A dark and dirty secret! Did you think ebony was black? Me too. But like any other wood, ebony has grain streaks. If you want the dark consistent black you associate with the word ebony, you’ll need to add fingerboard stain. Read on... Erick Coleman, October 18, 2007

This is a nicely made ebony fingerboard, but it’s streaky. It needs some Grecian Formula: break out the little bottle of black fingerboard stain that Gibson, PRS, and other builders use to get that deep ebony look.
		Clean the wood with naphtha to remove contaminates that could prevent the stain from taking, then sand it to 600 grit for an extra smooth appearance (clean off the dust before staining). A glue brush makes a good applicator.
		This stuff stains whatever it touches, so I covered my bench in brown paper to protect it from drips. Got your rubber gloves on?
		Remember the edges!				Black Fingerboard Stain Glue Brushes
		Wipe off the excess and let the board dry overnight. In the morning, give it a final polish with some 0000 steel wool.
		Here’s a before and after.
NEW Tinted Aerosol Lacquers Genuine nitrocellulose guitar lacquer, formulated for controlled spraying and great results. Now you can create transparent solid colors or vintage style sunbursts without spray equipment!
		Another job for fingerboard stain: this customer upgraded to a Benedetto tailpiece, and wanted it to match the look of his bridge.				Benedetto Archtop Tailpiece
		I stained ’em both, so they’re a perfect match. This works well on peghead veneers, too.				Peghead Overlay Veneer
		One more before-and-after: This maple fingerboard was ruined by Hurricane Katrina. It's ebony black now, and it’s back in action. (I didn't need to mask off the inlays—the stain wiped right off the pearl.)

	Problem-solving products mentioned above:

	Behlen Naphtha Solvent General purpose cleaner that's useful in all aspects of instrument repair.		Black Fingerboard Stain Gives streaked ebony fingerboards and bridges a more uniform black appearance, used by major instrument manufacturers		Nitrile Gloves Tough flexible gloves protect your hands for woodworking and finishing jobs.
	1 quart $8.07		4 oz. $5.81		Box of 100 $13.40

	Peghead Overlay Veneers Ebony, rosewood, and koa overlays for guitars, banjos, archtops, and more.		Benedetto Archtop Tailpiece Luthier Bob Benedetto's jazz guitar tailpiece, made of finest solid polished ebony for a natural acoustic sound.		Glue Brush A versatile metal-handled brush that's the right size for routine instrument gluing jobs.
	Ebony, large $17.90		$100.25		Pack of 12 $2.66

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