fingerboard edge finish issue
 

so i made a experimental tiny guitar, 24" scale, steel string, flat classical fingerboard -kinda looks like a washburn rover. i used wipe on poly satin for the finish. everything looks cool except the fretboard edges. i put a super light coating of mineral oil usp on the board to darken it down (it's lmi's 2nd grade rosewood and it looked like a dried fence plank) and wiped it off after a minute or so. neck is cedro. three days later -problems.

issue is that the oil wicked under some frets and darkened down the edge of the fingerboard under the poly finish which was brought right up to the playing surface of the board.

three things are different this time around: i usually bed the frets in with some titebond during pressing and i didn't. i wanted to avoid the extra moisture and the clean-up. second, this is the second time i've used wipe on poly for a finish and i didn't have this issue the first time around on an electric travel bass. i usually make a wiping varnish or go full FP. and third, i didn't washcoat with shellac as i couldn't really find a definitive yes/no answer from the internet collective nor the mfg.

needless to say i ain't happy. this isn't for a client so i get a pass there, but i don't like it none the less.

regarding fixing the problem i though of feathering the finish back to the neck shaft and then dealing the the fingerboard edges somehow.

thoughts?

Yeah just scrape the wipe on poly off the fretboard edge and then use the same oil you used on the fretboard for the edge, that is what I would consider doing. Some makers don't even finish the fretbaord edge at all. After fretting and filling in fret end slots I just wipe on some shellac coats. But it seems to me that if you use the same oil then you will get the same color all round. You might even be able to apply shellac on top of that.

thanks. yeah i am probably going to try that. i just hope the oil doesn't then migrate under the poly and wind up in the neck shaft making the same problem somewhere new.

That's a good point. You might consider brushing a thin line of shellac across the transition.