Guys, I really gotta know! KV5FR

[algeriet]

My Jackson KV5FR without the bindings is slowly by slowly receiving less admiration from me due to the rosewood+no binding. I'm thinking that I could maybe go to a guitar repairman and see if he could "ebonize" my fretboard and maybe put some bindings on the guitar. Is that doable once the guitar has been built?

Thanks

[Nimitz]

Seems more logical to just buy a guitar with Ebony and Binding...

[algeriet]

Seems more logical to just buy a guitar with Ebony and Binding...

Thank you for your helpful comment.

[church2224]

I would say the only solution would be to get a USA KV2. New guitar plus you still got your KV5FR.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Thank you for your helpful comment.

I think you're being sarcastic, but I don't see a large orange font.

But actually it is kind of helpful. Yeah, it could be done, almost anything is "doable" - but it would be expensive, probably prohibitively so.

They'd have to pull the frets, route for the binding, dye the board, glue the binding on, sand it, put new frets in, plus the finish would get chewed up where the binding channel was routed, so hell just throw in a refin, too.

Unless it's a much-loved irreplaceable guitar you should just get a different one IMO. Then again if all that still costs less than buying a KV2 and you really want to then go for it. :dunno:

[RacerX]

Well, you *could* do all what MAJNH $uggested, or if you want to go the "cheapskate way" read on:

- You can "ebonize" that fret board without removing anything - YMMV

there have been a few threads about this - search "ebonization" - I was actually gathering materials to try mm2002's way but never got around to it (for my KVX10).

- for binding there was that thread by Number of the Priest (remember that guy?) where he used white-ish automotive tape striping with pretty good results - search "automotive tape stripe" or striping" or variants....

[Hellbat]

The binding is a lie.

My bound guitars with ebony fingerboards neither play nor feel significantly different that my ones with rosewood fingerboards and no binding. It's looks only IMO. If you just want to look at the guitar go for it. If you want to play the crap out of it then throw some money at a trem block, locking tuners, a level/crown/polish from a luthier instead. You will be too busy rocking the shit out of it to notice the wood or lack of binding.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Yeah, Ebony is a little slicker due to the tight pores, but how much is that going to matter? Especially with the huge frets, you almost never touch the fretboard wood - at least I don't.

[Inazone]

I "ebonized" a Stealth neck a few years ago, and it really looks nice. However, that was a bolt-on neck with mini-dot inlays. If you were to try it on a neck-thru with sharkfins, I'd suggest buying a cheap neck on eBay (anything with rosewood will do) and practice first. The only issue I had was that the edge of the fretboard was glossed over, so the dye wouldn't absorb there.