This is something I've done when using superglue in jobs where there will be squeeze-out or excess that needs to be spread - and that is to use silicon coated baking paper instead of paper towel. It is lint free and won't stick to the surfaces. The paper can also be used instead of the plastic wrap that you used as a surface protector.
I have been using super glue to finish musical instruments for at least 10 years and have already made several instruments with this type of finish. One thing I noticed is that you can experiment with different brands, in general the cheapest brands have better results for finishing and worse results for gluing. This happens because these glues take longer to dry. So you can spread it better if you are using a glove that protects your hand and does not stick the glue. I have been using a vinyl glove. Another important point is not to use paper or cloth to spread, always use something plastic, even if it is a supermarket bag. Anyway, I think it was used very well in your project and is worth it.
@@gingerjam2192 the majority of the instruments are good over time. What happened sometimes whas that the finish cracked If applyied oil or wax right after applying the superglue.
I've been using CA glue to finish my basses for years, and not just for fretless fingerboards although that's how I learned how to do it. I swear by the stuff as it breaks the law of fast/good/cheap by being all three. The tradeoff is that it's a toxic nightmare and you need to take a lot of precautions so you don't get asphyxiated or even burnt. I have dozens of videos on my channel going into fine detail about how to do it safely and get some epic results. Thanks Ben.
I used superglue to stabilize a heartwood poplar fretboard a few years ago, and it worked very well. To offer an alternate means of application, start with the fretboard blank without having cut it to shape, radiused it, or having slotted it. On what will be the underside of the fretboard drill dozens of small holes with a drill no bigger than 3mm and not beyond what will eventually be the margins of the finished fretboard. Keep the holes near the magins slightly away from them. Flood only the underside with the glue, taking care to first squeeze some into each hole. You will eventually see the glue begin to discolor the top of the board. This shows that penetration is through and through. The hole provide an extra efficient means of getting glue into the inner structure of the board. If the wood is sufficiently dry and no more than 6.5mm thick, it will not take very long until you have soaked the entire blank thoroughly. Let it cure overnight and then process it as normal. There will be no double-cutting of fretslots and no extra sanding required. Edit: Keep the holes shallow, only about 2mm maximum. And additionally ypu may wany to run the board through a thicknessing sander once or twice after curing, taking only a spring pass. The only rub is, you will not be able to use a penetrative stain for finishing.
Cool! There is a penetrating epoxy. Called Ever dure. Many years as a boat builder, this product was used in black water tanks on timber or ply wood. Being epoxy, totally water proof and very hard. Thanks for the vid!
Have you ever tried Penetrating Resin? Killer stuff brother. Super glue works as well but the resin stays open longer and I think it penetrates deeper? ✌️&💙
It would be interesting to see a cross section of the treated wood! I can't imagine subsequent layers penetrate the wood, if the first layer already has hardened.
Watching your channel and your videos I get flooded with ideas on how to build guitars and things to try. But they remain simple ideas because I lack the skills and tools to build a guitar on my own. I have to find the time, money and courage to come attend one of your courses!
I’ve used super glue on wooden inlays before adding them into a fingerboard to help with stabilise softer woods with good success. I’ve also used it to fill in cavities above materials like abalone and mother of pearl in fingerboards and it works great up to about 1mm before you start to lose some of the lustre. Depending on how deep the superglue has penetrated on your initial finishing with CA glue, cuts in the fretboard when you add inlay could end up much darker when they refill with CA glue and look very nasty. I’d proceed with caution and experiment on a small piece of the fingerboard material first to see how any mistakes will look. The good news is that any scratches in the finish will fill in fine with subsequent coats, just like epoxy.
oh hey, yeah i've seen pen turners do superglue finishes. i wonder too if the whole guitar can be done in it as well!!! Also, about how much glue did you think you used, and or how much do you think it would take to do a whole guitar?
I'd be curious to see how well this stands up to the impact of strings being played on the fretboard for many years. I wonder whether it will wear through the glue and then into the Kauri.
Been using ca finish for years, also it is the best grainfiller available especially on large open grain woods like ash and mahogany. work fast and breathe safely!
I did the same thing with super glue to my fretboard and let dry for a few days before gluing on with titebond. A few days afterwards the fretboard started to come off so I had to remove with only a pocket knife😢
Ben, I have a Maple fretboard on a kit guitar neck that is already fretted, I had intended to mask the frets off and spray the fretboard with nitro, however, I fancy using this method now, would you recommend removing the frets before applying superglue and refretting afterwards or would it be ok applying it to the fretboard with the frets in as long as I ensure it doesn't pool against the frets? Can superglue be buffed to a semi gloss finish?
I have a question. How would I stain the colors pink and green without them blending together on the guitar? Want to do an aurora borealis type thing. Mainly green with bits of pink here and there
Staining the wood I would use two different types of stain.. Ie one colour in water based stains and the other spirit based.. No bleeding together at all in that case.. www.crimsonguitars.com/products/stunning-spirit-stains
A Crimson School alumnus refinished my fretless bass fingerboard with superglue. Been playing it a bit for the past two years and no sign of wear - flatwound strings help! On a fretted guitar this should outlast the frets.
Клей делает древесину немного также, возможно появление трещина, так как лук имеет постоянные изгибы при работе, но возможно что трещины не будут появляться при тонком слое, лучше попробовать предварительно на ненужных кусках древесины при толстом слое со временем я обнаружил эффект некого масляного вида от рук при загрязнении
The fingerboards look great! Ken Parker does a similar thing with epoxy for the finishes on his archtops. I've used brush-on poly buffed on with printer paper - great results, but it still cures slowly. Using CA glue is a similar process (applying a liquid polymer by buffing), but without the mixing of epoxy, or the long cure times of poly. From the comments, CA glue appears to have brittleness issues. This makes sense - it's not as strong as epoxy, and not durable like poly, lacquer, etc. It should work fine on a fingerboard or flat surface, but edges and parts that can get dinged might have issues. Perhaps an experiment is called for. Do a build. Finish it all in CA glue. Compare costs and difficulty to other finishing options (oil, flash coat, rattle can, etc.). Put the build in the demo room for 6 months and let everybody play it. The do a follow-up episode showing how the finish fared.
i made a wooden hheadstock badge a few eeks ago that i finished with thin superglue and it was one of the most gorgeous finishes i've ever seen. two coats, sanded the first to 400 (or maybe 600, I don't recall) and the second to 1000. I did wet sand using linseed oil instead of water, but i can't see that having any effect on such a sealed finish. I just happened to also be working on a linseed oil finish where it DOES matter and figured it couldn't hurt.
I used to use super glue as a finish on pool cues. It seals well and polishes almost as well as auto clear but it is more brittle. If you bump it it will chip.
I had an absolute nightmare using super glue on my bound fretboard so much so I sanded it off and went with an oil finish. Now it was probably my technique and applying after it was bound but cleaning out the fret slots after each application with the inevitable slip and scratching the board nearly gave me a meltdown!!! It however gives a great finish if you can do it right.... I couldn't lol
I would think an ideal finish would be one that is this thin, that penetrates the same way, that hardens the same but is UV cured. Would give you as long an open working time as you need and basically nothing out-gasses. Is there something like that on the market?
Another general tip; ive found that super glue works really well as a glue primer. If you ever have trouble adhering to something, try using super glue as a primer layer on both surfaces!
Maybe a "Wood Hardener" might achieve what you're trying to do.🤷 "Wood hardener restores and revitalizes wood damage including wood rot or wood decay. Penetrates wood surfaces and strengthens and reinforces old wood fibers. Use to fix and repair interior or exterior wood surfaces with rotting wood or decaying wood including wood furniture, wood floors, wood doors, wood decks or trim."
for me - at least here in Ontario Canada - using CA glue for a finish is fairly expensive. i can get a clear spray finish that will so the same thing for a couple bucks cheaper that a bottle of glue the size Ben is using.
Seems like a very good method of stabilising and structurally improving softer woods but wouldn't it have been safer to radius the fretboard before the glue application due to the minimal penetration? I know there are more ways of killing a cat ........ but normal procedure seems to be glue on the fretboard , work on it and then finish it. You could have treated the back of the fretboard and then continued in the accepted fashion.
A pouring deep set epoxy can also penetrate pretty deep into wood. Now they say not to mess with the mix. But most epoxy can also be thinned with a small amount of acetone. Problem is superglue needs moisture to cure. So it may not cure deep inside. So completely unhelpful
For your purpose here (making a usable fretboard from a softwood), this appears to be ideal. For a complete finish on an electric guitar? A bit pricey, but probably doable (with proper safety equipment - someone I know who uses it for finish on small side tables tells me that he not only wears a respirator in a well ventilated room, but also wears swimming goggles AND runs a fan across the surface to disperse fumes). For an acoustic guitar? A few years ago Bruce Sexauer (of Sexauer Guitars) wrote: "In retrospect, CA produces an acrylic finish which is very hard and has a serious structural component. Both of these qualities are the last thing I want on my guitar."
Good vid, Ben. Man, how did your fingers not glue together... that is a ton of glue. No thanks for me, after a few drops my eyes get irritated, etc. Way to toxic. The finish looked great tho.
This is something I've done when using superglue in jobs where there will be squeeze-out or excess that needs to be spread - and that is to use silicon coated baking paper instead of paper towel.
It is lint free and won't stick to the surfaces. The paper can also be used instead of the plastic wrap that you used as a surface protector.
I have been using super glue to finish musical instruments for at least 10 years and have already made several instruments with this type of finish. One thing I noticed is that you can experiment with different brands, in general the cheapest brands have better results for finishing and worse results for gluing. This happens because these glues take longer to dry. So you can spread it better if you are using a glove that protects your hand and does not stick the glue. I have been using a vinyl glove. Another important point is not to use paper or cloth to spread, always use something plastic, even if it is a supermarket bag. Anyway, I think it was used very well in your project and is worth it.
Can't wait to see how you make your inlays really looking forward to that
Algo me diz que ele viu algum vídeo seu. 😁
@@themarcosbassani kkkk ele eu não sei... Mas eu já vi muito vídeo dele 🤣🤣🤣
Is it a durable finish or does it crack with time? Are your 10 years old instruments still looking nice?
