Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

[Ktula81]

Hi,

I'm on the verge of scalloping a mex strat I just purchased, and installing HS-3's to make a cheapy Yngwie Strat rip off. I've Scalloped a old neck I had before and it turned out ok, but that was a plain rosewood fretboard. I just sanded it down smooth and used lemon oil to finish it off.

Problem is that this Strat has a maple fretboard with a clear plastic like finish. Obviously I will lose the plastic finish but once thats gone what should I use to re-finish the fretboard? Is lemon oil OK to use on Maple or do I want to use something else? Also is there anything I need to know about Maple that makes it significantly different to work on than Rosewood?

I had a look on the search but could find anything specifically on this, so I appreciate any advice people can offer!

Thanks in advance

Ktula

[toejam]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

You can use lemon oil to clean and condition it, but it doesn't finish or seal anything. I'd just put a clear coat back on it. It doesn't have to be a heavy clear high gloss like was on before... a thin matte satin finish will be fine.

[MountainDog]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

What I've used (with excellent results) after sanding the rear of maple necks and/or maple fingerboards was Varathane Diamond Satin finish urethane:
http://www.flecto.com/product.asp?fr...ct_id=62&SBL=1
All I did was put a little of the satin urethane on a rag and rub a thin coat quickly over the neck/fingerboard, kinda rubbing it into the wood. After about 5 minutes it was dry (again I didn't use much), then I used 0000 steel wool to smooth out any rough spots (and the steel wool will clean off any urethane from your frets and polish those as well). The neck ends up feeling like an unfinished neck, but the little amount of satin urethane was enough to protect the wood from being porous and getting dirty.

If you want a little more protection, then just repeat the application a 2nd time.

If you can't find the Varathane, this product from Lowe's appears to be similar:
http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=prod...00000024-40910

[toejam]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

I'd take MountainDog's advice. I'm not too sure personally, as I've never done it. I just know that most Fender fingerboards have a thicker, high gloss coating, and my Carvin has a thin matte satin finish on its maple board that I love! Maybe call or email Carvin and see if they can give you some more advice. Or maybe try www.reranch.com

[chemical_ali]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

i recently tried to scallop my mexican tele (maple fretboard) using a 1/4" round file and it was so hard that i quit after the 11th fret. could you elaborate on how exactly you scalloped your rosewood fretboard. [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

i tried to use this technique over the entire board.

btw i didn't put a finish on the wood after i scalloped it and now some of it is turning black... [img]graemlins/idea2.gif[/img]

[Ktula81]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

Toejam - what would you reccomend to use as a new gloss (i.e. what product to apply). I haven't decide whether I want it natural or glossed yet, in fact I didn't think it would be very easy to do a gloss finish smoothly over the fretboard?

Thanks for the advice though, I'm in the U.K. so I'll have to find the equivilent products over there.

If anyone else has any tips please feel free to post.

Thanks again

Ktula

[Ktula81]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

Pretty much the way they suggest on that page, but on the upper frets I just used Dowel wrapped in sandpaper. On the lower ones I used a rounded file to start off and then smoothed it out with finer and finer grades of sandpaper. It did take a long time and I got blisters on my fingers! I don't know if maple is significantly harder than rosewood however, I guess I'll find out soon....

Ktula

[straycat]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

I did a mexican fender maple/maple neck using a dremel on the upper frets(using the different sized drum sanding attachments and very slow speed.)The dremel cut way down on the time factor.And used different sized half round files from the 12 fret to the first then smoothing with 1500 grit sand paper the sealing with a spray lacquer (the brand I used was DEFT clear)let dry, buffed with 0000 steel wool.The steel wool will take off most of the lacquer of the frets.You may have to do a little scraping but be careful not to scratch the fretboard.I used 3 coats of lacquer to get the thickness I wanted.
The steel wool will remove some of the lacquer as you buff it.The finishd product looked dead on a factory fender finish. [img]graemlins/band.gif[/img]

[stephenslr]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

I've heard of people scraping away the clear coat on their maple fretboards to improve the sound quality and you can tell which guitars have this as their necks will look dirty as the wood picks up finger sweat. etc.

A scalloped fretboard would pick up a bit less since the fingers dont strike the board as much, I guess an oil coating would help a bit in the drying out department.

Remember that you don't have to scallop every fret. Some people like to scallop only the higher frets. A certain Steve Vai model only had frets 20-24 scalloped.

You will notice that because there is more space between the lower frets when you play normal chords near the nut any extra finger pressure raises the pitch due to string bending into the scallop and puts the chord out of tune and not equally up in pitch - the same bend on the thick string raises more pitch than the same bend on the thin string.

[mm2002]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

Originally posted by stephenslr:
I've heard of people scraping away the clear coat on their maple fretboards to improve the sound quality and you can tell which guitars have this as their necks will look dirty as the wood picks up finger sweat. etc.

A scalloped fretboard would pick up a bit less since the fingers dont strike the board as much, I guess an oil coating would help a bit in the drying out department.

Remember that you don't have to scallop every fret. Some people like to scallop only the higher frets. A certain Steve Vai model only had frets 20-24 scalloped.

You will notice that because there is more space between the lower frets when you play normal chords near the nut any extra finger pressure raises the pitch due to string bending into the scallop and puts the chord out of tune and not equally up in pitch - the same bend on the thick string raises more pitch than the same bend on the thin string.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Fully scalloped fretboards aren't meant for heavy-handed players in general. I agree with that, and the same holds true even for necks with jumbo frets. A person who frets close to the fret can get away with a lot more grip than someone who plays farther away from it, in which case the scalloped or jumbo fretted board would go out of tune a lot easier in the lower registers. So yeah, you'll have to adjust your playing style accordingly. You sure can get some cool sounding vibratos out of it though! It's all in the technique.

[straycat]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

I agree if you are heavey handed a scalloped fretboard is not for you.I play pretty lightly so it works for me.If you don't play it every day it will always feel funny.I have a model 2 scalloped from the 7th to the 22nd fret and I love it.Don't know for sure if it was done at the factory sure does look like it though.If it was done after, whoever did it did a superb job.It is an extremly fast neck, I did a light sanding on the back and that helped a lot. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Ktula81]

Re: Refinishing Scalloped Maple?

Well, its done and it looks (and plays) fine! I will try and get some pictures of it if I can borrow a digital camera at some point. Maybe I could do a recording as well once the HS-3's arrive....