India Ink Fretboard Ebonizing

[Mudlark]

Got some Speedball India Ink today. 2 ounce bottle $3.99 USD and 2 ounces will cover many dozens of necks.

My neck already had 5-6 coats of minwax ebony, so my results may've been influenced by that.
Bottom line: unlike the minwax which resulted in a very dark rosewood, this stuff is black.

I taped my binding, but if some does seep it can be removed from lacquered binding with steel wool easily.
Steel wool also removed it from frets and inlays. If you can avoid the inlays, or want to take the time to cover them with tape, I'd suggest it.

The ink will harden in a matter of minutes on the inlays which requires some force to remove with wool. Same with the frets, but since I have a thin metal guide (StewMac) to protect the board while shining/steel wooling frets, it wasn't as much a hassle as the piranha inlays were. It was difficult to get it off the tiny inlays without hitting the outlying wood.

A dab on a rag is best to apply since the 'patting on' technique all but eliminates running. Dab it on, wipe off excess.

Mine didn't sink in as well as a bare board probably because of the minwax? It got gummy rather quickly.
So, I'd suggest doing 4-5 frets, then wiping. This may help keep it from hardening on frets and inlays.

I did one coat, now it's sitting. It was dry to the touch in 5-10 minutes max. I may do another coat, but I want to make sure it's permanent first. The minwax may be problematic...we'll see.

Like a twat I forgot 'before' pics, but just picture very dark rosewood which would have a hint of brown.
The guy in the youtube video wiped it on and then off merely a few seconds later. I expect this is all the time it needs to sink in, so don't let it sit and get gummy.

Here's one coat. Poor pics, but this is clearly black, not brown.

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[XSvmbraDensX]

Looks pretty good to me! Did you prep the fingerboard at all before doing the ink, or did you just dab it on as is? Looks great either way! I'm going to have to get a bottle of this stuff now.

[xenophobe]

Sweet! Hope it holds up!

[Number Of The Priest]

So far so good!

Is it still gummy? Do you plan to steel wool the fretboard after this first coat? Do you plan on applying a second coat? Will you be applying lemon oil or other conditioner prior to restringing?

Where did you order your USD$3.99 Speedball India Ink?

Michaels USA has it for USD$7.99 (https://www.michaels.com/speedball-s.../10338064.html).

Michaels Canada doesn't list a price (http://canada.michaels.com/on/demand...w?pid=10338064).

Amazon.com has it for USD$4.92 (https://www.amazon.com/Speedball-2-O...ball+india+ink).

Amazon.ca has it for CAD$7.38 (https://www.amazon.ca/Speedball-Art-...ball+india+ink).

Reference Youtube video:

[Mudlark]

Sweet! Hope it holds up!

Thanks. The guitar and I hope it holds up, too. I've taped and darkened this poor board no less than 8-9 times.
Which is why after my second, and probably final, coat it's kinda' blotchy and uneven. Since it's black it's no big deal. You can only notice up close in the right light.

I used black marker first time!
That came off on my fingers despite what the knucklehead on youtube says. I even used the same Sharpie as him, but mine wouldn't take. His did, apparently.

Buddy at the guitar shop removed the marker with something that sort of left blotches. Alcohol maybe?

Then the minwax. 6-8 coats. The poor fret board's been through the ringer.

[Mudlark]

Looks pretty good to me! Did you prep the fingerboard at all before doing the ink, or did you just dab it on as is? Looks great either way! I'm going to have to get a bottle of this stuff now.

The board was clean, so I just wiped it with a slightly damp cloth to remove dust.
If you clean your board I'd suggest using nothing stronger than warm water and a brush if necessary. I have a feeling certain things may affect the way the ink soaks in. The minwax was hard to get through and time will tell if it did soak through.
I can imagine a natural rosewood board will soak this up like water and blackened much easier than mine did with stain already on the board. The consistency is very much water-like.

I'll get better pics tomorrow.

So far so good!

Is it still gummy? Do you plan to steel wool the fretboard after this first coat? Do you plan on applying a second coat? Will you be applying lemon oil or other conditioner prior to restringing?

Where did you order your USD$3.99 Speedball India Ink?

No, not gummy now. That went away as soon as I wiped the excess off. The gumminess may've been I left it too long or the minwax?

Second coat I only did two frets then wiped. On and off in less than a minute and no gumminess unless I left it for over a minute. I'm not going put anything on it for a while. With the warmer weather and less wood heat this house will soon be a battle to keep the humidity below 60%, so it shouldn't get thirsty.

I did light steel wool after the first coat. Second coat I used less ink and I just wiped it dry and left it. The guy on the video posted above said steel wooling isn't necessary, though sometimes it may be beneficial.
It's smooth and black after the second coat.

