Sanding Ebenol fretless neck

[imurrx]

So I decided to finally fix the ebenol fretboard on my Squire VM fretless.. The white fretlines "spurring" and there was a "ski jump" hum down at the heal of the neck. It was driving me crazy and it was really killing the fretless sound. No real mwah or swell sound. I got a used Fender fretless neck a few years ago to replace it. I decided to work on it since I have more free time now and I set forth to fix this neck.

There have been threads before if it is possible to sand ebenol. I would like to say yes, yes you can. Is it hard? Nope. It will however will change it's appearance. The end result is a smooth and reflective board that now plays as it should. It is not however black and shiny as before. The sanding did go through some of the top few layers of the board resulting a faux tree ring pattern that looks pretty nice. It is reflective and more of a charcoal grey satin finish. I will probably do another go some time in the future to improve it.

Here are the steps I performed:

1. I measured the radius of the board and it was 9.5" I ordered a sanding block for that radius.
2. I purchased sand paper pack that had the following grit. 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000, 4000.
3. I sanded two times going up the listed grits. The first time I wanted to get those fretlines to shape. I just wiped off the dust between each paper. I chose not to do a wet sand. Why, I just did not care for it.
4. When I started the second cycle, I would wipe off the residue and I use some guitar cleaning/polish spray. That was wiped off as well.
5. When I was done with the 4000, I took some 0000 steal wool and buffed the the surface. Again I sprayed wiped the board.
6. I then took some Maguire's car polish and did a couple of polishing rounds on it by hand. Each time I would spray cleaner and wipe it off.
7. Last I used some formular fretboard condition oil and rubbed it in the fretboard.

That's it.

The Fender Jazz Bass fretless neck I had is now for sale on reverb. I will not post a link because I do not want to violate the terms of service of this site.

Here are some pictures of the results.

Enjoy

 

[Vinny_G]

Ebonol. It's like ebony, but nol.
Good work!

 

[JRA]

pretty cool, nice job! thanks for the tip(s)!

 

[PacificSeaBass]

So I decided to finally fix the ebenol fretboard on my Squire VM fretless.. The white fretlines "spurring" and there was a "ski jump" hum down at the heal of the neck. It was driving me crazy and it was really killing the fretless sound. No real mwah or swell sound. I got a used Fender fretless neck a few years ago to replace it. I decided to work on it since I have more free time now and I set forth to fix this neck.

There have been threads before if it is possible to sand ebenol. I would like to say yes, yes you can. Is it hard? Nope. It will however will change it's appearance. The end result is a smooth and reflective board that now plays as it should. It is not however black and shiny as before. The sanding did go through some of the top few layers of the board resulting a faux tree ring pattern that looks pretty nice. It is reflective and more of a charcoal grey satin finish. I will probably do another go some time in the future to improve it.

Here are the steps I performed:

1. I measured the radius of the board and it was 9.5" I ordered a sanding block for that radius.
2. I purchased sand paper pack that had the following grit. 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000, 4000.
3. I sanded two times going up the listed grits. The first time I wanted to get those fretlines to shape. I just wiped off the dust between each paper. I chose not to do a wet sand. Why, I just did not care for it.
4. When I started the second cycle, I would wipe off the residue and I use some guitar cleaning/polish spray. That was wiped off as well.
5. When I was done with the 4000, I took some 0000 steal wool and buffed the the surface. Again I sprayed wiped the board.
6. I then took some Maguire's car polish and did a couple of polishing rounds on it by hand. Each time I would spray cleaner and wipe it off.
7. Last I used some formular fretboard condition oil and rubbed it in the fretboard.

That's it.

The Fender Jazz Bass fretless neck I had is now for sale on reverb. I will not post a link because I do not want to violate the terms of service of this site.

Here are some pictures of the results.

Enjoy

View attachment 4916102 View attachment 4916104 View attachment 4916105 View attachment 4916106 View attachment 4916107

Looks great!

 

[RSBBass]

Did you find the oil to make a difference?

 

[C Stone]

I have an Ebonol neck that in the right light and angle the “tree ring pattern” is apparent, nothing has been done to it…
It looks great! Enjoy your fresh board.

 

[SharpCat]

It does look great. But I think the steel wool pulls it back down to about 1000 grit stage. Which is actually plenty smooth. So probably not necessary to go past that level with the sand paper.

 

[imurrx]

The oil only made it it shiny and darker looking for a while. Nothing else but short term asthetics. Since it is paper resin, there is treated more like plastic than wood. I tried using one time Plexus plastic cleaner and polish, but it made it lighter in looks but smoother.

What it needs is a nice buffing wheel and polish to make it shine.

See this link

 

[imurrx]

Here is a video from Stew Mac on polishing with a drill and what you need.