# Sanding Rosewood Fretboard



## schwiz (Sep 24, 2013)

I recently started a Les Paul build, and I noticed that right out of the box, the neck is pretty garbage. I feel like the texture could be smoother as there seems to be some small crevasses in the rosewood on every fret. For you Luthiers: is it recommended to sand a rosewood fret board? Or should I be just treating it instead? I am a noob, and just getting into building. So I don't have the experience a lot of you have, so therefore I'm looking for some guidance. 

This is the only thing stopping me from putting my build together, and I might as well tend to it now while the guitar is in pieces.

Any recommendations for creating a smoother fretting surface?


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## schwiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Nobody has a tidbit of insight on this for me? Otherwise, I'm just going to lemon oil the fretboard and hope the "dull-ness" is hindered.


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## MaxOfMetal (Sep 25, 2013)

Pics? Preferably not potato-cam.


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## Benjamin Millar (Sep 25, 2013)

Sanding the board with the frets in place, without touching the frets, can be a bit tricky. I do it with a thin, well sharpened screper. Moving it along the neck between the frets.

If you want to do it with sanding paper, you can use those flexible disposable nail files which will conform to the fretboard's radius, and sand inbetween the frets (position the file across the neck and move it lengthwise).


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## schwiz (Sep 26, 2013)

Here is the pic of the spot of my fretboard that I would like to sand. I was not as careful as I should have been and I leaked some tru-oil on the fretboard. That's what the darker marks are on the left.












Live and learn I guess. Aside from the tru-oil spots, the fretboard is dull and I can already tell it might effect the action on the neck.


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## xwmucradiox (Sep 26, 2013)

You're claiming the color of the fretboard is going to affect your action?


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## schwiz (Sep 26, 2013)

xwmucradiox said:


> You're claiming the color of the fretboard is going to affect your action?



No.

I'm claiming that the fretboard is dull, and that in turn will effect the "action". Fretboard that feels like sand paper = slow.


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## mwcarl (Sep 26, 2013)

That rosewood looks fine, the wood has natural pores and is not going to be perfectly smooth. You are also meaning that the frets are dull and not the fretboard, which is also normal. You're going to have to perform a setup which includes levelling, crowning and polishing the frets. Btw 'action' refers to the height of the strings over the frets and not the feel of the frets on your strings and fingers.


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## Berserker (Sep 26, 2013)

Put some lemon oil on it if it looks dull.


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## 9voltchicken (Sep 29, 2013)

On those budget kits the finish work is pretty garbage. It looks like your fretboard was 'finish' sanded with 80 grit or something. One thing you can do is use a straight razor like a cabinet scraper. It will take a lot of time but it can smooth out the surface if you're careful. Make sure to move the razor in one direction and only with the grain.

Random picture from the internet to explain the point:


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