Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton
Well, I'm sure there are those who would sneer at you for your Lady Clairol moment, but the secret to that is to remain mum and let them just guess (only your luthier knows for sure!)
Seriously, dyeing fretboards and bridge black with aniline dye goes back more than a hundred years. I've seen plenty of turn of the 20th Century mandolins, banjos and guitars where pearwood was used for fingerboards, then dyed black to mimic ebony. I think every Orpheum banjo ever made had dyed parts on it.
Now, after several decades, that can backfire with a sort of dry rot that makes the wood crumble when you rub it, but that doesn't manifest itself for a long, long time. I imagine the dosage has been figured out better by now, as well.
So, if you want your fretboard and bridge to be black, your guitar repair tech can handle the job. It's not especially difficult, and it won't eventually wash out like henna applied to hair. It's permanent.
Of course, if you want to take the stealth approach, you could have your tech do it like Grecian Formula, adding color gradually, a little bit at a time. It'll be just like the Grecian Formula TV commercials: "Gee, Don, your guitar looks GREAT! Has it lost weight?"
Seriously, it's not hard to do and nobody will sneer at you if you have it done. Chances are that 99.9% of the other pickers you know won't even notice.
Hope this helps.
Wade Hampton Miller
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Those crumbling fretboards is a scary specter, but since I'm almost 72, I doubt I'll be around to bare the shame of my deception "decades" later... 8>(
I'm hauling my box down to Steve's Guitar Shoppe, in San Luis Obispo, for one of his dye jobs ASAP! Thanks for the positive reenforcement - Mostly... Wonder if Steve can replace the fretboard dots with 8mm pearl stars, after it's dyed? This could be the beginning of a total makeover for my Eastman......
Don