Official Luthiers Forum!

I am getting close to finishing my first build and have a question about how to most here seal their bindings before fretting the fingerboard.

Or if you wait till after fretting and final assembly?

I was thinking I should seal before installing the frets because the ends for the frets will be covering the binding and I won't have access to the wood.

Also I am thinking of using Bullseye Sanding Sealer shellac as these are curly maple bindings and this is supposed to be a clear sealer.

Thanks,

Barry.

Barry what I do is use a tang cutter tool from Stew-Mac to remove the ends of the tangs so that they do not penetrate the bindings.  This way there are no visible fret ends that need to be filled or that will be felt if the guitar drys out and is played.  In dry conditions the neck can shrink but the frets won't so in severe cases the fret ends can extend beyond the neck/bindings.

I think that typically for bound fret boards most people do cut the fret tangs back to just before the bindings.

As to what sealer - what finish do you intend to use?  If it were me and I was going to use nitro for the finish I would not use shellac for this.  Why?  If you want to use what many of us use to pore fill, epoxy finishing resin, the epoxy will not stick to the shellac well. 

Hesh, thanks for the quick reply!

I have the a tang cutter and will be cutting the tangs back so they will not penetrate the fingerboard bindings, as you suggest.

I was thinking about the "detanged" part of the fret that will overhang the binding.

I will probably go with Tru-oil for the finish and will probably use Robert's method of filling with rosewood sawdust and shellac. I see that on his DVD he uses a 50/50 cut of lacquer and thinner to seal the bindings.

I guess this is how I will seal the bindings also if it has no effect on the Tru-oil.