Interesting! Care to link the video?

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Few comparisons with my rosewood VM JM and final results. Still need to sand and apply behind the nut but overall I think this is the solution of all solutions if you absolutely hate your pau ferro like I did

edit: I forgot to oil the Squier before taking photo, I’m sure it would look even more alike since the fender was freshly polished beforehand

Last edited: Aug 28, 2023 21:34:16

Looks awesome, but a little too risky for me. I'll stick to my technique that gets darker over time. It really does look fantastic though.

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SixStringSurfer wrote:

Looks awesome, but a little too risky for me. I'll stick to my technique that gets darker over time. It really does look fantastic though.

I purchased a scrap slab of pau ferro on eBay and tested beforehand. But not gonna lie when I got to my actual fretboard I sat there for a good 5 minutes like I was defusing a bomb and didn’t know which wire to cut. It’s an aggressive approach lol once I went in without fear though it turned out amazing. The reaction and tint itself only penetrates about 1mm into the wood, but with it being acid it’s permanent. Or more permanent than inks and dyes at least. The oxidation on the frets is deactivated with oils like lemon oil. I just used some daddario hydrator and hit the frets with steel wool once I was done

How did you not stain the white dots on your fretboard?

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You got unbelievably lucky that it didn't stick to those dots. I must admit, it looks insanely good. I don't have the guts to try it, not to mention I don't like handling those type of chemicals! You could honestly start a side business doing this.

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SixStringSurfer wrote:

How did you not stain the white dots on your fretboard?

My CV Squier ‘70s Jaguar has an Indian Laurel fretboard that I wouldn’t mind darkening, slightly. I don’t know if the lye treatment would work on this type of wood, and wonder how lye would affect the block inlays. If anyone has any thoughts on this, I’m all ears.

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Sounds pretty hazardous operation,
But does look great!

I think personally I would have used a stain mixed with tung oil.

Last edited: Aug 29, 2023 06:24:53

Tqi wrote:

AndrewTesta wrote:

I sure did lol I’m not familiar with chemistry at all

Well, fun facts time.

Ferric Chloride is the stuff that's used to eat all the unwanted copper when making a PCB. It's a super dangerous acid!

Sodium Hydroxide is also called Lye. It's the stuff Tyler Durden uses in "Fight Club" to scar the main character, describing it as "the most pain a human can experience" or similar. It's a super dangerous alkali!

Essentially what you've done here is an extremely hardcore version of a baking soda volcano. Only instead of sodium acetate as a byproduct, you've made goethite - or in other words, rust. (also, some table salt!) And since this form of rust is a dark reddish-brown...

I was slightly surprised by the order of play here, since this way the colour won't have penetrated deeply, but lye will also react with fats - so this method probably makes sure that it doesn't get blocked by oils in the fretboard. This should also mean that it's pretty safe in the long run, as long as you have more lye than FeCl - any extra lye will react with fretboard oil to form soap.

Bonus, mixing any spare Lye with vinegar and the FeCl with baking soda will neutralise them into safe byproducts. However, these reactions are really potentially dangerous to perform, so if you have a safer method of disposal I'd do that first. For the lye, you could also try getting some olive oil and making soap?

You had one rule Tqi! Definitely an aggressive approach, I’m familiar with the chemicals, just not the reaction they create when mixed together. Interesting do you think they would still give the same result if I neutralized them first? I made sure to test on a scrap piece of pau beforehand in order to get the right mixture of lye/FeCl. I oiled the board immediately after wiping off any excess chemicals and it didn’t make a giant bar of Dove time will tell, but as of now it feels/plays normal and doesn’t seem to have dried out the fretboard at all. Thanks for the chemistry lesson brotha

IceratzSurf wrote:

Sounds pretty hazardous operation,
But does look great!

I think personally I would have used a stain mixed with tung oil.

I almost went that route too, but I’m hoping this is a one and done solution and I won’t have to keep going back every few months/years to touch up or re-darken.