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Post subject: Fretless roeswood fingerboards
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:59 pm
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Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2010 4:36 pm
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Hey guys,

I'm looking into making a fretless bass guitar with the same style neck as my fender jazz (fretted). Looking through the specs, the American standard fretless basses have rosewood fingerboards. Is this a special rosewood or is it coated with something? because i've de-fretted a rosewood fingerboard before and the strings began to leave groove in it in less than an hour.

I really like the warmer tone of rosewood compared to ebony but i can't see how it would last.

Any suggestions?


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:17 pm
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Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:35 pm
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My '97 CIJ Jazz FL has no coating whatsoever on the rosewood and I suspect that most if not all are uncoated. Whether the Japanese basses use a different rosewood, I'm not sure (for example, Indian rosewood is fairly common, but there are other rosewoods that may be of varying density/hardness). I have a '73 Mustang with a rosewood board and it appears to be uncoated, so perhaps even the fretted basses have no coating. You should have been able to tell when you defretted the bass.

I had rounds on my Jazz FL for about a year with no problems, but I have several basses so it didn't get a heavy workout (but it did have about 150-200 hours on it in that year). In general, rounds will chew up many fretless boards in fairly short order. Ebony is an exception.

But in general, use flats on your FLs. My guess is that rounds caused the wear you observed. You get more mwah and better fundamentals with flats.

All I do to maintain them is use 0000 steel wool and some dark Chinese tung oil every so often (I do it about twice a year). Keeps the wood's thirst slaked, removes grime and minor string marks and leaves things like greazed lightnin'.


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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 8:32 pm
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Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:47 pm
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I put floor wax sealer on my fretboard. About 3 coats...brushed on sparingly witha cotton ball. Too many coats will peel. When it's worn down far enough I apply with a Q Tip in spots needed. Let it dry overnight if you do this. Doesn't harm the wood.

Wear a mask.


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Post subject: fretless necks
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 9:32 pm
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Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:24 pm
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I have a pau ferro neck that's been coated with superglue, and I still get string wear (yes, this is with roundwounds). I used to have a cheap Yamaha fretless bass with a rosewood fingerboard. It had no wear whatsoever. Ditto for a Dean 6-string fretless (also with rosewood fingerboard). Neither of these basses had any kind of coating, so I don't know what accounted for their durability.

FYI: you can always send your bass to Pedulla and get a polyester coating on the fingerboard, but it will set you back at least $300 and only comes in a gloss finish.

Ebony would be my first choice for a fingerboard but it is not cheap. Pau Ferro is very good but beware the wear.


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