Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm about to re-radius my fretboard and was wondering if there's a better alternative to lacquer. I'm pretty heavy handed, so the lacquer often gets rubbed off by the strings, and the bare wood gets grubby. Is there a better alternative.
I believe the lacquer I originally used was just an acrylic lacquer in a can - I don't have access to anything fancy, and have no intention of paying a guy to do something that isn't going to affect the sound or playability noticeably, so...DIY suggestions only, please.
Would Lemon oil work? And...would it leave me with greasy hands when I play?
What would be the best option? (Even if it IS just using the same stuff again)

Lemon oil is not a finish, and no - it won't leave your hands greasy.

Have you ever thought about using CA for a fingerboard finish? It's nice and hard, and will work with other hard finishes on the neck.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I like to fine sand the board to 600 grit and apply truoil prior to installing frets.
I have also used wipe on poly with good results.
This board is Poly on Pecan.

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I have no idea what that is. Ahh.. Googled it and found a video on using "CA glue" for guitar finishing. Cyanoacrylate? Like superglue?

I don't know what you mean by Poly, but I checked out tru-oil and found some Youtube vids. It seems like the way to go

Minwax wipe-on poly.

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Tru Oil is not as tough as some other options, but it is difficult to screw up as long as you wipe the excess off relatively quickly.

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Mike Lindstrom

There's some fillling to to, too. See the switch behind the bridge? I had no router, so I just cut a hole right through, then stuck a recessed plastic cover over the front and filled the gap with e-metal, which seems to have shrunk over the years. The seam was never visible at first. There was also binding hiding the seem between the body and the decorative front and back.
So, a clear finish is not an option. I'd be tempted by a tobacco sunburst, but there's that hole behind the bridge to think about. I could put a nice place on the front there and seal the entrance from the back, and have the back a solid colour , and then a sunburst type finish on the front, but I want to fill that cavity anyway. Partly to help with the neck-heavy balance, and partly because I only use one position on that selector, so a simple switch or even a pull switch on a pot would be better.
Soo...I need to fill that hole and conceal it, conceal the seam between the body and the top, and do something about how soft the top wood is. Removing it is a last resort. The guitar sounds great. I don't want to mess around too much just to make it look prettier

AHHHH!!! That's the reply that I thought disappeared from another thread! Guess I posted it here by mistake!