretted your bass neck (or have gotten a fretless neck from a parts dealer), you'll need to coat the fingerboard to keep from damaging the fingerboard wood.
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Things You'll Need
- Marine-grade epoxy or polyurethane
- Lemon oil
- Damp and dry cloths
- Blanket and small pillow
- Squeegee
- Small paintbrush
- New bass strings
Instructions
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Lay out your bass on a flat work surface with the blanket underneath. Put the small pillow under the headstock for stability and keep the bass from shifting or falling off the work surface. Remove the old bass strings (if applicable) and discard. Wipe the fingerboard clean with the lemon oil and allow to dry completely.
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Brush on one coat of marine epoxy in light strokes across the entire length of the board, going from the nut up to the end of the neck where it meets the body. Allow to dry, and apply another coat. If you're using polyurethane, you may need to apply the coat slightly thicker than with marine epoxy. Use the damp cloths to wipe away any drips.
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Allow the coats to dry, at least a few hours, in a dry and warm environment. Check your work by inspecting the board; there should be a fine luster to the wood. Run your fingers over the wood to ensure you didn't miss any particular areas. If no further touch-up work is needed, restring as you normally would.
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Tips & Warnings
Using flat-wound or half-wound strings may prolong the life of the fingerboard, but you will lose some brightness of your notes associated with roundwound bass strings.
References
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Comments
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buddytd
Oct 23, 2010
A few other comments. This process is a bit easier if you first remove the neck. Once the neck is off, remove the nut by pressing it out (small chisel, small hammer, very little force) from the G towards the E and it should not break. Once the neck is off, I put a thick towel down to rest the neck, and put a plastic sheet over the towel, to protect the table and towel. I used packing tape to seal and protect the sides of the neck. Painters tape won't do it - the epoxy will leak right through. Also, once you remove the nut, be sure to cover the groove. You don't want to try to remove epoxy from the groove. I used odorless mineral spirits instead of the lemon oil. It took a LOT of rubbing to clean my neck. Your results may vary. Once it was fairly clean, it was easy to see grooves made by all four strings. I decided then to use a 220 grade sanding block to take off some of the...
