Guitar fretboard preperation

sarel0

Hi, I'm building a Fender Telecaster for myself. I've got this Maple neck - still pure wood and want to know how I must go about to get the fretboard itself to the correct finish. The rest of the neck I will varnish with lacquer (Nitrocellulose), but what about the fretboard. Can I varnish that too? If I do, what about the frets itself - they mos get covered too with lacquer and this couldn't be a good thing as the lacquer could crack and cause not such a pure sound. Or can I just use Teak oil or Lemon oil? Thanks.

peterleroux

For a maple fretboard, you need to varnish the fretboard as well. Fender varnish the whole neck, then scrape the varnish of the frets but you can mask them before you spray. Some discussion here, and lots of good info on building a Tele at that forum.