Staining fretboard in black ?

Jazzthat

So after scraping off tru oil from maple fretboard , I have come up with the idea of making it black , which should match colour way the guitar will be sprayed in . 
What's the best approach to this ? Will stain be a good choice ? 
I want it to be rather very  dark , kinda like ebony etc. 

WezV

Fiebings leather oil.


But on maple, it will eventually wear through whatever you use

Jazzthat

WezV said:

Fiebings leather oil.


But on maple, it will eventually wear through whatever you use

Would that work with lacquer ? 

Sarge

You scraped off Tru Oil? 

Jazzthat

Sarge said:

You scraped off Tru Oil? 

Yes I did.
 I don't know what to expect from going black on maple . Having now read few forums and watched YouTube , it looks like most people advise against going black on maple , as it doesn't soak up well and may look messy . 
The advise above with leather stain sounds ok though . 
I wonder if someone here done something similar ? 

SteveRobinson

Unless it's 100% clean then your stain won't take, or will take in patches. If you want it black you might be better spraying it.

Jazzthat

SteveRobinson said:

Unless it's 100% clean then your stain won't take, or will take in patches. If you want it black you might be better spraying it.

I suppose I don't want to go dead black and would love to see some grain through . Is there a way to properly clean tru oil ? 

Jazzthat

That!
How did they do it?

https://musicstorelive.com/walla-mavpro-blkpaisley.html

TheMarlin

I’ve used black leather dye to stain a ‘baby pop brown’ rosewood fretboard before.  Resulted were pretty good, though fretboard markers turned grey. Dye comes off on your finger tips for months, and it’s wearing in places now, it might need another cost...it’s been ten years...

I’m not sure i would do it on maple, it could look very patchy, and I can’t imagine it would wear well.  I hope you’re experimenting on a cheap guitar

Jazzthat

TheMarlin said:

I’ve used black leather dye to stain a ‘baby pop brown’ rosewood fretboard before.  Resulted were pretty good, though fretboard markers turned grey. Dye comes off on your finger tips for months, and it’s wearing in places now, it might need another cost...it’s been ten years...

I’m not sure i would do it on maple, it could look very patchy, and I can’t imagine it would wear well.  I hope you’re experimenting on a cheap guitar

Yes indeed , it's a cheap Pacifica .

 You are second person suggesting leather dye . Maybe that's the best way to do it ?

I am not bothered about wear as I am going to seal with lacquer . 
What about lots of stain layers , would that work ? I was initially thinking to get crimson guitars stain , but I don't want spend money on something that won't work .

TheMarlin

I think my guitar had two or three coats, and wire wool and a clean between coats. I’m a ham fisted butter fingered clumsy mule of a man, so paid my guitar tech to do the job. 

Mask well, wear gloves if you don’t want black fingers, and be prepared to bin your clothes afterwards

I’ll dig out the guitar, and take a few photos.  Neck was beige brown before, looks way better now. Contrasts against white paint well !!

edit: it’s the one on the right.  Will dig it out for fretboard closeups. https://imgur.com/a/IxRAgdN

Jazzthat

The collection looks cool together ! 

That fretboard does look good . What about the yellow one on the other end , Did you stain that black too ? That's something I am looking for .

TheMarlin

Jazzthat said:

The collection looks cool together ! 

That fretboard does look good . What about the yellow one on the other end , Did you stain that black too ? That's something I am looking for .

 No, sorry,  that’s a Masterbuilt Gretsch 59 Anniversary in Smoke Green nitro. Fretboard is an ebony slab. 

Would be awesome if you could replicate that with leather dye, but no...not a chance

edit. 

Closer look at the Anniversary if you’re interested. 

https://imgur.com/a/ckPvQP1

https://imgur.com/a/01D92Ob

Marlin 

WezV

TheMarlin said:

I’ve used black leather dye to stain a ‘baby pop brown’ rosewood fretboard before.  Resulted were pretty good, though fretboard markers turned grey. Dye comes off on your finger tips for months, and it’s wearing in places now, it might need another cost...it’s been ten years...

I’m not sure i would do it on maple, it could look very patchy, and I can’t imagine it would wear well.  I hope you’re experimenting on a cheap guitar

I don't find the dye stains fingers afterwards, as long as it's rubbed down with fine wire wool before playing.... But I am always starting with raw wood.

It can happen on a factory guitar when the wood is not as raw as you think.  

Also, on inlays it affects different materials in different ways.  You have to rub it off pretty quickly on most plastics or it will stain (actually quite useful if you use dark brown on pearloid inlays), real pearl is fine and won't stain.

Jazzthat

TheMarlin said:

Jazzthat said:

The collection looks cool together ! 

That fretboard does look good . What about the yellow one on the other end , Did you stain that black too ? That's something I am looking for .

 No, sorry,  that’s a Masterbuilt Gretsch 59 Anniversary in Smoke Green nitro. Fretboard is an ebony slab. 

Would be awesome if you could replicate that with leather dye, but no...not a chance

edit. 

Closer look at the Anniversary if you’re interested. 

https://imgur.com/a/ckPvQP1

https://imgur.com/a/01D92Ob

Marlin 

Thanks for pics Marlin . I kind of knew this must be ebony . Distance and angle played tricks on me lol. 
Can you take closeup from the other guitar ?

Jazzthat

I think I am going to get crimson guitar stain anyway to do the back of neck first and test it on fretboard as well .
If it doesn't look good then I assume   that the leather dye would go on top of stain with no problems ?

I am having a hard time to find fiebings leather dye in black . Is this meant the best out there , or any other would do it as good ?

Jazzthat

Jazzthat said:

I am having a hard time to find fiebings leather dye in black . Is this meant the best out there , or any other would do it as good ?

Found it !