Remove Scratch From Ebony Fretboard

[Darryl Young]

I used a small triangle file to put a small taper on the surface of each fret slot. I let the file slip on one slot and it scratched the fret board. The fretboard already has inlays, is radiused, and is polished. What is the best thing to use to remove the scratch?........fine sandpaper? (what grit?), steel wool?, somthing else?

If I can remove the scratch, I may be able to install the frets tomorrow.

[naccoachbob]

Please don't take my advice here without getting confirmation from someone who's much more knowledgeable, like John.
But I was wondering if you put some magic marker on the scratch and a little bit of CA glue, then sanded that back down, would it cover it?
The inlay I'm doing had some air bubbles today, so I picked them out, and used the same procedure. Not sure until tomorrow if it worked.
John has a video about inlays, and he talks about the magic marker trick here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsZuwAXcfUU
Again, this is my first inlay, and my 2nd build, so don't do it without getting John or somebody's much more experienced opinion.
The only worry I'd have about sanding it down is that you might create a dip in the fretboard in that location. Of course, it depends on the depth of the scratch.
Good luck with it,
Bob

[tippie53]

Often scratches may not be as bad as they seem. If you have an ebony board the black marker and CA trick may work. Can you load up a picture so we can see ?

[kencierp]

Picture would be good.

I have found that a single edge razor blade used as a scrapper blade quickly and "safely" removes most scratches. Sometimes the goal is over looked -- the process calls for removing all the surface area "around the scratch" getting down to the level of the defect. Than the area can be sanded to match the rest of the board. Merely digging at the scratch with sand paper indeed will result in a noticable dip in the surface.

[Darryl Young]

Ok, here is a picture......hope it works ok.

FretBoardScratch3.JPG

[Darryl Young]

Wow, after looking at that picture I notice that I am putting more bevel on the ends of the fret slots than I am through the middle.

Any thoughts on more or less bevel for the fret tang?

[tippie53]

Ken razor blade scraper will take your scratch out . Also once the fret is in , I think it would me most unobtrusive. I have put bigger scratches in my cheek shaving LOL .

[Darryl Young]

Any thoughts on the amount of bevel I added to the fret slots? Too little, too much, about right? I can see where I angled the file too much on each side of the fretboard and cut too much bevel on the edges (and at too steep an angle). So I guess I'm asking about the bevel along the middle of the fret slots.

[kencierp]

Actually, maybe too much if it is really visible -- all that should be done is too knock the sharp corner off the slot on both sides. This serves to guide the fret tang into the slot and also prevents (way down the road) excessive chip out of the fingerboard when the frets are removed by acting as a relief/clearance angle.

[Darryl Young]

The razorblade took the scratch out just fine; however, now that section of the fretboard doesn't look polished like the rest of the fretboard. I tried sanding it with 320g lightly and that didn't help. What is the best way to polish this area of the fretboard?

Thanks!