Peeling lacquer on side of fingerboard

[Clancy]

Hi Brains Trust,

I'd just finished sanding a mandolin after spraying with Nitro C and thought I'd better check the fingerboard for spray creep before I went on to buffing, so I peeled of the masking tape on top of the fingerboard.

When I did so the tape pulled away the lacquer from the side of the fingerboard. The fingerboard is unbound (ebony) unlike my previous instrument, which I wanted the lacquer to show off the figure in the binding.

With a plain unbound fingerboard is it usual to have the fingerboard sides lacquered, or should I just sand off the peeling down to the fingerboard/neck join?

If I should have the fingerboard sides laquered how can I fix the peeling without having to spray the whole instrument?

Awaiting your wise & experienced words.

Craig

[graham mcdonald]

Bummer, Craig

It is usual for the sides of the fingerboard to be lacquered, though sometimes on classical guitars the finish stops at the bottom of the fingerboard. Never understood why.

The trick is to run a file along the top edge of the fingerboard, and file a tiny bevel there before trying to peel the masking tape off the top of the fingerboard. What you are going to have to do is mask off the fingerboard again. roughen up the edges of the board with 280 grit or so and squirt some lacquer along the fingerboard edges and neck. If it is not a big area, you could just get a little paintbrush and paint some on (them throw the paintbrush away). You can pull lacquer around a bit by using a french polish technique with a 50:50 thinners: metho mix, but it is tricky.

cheers (and commiserations)

graham

[Allen]

When you unmask anything, alway pull the tape off at a 45 degree angle away from the finished edge. The virtually eliminates the peeling back.

As far as finished fret board edges, I guess it's a personal choice, though I don't recall seeing many that aren't finished. I suppose it's easier to hide the transition of finished to unfinished on the sharp transition to the playing surface rather than on the side of the neck.

Personally, I wouldn't mess around trying to do a spot repair on the edge unless it's only a small area or you are very competent on doing them. You are more likely to get a good seamless repair by masking off the body and doing the neck again. I'm assuming this isn't a bolt on neck and can be refinished separately.

[Clancy]

Thanks guys, I'm off to tokyo tomorrow so I won't try to rush any fix before I leave. I had to brush on laquer inside the f-holes of the archtop guitar so I've had some experience doing that. Not fun. Still, I might try that first & if it comes out badly I'll just have to sand it off then mask everything else & give it a respray.

Will let you know how I fair in a week or so.

Live & learn, live & learn.

Craig

[Rick Turner]

One other thought...

Don't sand the edge of the fingerboard too fine. Deliberately leave some 150 grit (or so) scratches for the sealer to bite onto. We even go back after 220 sanding and drop back to 150 and sand binding or fingerboard edges to get more finish grip. I also pre-seal with "Waterlox" which used this way is a "tie coat" that helps bond subsequent coats to the base wood.