For ebony streaks, use black fingerboard stain
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... 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! 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. 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! This customer upgraded to a Benedetto tailpiece, and wanted it to match the look of his bridge. I stained ’em both, so they’re a perfect match. This works well on peghead veneers, too. 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.)Did you think ebony was black?
This is a nicely made ebony fingerboard, but it’s streaky.
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Another job for fingerboard stain:
One more before-and-after:
