Darkening a Pau Ferro Fretboard | DIY Guitars
Вставка
- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- Hey all,
This is my attempt at darkening a pau ferro fretboard. Nothing crazy like Minwax, just a fretboard conditioner with beeswax. I will let the results speak for themselves!
My Gear
Soldering Iron - amzn.to/36h26DF
Desktop Power Supply - amzn.to/3p9x5KP
Multimeter - amzn.to/355GKtC
Lights - amzn.to/3l9Li85
Camera - amzn.to/32pWuG6
Tripod 1 - amzn.to/36cY4MJ
Tripod 2 - amzn.to/36kNYcW
Microphone - amzn.to/3p78JBj
Mic Adapter - amzn.to/2JMdj7T
Recorder - amzn.to/2U6iL7j
Audio Interface - amzn.to/3n2OMd3
Recording Microphone - amzn.to/36tPARJ
Recording Microphone (Acoustic) - amzn.to/2Ie5rvq
Mic Stand - amzn.to/32lbeGc
Guitar Stand - amzn.to/3mZ2EoH
Amplifier Stand - amzn.to/36dI39t
Guitar Cables - amzn.to/2Ig7HSo
Mic Cables - amzn.to/3ezVKTT
Pedal Power Supply - amzn.to/2JN96kk
#pougnetpedals #pauferro #jazzmaster
Am old enough to remember when Pao Ferro was an expensive fingerboard option on many high end guitars.
Yes. It's been relegated to a "cheap" option. Really it's just different
Here in Brazil is used a lot by luthier to do handmade guitars, acoustic and eletric, its cheapier than our rosewood (jacarandá) (cause its protected by law because its was almost extinguished in nature), but we see Pau ferro as a really nice and premium wood to make instruments, it's just easy to get and cheap to buy, but we love this hahaha, it's a pity foreigners see a cheap wood as just bad wood, Brazilians do it too by the way, here sometimes some people see a ash or alder (wood that we don't have here) strat body and pay a lot and just don't care for well builded body made with nice brazilian wood
I believe Pau Ferro was SRV's fingerboard wood of choice
@@aravindvinayakan Not SRV himself, his strat was a brazilian rosewood from the 60's, the reissue Fender made in 1992 yes
@@pandorski35000 I’ve also heard many times that SRV preferred pau ferro for fretboards.
If you want to darken a Pau ferro or rosewood fretboard you can use a water based wood stain. In the UK there's a company called Crimson Guitars. They sell a number of products for use on guitars including a range of safe to use wood stains. Get the black stain, clean your fretboard, allow it to dry, apply a very light amount of the wood stain, allow it to soak in, then use a microfiber cloth to buff away any excess. It won't colour fret wire and hasn't penetrated and coloured any inlays when I've used it. Once it is fully dry apply a coat of lemon oil and you have a fretboard that looks a lot like ebony or very dark rosewood.
Can tell us a name of the product you've used? Also, did it stain colour your finger tips at all? Would it discolour after time? How much stain you've applied? Thank you.
@@dmitrivincent1433 Sure. Crimson Guitars water based Stunning Stains black.
Not tried it on Pau Ferro. The grain on that is tighter than Rosewood but it should be fine.
You want to apply it to a clean and dry fretboard, and make sure the wood hasn't recently been treated with an oil conditioner as that will make it harder to get an even application.
I used Jim Dunlop fretboard cleaner and let it dry thoroughly. Then gave the fretboard a very quick rub with some 3000 grit sandpaper. I don't like steel wool because tiny particles can be attracted towards the pickups but if you mask them up steel wool works okay.
Then I used a very small artist's brush to apply the stain, that way I could be precise and avoid a lot of stain going over the fretboard inlays. Any stain that did go over them i just wiped away. I used a clean cloth to rub in the stain evenly and then let it dry thoroughly. Then applied fretboard conditioner, restrung and tuned up.
I was really pleased, the fretboard has a very dark, ebony like appearance but looks natural.
I've never had any issues with stain coming off on my fingers.
Next time I cleaned the fretboard a little black stain was evident on the cloth. But it retained an even dark finish and still looks great.
I have no regrets and highly recommend the Crimson Guitars water based stain.
I would suggest you carefully mask up the sides of your neck, you don't want to stain that by accident.
crimsonguitars.com
A water based dye is no good on oily wood. Use spirit wood dye.
@@Dave-nh8iv It worked just fine, it has never faded and doesn't come off on my hands. Looks great, worked great. The fretboard was reconditioned after the dye had dried.
Wow the difference on the pau ferro is awesome. It really makes the grain pop. i just bought some of this and excited to try it out.
That Pau ferro board looks incredible. That dark line through it!!!
Thanks
It looks awesome but even without the oil it still looks good.
lol oddly enough the line makes my OCD go crazy
I am minority that PREFERS Pao Ferro over rosewood. I like that it's a hair harder. I like that it's a bit brighter.... It's the sonic happy medium between maple and rosewood imo. So between preferring the feel just a bit over rosewood... Just a bit harder, smoother, finger glide a bit easier on bends it seems for me.... I also love where it sits in the tine spectrum.... And.... Once darkened a bit (I have good luck with F-One oil)..... Once oil treated, I prefer the look. Like rosewood but a hair more complex coloring.... Some reds.
Fwiw, I think Fender does a white job treating the Pao Ferro ... Precisely to prevent it looking better than the rosewood on the more expensive MIA next to it in the rack. And I don't blame them. But... Work on it yourself and reap the benefit of some gorgeous wood. Every Mexi Pap Ferro is a from the factory DIY imo. It just needs one more step to oil or condition. Do it yourself.
There's no reason not to remove the neck before using steel wool. Taping off the pickups isn't gonna keep wool out of there. It'll find a way in. It's like trying to keep household dust out of the pickups; it's not gonna happen. For anyone else, just take off the neck and use the wool in another room, then wipe down the neck twice, one damp one dry.
Not sure what to say but you did nothing to modify the color of the wood. It looks conditioned, that's all. It has the glow of a freshly oiled board, which to neurotic players looks like good maintenance but is arguably ever so slightly detrimental as its softening effect is potentially more robust than its anti-dehydrating effect.
Black india ink with one quick pass makes pale brown fretboards a rich deep leather brown, retaining striping - so it doesn't look unnatural. And while ink doesn't rub off on the fingers, it is effortless to remove your work with only the abrasiveness of #0000 steel wool, such as with your future fret polishing jobs.
I know that Ibanez Artcore walnut won't take stain at all, but it does take the ink, and it is easy to tailor the color with number of coats. But it ends up with a sheen, so you have slightly shiny, heavily grained black wood. It looks unnatural. It looks worse than the already cracked, silvery, sickly looking walnut as it comes from the factory. I wonder how makers can put these inferior looking woods on the sexiest part of the guitar and go 'yeah, that'll do.' It doesn't matter if they're all equally durable and tonally rich. The only thing that's truly of any consequence in the world is beauty. All else being more or less equal, you can't accept a loss of it.
Here's a good job of rosewood-izing pau ferro with only a minwax ebony pen. I suggest we all translate 'pau ferro' and just call it ironwood. That puts it nicely in perspective as a harder, ruddier cousin of rosewood.
imgur.com/a/0BwndLv
Thanks. I agree with mostly everything you said. Although a strong magnet on a piece of paper will lift the metal shavings. It will take a couple passes, but it should work and saves removing the neck
Just remember boys and girls, fender and other premium manufacturers offered pau ferro, on limited run, special edition guitars, years ago, so it’s not a cheap wood, I believe some of the SRV Strats came with pau ferro, for a limited time
True this! It's been a high-end option for a while. Many smaller boutique shops have been using it regularly for years. We've seen an uptick in requests for Pau Ferro from multiple builders after Fender made their announcement in 2018. 👊
But it feels like shit imo
Alex Sims : each to their own, it wouldn’t be my 1st choice, but it wouldn’t put me off guitar played well, but had PF fretboard 👍
@@bobbillnolan7644 for sure man, nothin wrong with that all👌. Ive been working at a music store for little while and feel a whole bunch of em as they come in and to me I just cant get over how dry they always feel even after I restring and oil em up idk just not super big on em lol
yep. pau ferro was definitely out of the custom shop for a while
I just used Dunlop lemon oil, it definitely made it a couple of shades darker. Looks nice
When a good piece of pau ferro is used I think it can even look nicer than rosewood. Depends on the color of the finish on the guitar, sometimes the red pau ferro compliments the finish more. Like on my p90 mustang in red, I love how pau ferro looks on it. On my white strat I love the dark rosewood. Sometimes pau ferro can look a bit too dry and light, but I’d just choose a neck with a darker pau ferro fretboard, some have really nice patterns on them. My very first reaction when I saw pau ferro Fenders in a store was honestly that they looked super beautiful to me
I guess this is my gripe with pau ferro. The inconsistency. Like you said, I've seen some really light, dry looking ones that almost look rusty in color. Those look horrible in my opinion. The one in this video actually looked decent. I did like the contrast in the grain. I guess if I were to buy a guitar with pau ferro, I would have to see in person with my own eyes first because you just never know what you might get when you buy online
I do agree with the inconsistency. I have seen some very different pau ferro boards
Good work ! Pau ferro looks like 90s squier bullet fretboards.
Thanks!
Great! I recently got a Vintera 60s Strat and I love the neck feeling, but I didn’t like so much that pale finish..thank you!
Nice. I love the look of those vinteras
That Pau Ferro board is decent, I have a few guitars with Pau Ferro but my Epiphone Les Paul is way too light for me. The Fender boards for some reason are a lot darker and closer to rosewood in my opinion.
Thanks!
Thanks for the video! I purchased the Fender conditioner from Amazon, and used it while changing strings on my 2020 MIM Pau Ferro Strat. I have previously conditioned the board with another guitar conditioner, but it did nothing like the Fender conditioner. Within about a minute of applying, I could see it darkening the wood. The end result is a nice lush looking fingerboard with those fantastic darker wood grains showing through. I cant say enough good things about this product on this particular wood.
Glad it helped! I just reconditioned that board for the first time since the video. It really holds up well.
That's not darkening, it has a wetter/richer look cause it gets hydrated/oiled.
ANY conditioning oil will give it that look and it will slowly revert to its original pale shade as the fingerboard dries again.
There are conditioners with pigment/dye in them. Those DO darken the fingerboard more and more every time you use them.
The dark streaking of pau ferro and it’s smoothness honestly tops rosewood and how grainy and porous it is. Even if it looks a bit weird with the reddish parts
Got a really gorgeous ibanez artcore 335 that has the most orange fretboard I have ever seen, the guitar itself is black and it really kills the whole vibe of the guitar for me. Looking at dying it with something, wondering if shoe polish would work, if not may have to be a stain job
I was putting oil on my neck and I had to run to the bathroom cause my stomach was all messed up. I let the oil sit for like 5-7 minutes when I came back the indian laurel fretboard was DARK. And its still dark till today.
Great job man, has definitely changed my view on the new wood. Perhaps will go this route with a player strat..
Nice video! I used that same fret board conditioner on a Squier bass I own with an Indian Laurel fingerboard. It really darkens and looks more like rosewood than the Pow Pharaoh (erm... Pau Ferro.... Mia Farrow.... ). That said, I like the Pau Ferro. It's a great wood, and I am looking at getting a Fender Player Jazz fretless bass with that fingerboard.
Nice. I don't have any laurel fretboards, but figured it would do the same
I have all of Paul Ferros' albums. He generally has a nice neutral quality goin'. But, his dark side can really stand out. It just opens the world, I think.
What about the small part above the nut? On my Mexican Fender Strat they put clear varnish on the headstock and also on the small parts of the Pau Ferro. Of course it doesn't absorb any oils then anymore. Was it the same on yours and you just left it as it was?
Wonderful
Steve Ray Vaughan was using Strat with Pau Ferro fretboard.
Awesome
Annoyingly they brought back rosewood finger boards on Mexican Fenders now .The pau ferro on my 2019 Vintera 60s Tele is pretty dark and I've grown tp love it .Monty's Montypresso Relic wax darkens them a couple of shades but if anyone wants theirs as dark as rosewood then only a stain will do that but dont forget it will stain your dots too .
I prefer the pau ferro to rosewood, tonally aswell, seems more open, look up Monty’s relic sauce - supposed to be good stuff!
I have my Mexican strat with pao ferro fretboard for about 2 years now. The fretboard was a bit brighter when it was brand new then it is now. It became darker by just playing guitar. You can see on the fretboard where it is played the most. Let say between frets 1-14 is darker and gets slightly brighter towards the higher frets. Cleaning it with lemonoil made the whole board a very little bit darker.
But is it supposed to be getting darker by playing? Right now it looks like it is been played for 30 years. Not worn, only old and after a clean up and new strings it looks damn beautifull in my opinion.
Great!
I think they repealed that CITES rule but I still see Fender using Pao Ferro. I tried a Jazzmaster with Pao Ferro and I had no issue with it. It seemed to look fine, feel fine and play fine. Just a little lighter color.
Yes they did. I suspected they wouldn't change back to rosewood.
FYI exotic woods tend to go more dark and brown with age, and lose the vibrant hues like red/orange/purple if it had some to begin with. Just play the shit out of it for years, subject it to humidity changes of a gigged guitar and especially to some sunlight (open air gigs or practicing on a porch?). Don't listen to advice suggesting smearing it with dye, the end result will be worse than fretboards on a $30 Walmart classical guitar.
Good to know!
Remember when it was just Rosewood? LMFAO
That Pau Ferro fingerboard on your JM is fairly dark to begin with for Pau Ferro, it can be a lot lighter in color than that, but so can Indian rosewood or even Brazilian rosewood can be light in color in some cases. I seen a 1951 Gibson ES 5 with very light colored BRW for sale a while back and there is a video in color of a mid 1960s R&B band and the guitarist is playing a Burgundy Mist Strat with a very light colored RW fingerboard .
Its a good thing that now a days guitar companys using alternative woods wHile retaining the tonal aspect of the instrument. Good for the environment as well. Rosewood its been a common wood before i have to admit that i still prefer that wood tho.
Pau ferro is growing on me, but i think there is something to the "classic" rosewood look.
Hi 🎸
Please let me know if the dark lines in the wood of the Pau Ferro fingerboard do not give the impression that the wood is cracking in this place?
I'm asking, I'm considering buying (discount) a Fender MIM with a Pau Ferro fingerboard with a very dark line running through it. It looks a bit strange, is it a defect?
Regards, nice movie.
Andrzej 🇵🇱✊
No, it’s not a defect, it’s the natural surface of the wood. I think it looks good 👍🏻
As a commenter in this thread said, if you can get a decent (dark) piece of pau ferro, they can look good. The lighter, dry looking ones look cheap and can really throw off the look of a guitar depending on the color of the body. I guess this is my beef with pau ferro. The color and grain inconsistency. Why doesn't Fender ever use ebony?
I believe ebony is also restricted by CITES.
I don't think anything is now. musical instruments and instrument parts have been excluded ... or will be very soon. I doubt Fender will revert though.
yeah here in brazil the pau ferro is a comum wood there are much tree how this in the parks a tree much explored in the portuguese colonization more than the Brasilian rosewood ,but its a great wood with a beautiful song .
Excellent!
I LIKE the blonde stripes through the pau ferro. Even a more sexy guitar after you added the Fender conditioner; wasn't sure I'd like it, but NICE, especially against the blue body. I wonder if (over time) a little once a year love to the fretboard with a bit of linseed oil would achieve the same thing.
hard to say. i was actually looking at the montypresso wax. might give that a try
Agree that the PF looks way better. The black stripe looks cool..👍🇦🇺
Thanks!
I got really lucky and got one brand new from fender website. It came already a dark dark color. Mine is an Electric Xii. I think the pau ferro would look even better if they laquered the finger board like rickenbacker does. That way you can really see the wood grain
I just got a MIM Jaguar with Pau Ferro and I really like the color and grains in it, I also noticed that it´s waxy like you say and when I bend the strings there´s some friction, but may be because it just came from the Factory. I will add some moist to it and see if that works. You Jazzmaster looks awesome!
Thanks! Congrats on the Jag!
Looks great! 👍
I have indian laurel and hate it. Figures the rosewood ban got lifted after these were made. Ive seen some that have a cool grain pattern that makes up for the dull light dry color but mine is plain. It'll look way better darker. The strat i bought new in 07 has tuned almost an ebony. it looks amazing and i never oiled it
Interesting. I don't mind the Laurel, but have only seen a few. I don't own one
Thanks for the explanation of why guitars with rosewood fretboards are harder to find these days. I’ve heard it’s been an issue but I never understood why until now. As much as I wish the fretboard on my epiphone SG had rosewood Instead of Indian Laurel, I’d rather not kill an endangered species of trees lol.
yeah. I think the law has changed since the video, but I doubt manufacturers will revert the changes
Looks good… gonna do it on my Suhr
I darkened my Player Strat Pau Ferro fretboard easily with dark rifle stock oil instead of lemon oil on each string change. Looks now very dark brown. The reddish color of Pau Ferrlo has gone.
So I have always played maple board fender strats. Tbh, I really like the plasticy look of a fender maple neck. So when I recently ordered a player telecaster with a pau ferro board as my first time with telecasters, I was kind of disappointed because it just felt and looked really dry. But when I plugged it in, the thing had some pretty serious mojo for a cheaper guitar. I think I just need some time to get used to the feel and look of pau ferro and probably some fretboard conditioner as well lmao. Anyone else notice that maybe pau ferro straight from the factory needs to be conditioned right away?
Yes. Fender should provide the conditioner with every new guitar with pau ferro
so it ddint effect the inlays? i want to do this to my kh 602.
hah same, gotta protect the skull n bones. I was a big ebony board guy before I picked this one up. Plays like butter.
no effect on the inlays
I have KH602 and want to darken, how did it go?
Jazzmasters sound the best of all guitars!
why do i prefer the pau ferro fretboard to thge rosewood? looks wise that is.
not sure
@@pougnetpedals was rhetorical
Did you find that after the treatment the sound changed?
Not at all.
There's nothing wrong with pau ferro. I say, learn to love it. Eventually it will be totally normal for guitarists.
just a different feel.
How long does the darkness stay on the rosewood fretboard? Is it gonna stay forever for only one time?
Try dark rifle stock oil instead of lemon oil for PF fretboards, it lasts forever.
My Epiphone Casino has a really light Pau Ferro fretboard that looks terrible with the natural body so looking at doing something like this.Great job btw looks great.
Thanks, I think i might revisit this topic in a future video. Seems like lots of interest, and I have been looking at a more permanent but just as easy solution.
Pau Ferro means Iron Wood, I don't know if it's because it's hard or just because of the color.
Someone I painted for built thier deck out of iron wood. What a waste.
"Pau Ferro is a wood of many names, and is sometimes called Morado: and because the wood is so similar in appearance and working properties to rosewood, it is also sometimes referred to as Bolivian or Santos Rosewood. The wood has been used in various capacities as a substitute for the endangered Brazilian Rosewood. Although the wood is not technically in the Dalbergia genus, it’s in a closely-related genus (Machaerium), and contains the same sensitizing compounds found in rosewoods-about as close to a true rosewood as a wood can get without actually being a Dalbergia species." - www.wood-database.com/pau-ferro/
Can you use lemon oil on pau ferro fret boards?
I believe it is ok. The Fender stuff I used in this video has both beeswax and lemon oil.
@@pougnetpedals thank you so much for the reply :) hope to see new videos soon!
@Meka Leka Himekahineyho is your board pau ferro also?
just received in the mail from Fender, my first neck with a pau ferro fretboard. It is absolutely butt ugly. Looks even worse than Indian Laurel to me. I'm going to send it back. I can't look at this $%^&. It's rosewood or maple for me.
Yeah. It's light in color and feels a bit weird in the beginning. After conditioning and use it's not as bad.
You should never use steel wool on your frets!
Beautiful guitar, I'll have the luthier make an equal. I really enjoyed!
Awesome. hope you did!
I have a 1999 MIM Strat with a Pao Ferro finger board. I like the way if feels and looks. I hate the open pores on most Rosewood. Brazilian Rosewood is a different story.
I find rosewood and pau ferro very similar when conditioned
What r u using to polish the frets before u condition the fretboard ?
0000 steel wool I believe
To make pau ferro look like rosewood, stain it with black leather dye.
What is that track while you're messing with the fretboard? Reminds me of a grateful dead tune called they love each other
Dan Lebowitz - Simon's Song maybe???
Go to 7:14 for before/after comparison
Thanks. Should have put that in the description
Yup. I hate the look of Pau Ferro.
It doesn’t work visually in my opinion. It would be better if Fender (And other high end manufacturers) used Indian Laurel or Ovanhkol on its Mexican guitars. Those woods look much closer to RW and are definitely better than the a streaky mess of Pau Ferro in terms of the crazy grain..
One guy told me yesterday that Pau Ferro sits between Rosewood and Maple. 🤷
I think that is valid. Specifically talking about the hardness of the fretboard.
pao ferro looks waayyy better to rosewood my next guitar will come with pao ferro for sure
cool. Glad I could help!
To darken it you should dye it.
Dye is permanent though. If you are conditioning regularly, this is just another option.
You didn't darken it. You just conditioned it. That's temporary.
Still pretty dark. i guess the moral here is conditioning isn't required as often as people think
How come 18000 Mexicans can walk across the border daily but wood from Mexico is banned? Seems odd
Jackson has these weird amatanth fretboards
Not familiar, will have to check them out.
Can't stand the look of Pao Ferro!
Does this work with Indian Laurel fretboards?
I don't know. Worth a try!
The classic vibe jazzmaster has indian laurel. It's reeeally dry and grey looking against the sunburst body, like zombie wood. The edges of the fretboard where the side dots are looks great though, they should've just finished the whole fretboard
in case anyone wants to know, it is pronounced like pau "feho". Great vídeo!
Thanks
In Portugal it's pau ferro with the throaty r
No ....... Nobody wanted to know that .
@@Dad-Gad :(
Pau ferro is portuguese it means iron wood lol
If it has a strat trem then it isn’t a real jazzmaster
By that logic, an HSS isn't a strat and a real Les Paul has P90s and a trapeze tailpiece.
Pougnet Pedals no. Lol not at all.
@@redielg well thats by your logic
these solutions are not permanent. All it's doing is moisturizing the board. In a few months it will return to its original color. The only way to permanently darken the board is with stain or dye. "Ebony" stain works really well. The downsides are that you get some buildup around the frets and the lacquered area above the nut remains the original color.
This is only "darkening" the board the way getting your shirt wet "darkens" it.
Thanks for the comment. I mentioned that in the video
One would think and what you said makes sense but my experience using either Guitar Honey, Fret Doctor or Dr Stringfellows on multiple guitars, including a 60th Anniversary Jazzmaster with a Pau Ferro board, has been that they darkened and stayed darkened. Especially the Pau Ferro actually, which definitely did not ever return to its original lightness. After significantly more than just a few months. It's as dark as a medium dark Rosewood now, thankfully, and a medium dark Rosewood Jaguar has gone from medium dark Rosewood to something very close to ebony, and stayed that way. Been years like that now. I leave the stuff on for hours though without significant wiping off, not seconds or minutes. No doubt of course a stain or dye would do even more. Considered ebony stain but am just not comfortable with the idea of possibly staining the binding, not sure how block inlay would do with that, and definitely don't want to have to do a DIY sanding of the fretboard. Happy with the results of the oils anyway, without having to potentially ruin binding and commit a massacre on the fretboard with unskilled sanding ;)
@@jdallar6190 The oil will keep the board dark if you do leave the oil on for a day or so after application. It then dries and becomes a kind of varnish. If you wipe the oil off, eventually it will lighten again. it may take a year or more to dry out depending on how well you humidify your instrument.
Ebony stain will not affect inlays, binding, or any finished wood, satin or gloss. It only works on raw wood I.E. rosewood or pau ferro fingerboards. It has to get into the grain and get soaked up. If there is a lacquer or finish, the stain just rubs right off. I've done it a few times with good results. Only downside is, it smells and comes off on your fingers for a good while but eventually it dries out and stays dark.
@@YourFavouriteColor Ah. makes sense then, I just leave it on really. You've nicely clarified why that works. Thanks very much for the very useful information regarding ebony stain as well, good of you and I appreciate it. Only ever had raw wood fretboard guitars, rosewood, pau ferro and ebony. Always intensely disliked maple fretboards, in terms of both look and feel. Anyway, something to consider as far as ebony stain in that case. Thanks again and all the best.
not helpful at all. great guitar tho
can't win em all. guitar is great though. thanks
Found this boreing,went on to much ,just get on with it .
I will never buy a Fender with one of these ugly, pale fretboards.
My late-90's D-35 is soooo illegal right now...
Would love to know how long the darkening lasts. Long enough in between conditioning and string changes?
I use dark rifle stock oil at every string change instead of lemon oil. Lasts forever.
Old English scratch and dent furniture polish for dark woods' wipe on let sit for about 2 minutes' wipe off and done. Will not stain frets/ fret markers/ stain hands once wiped off etc. fast' easy' and cheap' a bottle will last forever' hydrates and darkens the fretboard all in one step.
Also works good for tinting maple necks/fret boards once sanded/scuffed.