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| When Winter Gives You Cracked Ebony-Make Ebonade http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=20727 |
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| Author: | Miketobey [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:05 am ] |
| Post subject: | When Winter Gives You Cracked Ebony-Make Ebonade |
Perhaps this will be old news but I am so pleased by some results, I thought I would post. When I started into electric guitars I bought 6 Fender licensed necks with ebony fretboards-they were being sold at a nice price-But more importantly to me, I have always felt I could get left hand vibrato and controlled bends better on the guitars I have owned when they had ebony fretboards(Gaboon/Gabon). Iowa winters are cold and dry and one of the necks I had bought was showing cracking lengthwise between frets-as many as half.(My little home has a high efficiency furnace-they don't tell you that the high efficiency includes dehumidifying the air.) Obviously I wanted to stop this and so, wicked in/on water thin CA. Even with gentle application, I would get a thick raised area where I had dribbled the CA. Not wanting to aggressively sand down the raised area, I quickly stroked my finger as a spreader to level out the application over the whole between -fret ebony-the whole fretboard. I then let the application thoroughly dry. Returning to the project, I saw that the cracks still showed as a depression. I got out a block of wood and a medium fine non-woven abrasive sheet and gently leveled. Then, I reapplied in the same manner. I did this routine 3-4 times, or until the crack was no longer a valley-all was level. Then, with the block I leveled for the final time and then proceeded to the genuine fine nylon abrasive, bringing the ebony to a velvet glow. The small pores of the ebony were no longer visible but that velvet feel kept the wood from feeling slick.As I worked through this, I also detailed the frets themselves, smoothing ends, leveling, re-crowning and the polishing which was a part of the wood buffing. There are two areas where in the right light, a line from the crack will appear, but there is no depression and it appears as a narrow greyish( no more than a half millimeter wide at worst) streak unless you know how this all started. Essentially, I think I had made the ebony stabilized. The CA had not just dried on the surface-it had penetrated to some unknown depth. I followed the buffing of the CA treated surfaces with an application of my go-to protectant, Renaissance Wax. In the mean time I was told about "fret doctor" which was really first developed as a bore oil for wooden clarinets and oboes, but was also sold as the fretted instrument helper. I ordered a 10ml bottle. I followed the instructions applying with an industrial sized "Q-tip"-a little goes a long way. I let it soak in and was a bit surprised but strangely pleased that the wood was absorbing the oil(no, it was not just carrier solvent evaporation). I buffed with cotton that I am using to learn french polish.I was curious about this absorbed appearance and feel. So, I applied again and left overnight; this time using it on an Orville LP ebony fretboard- not "stabilized" YET- as well.It was the Orville that convinced me that the oil was being absorbed-there were areas where the gloss of the surface of the fretboard remained and areas dulled because it had been soaked up into the wood. Once again, I had these velvety smooth(except the Orville) surfaces- I like the "velvety" for control- I don't like slippery fretboards, I lose feel. This process leaves no surface that is flaky;everything truly seems to be in the wood. The first patient had this done over a week ago and has not changed- all in the same too-dry atmosphere( Anything with a case gets daily snake reload and zip-loc bag with moist square of terry towel)- the uncased, in progress have me on edge daily. I am now going to apply this process to rosewood on the neck of a Levin Goya steel string I recently bought for sentiment-the same model in 1963-64 was my first guitar- it needs a bridge replacement too, saddle had tipped forward and a temporary repair had been done. As for the "Fret Doctor" snakeoil, I do not know what is in it but having applied it to ebony that I had not flooded with CA, I am happy with the feel and appearance on the Orville.It may prevent me from doing my process-blocking the CA;if so, well the Orville just stays "stock," but with enriched ebony. I am now set up to turn Zoot-Man's beautiful ebony into slotted fretboards(LP's), ready for inlay. I plan to treat a board with the CA before cutting the pockets for the pearl and then the whole routine after. We'll see, I guess. Mike T(I have tried to capture the appearance of the end result in a photo, but it just doesn't show well-and feeling it is more important than seeing anyway). |
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| Author: | JJ Donohue [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:21 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: When Winter Gives You Cracked Ebony-Make Ebonade |
Nice post, Mike...sounds like great results as well. I look forward to your results on Rosewood boards since that's my go to wood. |
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| Author: | Pat Foster [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: When Winter Gives You Cracked Ebony-Make Ebonade |
Congrats on the fix, Mike. Thanks for the post, and good to hear from you. Pat |
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| Author: | yar7ray [ Sun Feb 01, 2009 4:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: When Winter Gives You Cracked Ebony-Make Ebonade |
This is my first post...I had to interject a technique I use very similar to this. I worked for a major manufacturer of electric guitars and basses that oil finished their necks and found a technique that worked as an alternative to oiling the backs of maple necks as a finish. I would of course tape off the headstock area and lightly sand with 180. I would then take a folded wad of paper towel and saturate it heavily with acetone, then I would apply of fair amount of CA to the "acetoned" wad and do almost a bastardized version of french polishing on the back of the neck. the acetone would keep the CA water thin long enough to allow it to soak into the wood deeply before it would harden. I would do about 3-5 quick applications. and lightly sand the surface again. Then I would repeat the process a few times eventually bringing the grit up to 400-600 until I could see/feel that all the pores and cells of the wood were well filled and sealed. It feels like playing on bare wood but the wood will not stain or get nasty from finger cheese. I have note tried it on any other type of wood but plan to try it on this neck of myrtle wood I'm making. By the way...please do this in a ventilated area...I can still see the acetone fairies dancing around my head. -Ray |
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