I'm convinced a fresh board may soak this right up and result in little left to get gummy or need to be wiped away.
I got it here:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0007ZJ8TM/ref=nav_ya_signin?

I must've been wrong earlier on the $3.99 USD, but I remember seeing for that price. It's possible I choose the one with the cheapest shipping charges or quickest delivery....can't remember. It came in 3 days.

CDN$ 7.38
Shipping and handling:		CDN$ 4.21
Tax Calculated (GST/HST):		CDN$ 1.74
Tax Calculated (PST/QST):		CDN$ 0.00
Total:		CDN$ 13.33

[Guitarkid8]

Looking good Mudlark!

[TKEblue]

Not typically my cup of tea but does look pretty good. I'm interested to see how it wears. May try it on a beater, I like that it's still rosewood, but black. I only have an ebony board on my Taylor. It's hard to quantify but rosewood just feels better to me.

[Number Of The Priest]

Thanks for the detailed answers Mudlark! I have four rosewood-boarded guitars I can experiment with. Three of the boards were never ebonized so any of them could be the "clean slate". The fourth guitar is the one where I tried Minwax on alternating frets and will be similar to your DKMG's board which has been ebonized before. Will report back after with plenty of pics.

[Mudlark]

Thanks, guys.
Too wet outside for a picture today.
Pretty sure the minwax didn't help at all, but it looks decent so far and it didn't come off after a 15-20 minute playing.

A clean rosewood board with no binding would be simple and fast.
This is water based, so clean up is easy. In fact, I touched up the binding today with a damp cloth to remove a few little traces of ink that I found.

I'll need to get an unstained rosewood board and try it again to see the proper results, though.
If you click the pics you'll get a bigger version to look at.

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[Number Of The Priest]

That really does look like an ebony board. Reminds me of the SLSMG which had piranha inlays on an ebony board.

My four rosewood-boarded guitars:

1) Yamaha FG700MS with the alternating Mixwaxed frets. I don't care about the inlays. No binding to worry about either.

2) Ibanez RG570 with light unbound rosewood board. I don't care about the inlays either.

3) Ibanez RG570 with very dark unbound rosewood board. This is how I imagine your DKMG started out originally.

4) Jackson KE3 with dark-ish bound rosewood board with MOTO sharkfins. I'll probably do this guitar last because it will require the most care to not blacken the inlays nor the binding. Will probably need a fine paintbrush to work around the inlays.

[Mudlark]

It's blotchy up close. I'm 99.99% it's the minwax. That stuff has a sealer in it if I'm not mistaken. I think the guy on the video says the ink has a sealer...shellac maybe?

Looks cool, though. I'm currently trying to get a DK2T neck on ebay, but it's pricey being in Canada and buying US. I had a $400 DK2T in October Pearl lined up to be shipped from Quebec kijiji, but the guy fooled around too long and I said forget it.

Just be sure to wipe it off within 10-20 seconds if you want to avoid it sticking to inlays or frets. On shark fins it may be a good idea to paint around them. When you wipe it off it shouldn't matter if you wipe over the inlays. At worse the inlay may get 10% darker, but I expect it'll wipe clean.
Water will take it off the inlays after it's dried, but I wouldn't risk getting water on the inked board. Says waterproof, but...

I want a rosewood board to start from scratch now.

EDIT: Cost a small fortune, but I'm hoping to have this 2007 DK2T neck next week.

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[Guitarkid8]

Necks are crazy expensive online. Looking forward to your results!

[XSvmbraDensX]

Just ordered my own little 2 oz. bottle as well! Going to try this on my KV7 and my RRX24-7 and see if it does the trick.

[Mudlark]

I couldn't resist trying to lesson the blotchiness, so it got a 3rd coat today.

For whatever reason, it didn't become blotchy when I left it on this time. In fact I left it on long enough it almost all soaked right in. Perfect.

The blotchiness is definitely less noticeable now. I'm anxious to get a fresh neck next week and start from scratch. It'll almost certainly be a better experience without the minwax in the equation. You can somewhat see the botchy unevenness towards the lower frets on the last pic. It's impossible to see beyond arms length, so it's not an issue for me. Damn minwax.

XSvmbraDensX, I'm pretty sure you'll be happy. The only issue you may have is the dye and conditioning on your board from earlier. That may cause an unevenness like mine, or worse yet the ink may not penetrate it.

Give it a shot, though.
I'll accept no responsibility for anything screwed up.

As usual, crappy pics, but you can see it's clearly black.

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Click the pics for a larger image.
Found an older pic of before with the minwax.

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