Ziricote fretboard finish

LordOxygen

I have a raw Ziricote fretboard and I'd like to apply a finish. I have tried some oils and all they seem to do is smudge and darken the wood and reduce the effect of the lovely figuring. I Understand the wood it naturally oily.
Can anyone recommend a good finish that doesn't darken the wood too much please? 

 

idiotwind

I've looked into this a bit as I'm using ziricote on my upcoming build. I found a thread where people were complaining about the same thing, oil making it look smudged and dark.  In the end the person used micromesh to 12k and then Liberon Black Bison wax and found that worked well.

WezV

It will always darken some, even just with wax.

LordOxygen

idiotwind said:

I've looked into this a bit as I'm using ziricote on my upcoming build. I found a thread where people were complaining about the same thing, oil making it look smudged and dark.  In the end the person used micromesh to 12k and then Liberon Black Bison wax and found that worked well.

I tried some Liberton BB wax as I have a tin and some renaissance wax. The Liberton It did an OK job, but over time the off cut I used did darken alot from touching it.

I think I'm going to have to accept it will just darken and lose the detail. 

Not going to use it again for a fretboard, that's for sure. 

WezV

It's a great fretboard wood even when you can't see the patterns.   The darker stuff is the higher grade, more natural oils.  

PhilKing

Why not just leave it raw?  I have a guitar with a Ziricote fingerboard and I just treat it as I would a rosewood one.  @WezV made it for me, so he would know if it ever had any treatment.  It is the black John Brich style SG

WezV

It probably had a light oil, no more than that  but I picked that piece because it was nice and dark compared to others I had in at the time.

The headstock shows a lacquered piece