Hi all,
Lurker first post, but I found some advice from the site and wanted to give some back.
I recently purchased a cheap fretless and despite my light playing and intention to properly bend, I wanted to protect the fingerboard from roundwounds while getting my mwah. I also wanted to avoid epoxy or CA coatings, mostly due to laziness. I came across the threads below suggesting Mylar, and wanted to share my results and recommendations.
Link: Alternative to epoxy or CA on a rosewood fretless fingerboard
Link: Mylar coating on fretless board -- RESULTS!!!
Both threads suggest putting on a sheet of Mylar plastic on the fingerboard and then trimming afterwards. I did this at first, but even after meticulously trimming the plastic with a sharp knife/razor blade, the adhesive-backed plastic I purchased had a hard time conforming and staying adhered to the very fine rounded edge of the fingerboard. This edge would ever so slightly come away from the fingerboard, and although the adhesive is strong enough that I doubt it would start to really come off, it can be annoying to feel that plastic edge when handling the neck.
I found much better results by tracing the fingerboard, offsetting the line in 1/16" (1.5mm) inward, and carefully putting that profile on the fingerboard like a phone screen protector
Overview:
Material:
Mylar is brand name of "BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET)" (Wikipedia), so I got a sheet of 0.002" (McMaster-Carr) and 0.005" (McMaster-Carr) adhesive-backed polyester from McMaster-Carr to try out. They come in paper-backed rolls, which I left in my warm Southern US garage for a couple days to flatten under some light pieces of wood.
These sheets were 27" x 38" and the 27" length is just about perfect to cover a long-scale fingerboard. The 0.005" is a bit stiffer than the 0.002", so if you wanted to forgo my advice and put on an oversized piece and trim to the fingerboard, definitely use the thinner stuff. I don't have the ear to really notice a difference in tone between the two. I will say, for this adhesive-backed stuff, the thinner 0.002" sheet orange-peels more when applied, just due to the thinness of the material conforming to texture of the adhesive coating applied on the back. The stiffness of 0.005" results in a smoother application, but reflections will have some slight waviness if that concerns you.
I cut 4" x 27" sheets to make them more manageable and easier to store.
Execution:
Fingerboard sanded/polished as you like, cleaned with a solvent to help the eventual adhesive.
I traced the profile with the neck off; I'm sure there's ways to trace/transfer a template of the fingerboard still on the body. I placed the polyester sheet on the fingerboard tight against the nut (you could use some double sided-tape or the like to hold it in place), flipped both onto a conformable surface (I used bath towel). While gently pressing the fingerboard + polyester sheet into the towel, I traced the edge of the fingerboard onto the paper backing of the polyester.
With the polyester sheet off the neck, I offset the profile inwards 1/16" (1.5mm). I cut out the inner profile with scissors, next time I'd probably try to get the long cuts done with a straight edge and knife.
Align the sheet on the fingerboard as to be installed, and use some masking tape piece(s) on one edge, around the fingerboard/neck to keep it aligned. Then it's just a matter of lifting the polyester/tape hinge and carefully peeling off the paper backing, and gently laying it back down on the fingerboard, with gentle tension on the tape to maintain the alignment set. Credit card wrapped in a cloth or paper towel to press the adhesive firmly on.
I'm no expert but I think it sounds fine, didn't take long, and I think it was much less fussy+better looking than oversizing and trimming afterwards.
Pic is with 0.005" polyester
Lurker first post, but I found some advice from the site and wanted to give some back.
I recently purchased a cheap fretless and despite my light playing and intention to properly bend, I wanted to protect the fingerboard from roundwounds while getting my mwah. I also wanted to avoid epoxy or CA coatings, mostly due to laziness. I came across the threads below suggesting Mylar, and wanted to share my results and recommendations.
Link: Alternative to epoxy or CA on a rosewood fretless fingerboard
Link: Mylar coating on fretless board -- RESULTS!!!
Both threads suggest putting on a sheet of Mylar plastic on the fingerboard and then trimming afterwards. I did this at first, but even after meticulously trimming the plastic with a sharp knife/razor blade, the adhesive-backed plastic I purchased had a hard time conforming and staying adhered to the very fine rounded edge of the fingerboard. This edge would ever so slightly come away from the fingerboard, and although the adhesive is strong enough that I doubt it would start to really come off, it can be annoying to feel that plastic edge when handling the neck.
I found much better results by tracing the fingerboard, offsetting the line in 1/16" (1.5mm) inward, and carefully putting that profile on the fingerboard like a phone screen protector
Overview:
Material:
Mylar is brand name of "BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET)" (Wikipedia), so I got a sheet of 0.002" (McMaster-Carr) and 0.005" (McMaster-Carr) adhesive-backed polyester from McMaster-Carr to try out. They come in paper-backed rolls, which I left in my warm Southern US garage for a couple days to flatten under some light pieces of wood.
These sheets were 27" x 38" and the 27" length is just about perfect to cover a long-scale fingerboard. The 0.005" is a bit stiffer than the 0.002", so if you wanted to forgo my advice and put on an oversized piece and trim to the fingerboard, definitely use the thinner stuff. I don't have the ear to really notice a difference in tone between the two. I will say, for this adhesive-backed stuff, the thinner 0.002" sheet orange-peels more when applied, just due to the thinness of the material conforming to texture of the adhesive coating applied on the back. The stiffness of 0.005" results in a smoother application, but reflections will have some slight waviness if that concerns you.
I cut 4" x 27" sheets to make them more manageable and easier to store.
Execution:
Fingerboard sanded/polished as you like, cleaned with a solvent to help the eventual adhesive.
I traced the profile with the neck off; I'm sure there's ways to trace/transfer a template of the fingerboard still on the body. I placed the polyester sheet on the fingerboard tight against the nut (you could use some double sided-tape or the like to hold it in place), flipped both onto a conformable surface (I used bath towel). While gently pressing the fingerboard + polyester sheet into the towel, I traced the edge of the fingerboard onto the paper backing of the polyester.
With the polyester sheet off the neck, I offset the profile inwards 1/16" (1.5mm). I cut out the inner profile with scissors, next time I'd probably try to get the long cuts done with a straight edge and knife.
Align the sheet on the fingerboard as to be installed, and use some masking tape piece(s) on one edge, around the fingerboard/neck to keep it aligned. Then it's just a matter of lifting the polyester/tape hinge and carefully peeling off the paper backing, and gently laying it back down on the fingerboard, with gentle tension on the tape to maintain the alignment set. Credit card wrapped in a cloth or paper towel to press the adhesive firmly on.
I'm no expert but I think it sounds fine, didn't take long, and I think it was much less fussy+better looking than oversizing and trimming afterwards.
Pic is with 0.005" polyester
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