@@gingerjam2192 the majority of the instruments are good over time. What happened sometimes whas that the finish cracked If applyied oil or wax right after applying the superglue.
I've been using CA glue to finish my basses for years, and not just for fretless fingerboards although that's how I learned how to do it. I swear by the stuff as it breaks the law of fast/good/cheap by being all three. The tradeoff is that it's a toxic nightmare and you need to take a lot of precautions so you don't get asphyxiated or even burnt. I have dozens of videos on my channel going into fine detail about how to do it safely and get some epic results. Thanks Ben.
Thought of you when I saw this video.
I used superglue to stabilize a heartwood poplar fretboard a few years ago, and it worked very well.
To offer an alternate means of application, start with the fretboard blank without having cut it to shape, radiused it, or having slotted it.
On what will be the underside of the fretboard drill dozens of small holes with a drill no bigger than 3mm and not beyond what will eventually be the margins of the finished fretboard. Keep the holes near the magins slightly away from them.
Flood only the underside with the glue, taking care to first squeeze some into each hole.
You will eventually see the glue begin to discolor the top of the board. This shows that penetration is through and through. The hole provide an extra efficient means of getting glue into the inner structure of the board. If the wood is sufficiently dry and no more than 6.5mm thick, it will not take very long until you have soaked the entire blank thoroughly.
Let it cure overnight and then process it as normal.
There will be no double-cutting of fretslots and no extra sanding required.
Edit: Keep the holes shallow, only about 2mm maximum. And additionally ypu may wany to run the board through a thicknessing sander once or twice after curing, taking only a spring pass. The only rub is, you will not be able to use a penetrative stain for finishing.
Cool! There is a penetrating epoxy. Called Ever dure. Many years as a boat builder, this product was used in black water tanks on timber or ply wood.
Being epoxy, totally water proof and very hard.
Thanks for the vid!
Have you ever tried Penetrating Resin? Killer stuff brother. Super glue works as well but the resin stays open longer and I think it penetrates deeper? ✌️&💙
It would be interesting to see a cross section of the treated wood! I can't imagine subsequent layers penetrate the wood, if the first layer already has hardened.
The flex on that as you are rubbing is CRAZY!!!!
5:52 I know you said Kauri was soft but Jesus Christ, the flex on that!
it bent like a cooked hotdog
Watching your channel and your videos I get flooded with ideas on how to build guitars and things to try. But they remain simple ideas because I lack the skills and tools to build a guitar on my own. I have to find the time, money and courage to come attend one of your courses!
I’ve used super glue on wooden inlays before adding them into a fingerboard to help with stabilise softer woods with good success. I’ve also used it to fill in cavities above materials like abalone and mother of pearl in fingerboards and it works great up to about 1mm before you start to lose some of the lustre.
Depending on how deep the superglue has penetrated on your initial finishing with CA glue, cuts in the fretboard when you add inlay could end up much darker when they refill with CA glue and look very nasty. I’d proceed with caution and experiment on a small piece of the fingerboard material first to see how any mistakes will look.
The good news is that any scratches in the finish will fill in fine with subsequent coats, just like epoxy.
Nice, what a cool concept.
Just curious- if the back of the fretboard is coated with superglue, will that adversely affect gluing it to the neck?
Cold casting for the inlays?
Can I have details on the actual glue please?.
You didn't glue your fingers together, bravo !
oh hey, yeah i've seen pen turners do superglue finishes. i wonder too if the whole guitar can be done in it as well!!! Also, about how much glue did you think you used, and or how much do you think it would take to do a whole guitar?
I'd be curious to see how well this stands up to the impact of strings being played on the fretboard for many years. I wonder whether it will wear through the glue and then into the Kauri.
Why not do it like with your high build oil and use the thick superglue as the last layer of finish?
Been using ca finish for years, also it is the best grainfiller available especially on large open grain woods like ash and mahogany.
work fast and breathe safely!
From what I understand this is how Clapton’s touring Strat’s necks are finished by the Custom Shop. I’ve always been interested to try it…
Can't wait for the Inlays!
I absolutely hate the feeling of super glue on my fingers i dont know how Ben can stand doing this without gloves and not freaking out lol. 😂
Peeling superglue off your fingers after a couple of days is the best thing about it!
@@ianthomson9363 😂 dude it bothers me so much i rather imedially use acetone to melt that crap out of my fingers lol
- Welcome to Crims-... BURN IT.
- In this vid-... BURN IT.
I did the same thing with super glue to my fretboard and let dry for a few days before gluing on with titebond. A few days afterwards the fretboard started to come off so I had to remove with only a pocket knife😢
Ben, I have a Maple fretboard on a kit guitar neck that is already fretted, I had intended to mask the frets off and spray the fretboard with nitro, however, I fancy using this method now, would you recommend removing the frets before applying superglue and refretting afterwards or would it be ok applying it to the fretboard with the frets in as long as I ensure it doesn't pool against the frets?
Can superglue be buffed to a semi gloss finish?
Awesome ❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Isn't that Kauri wood extremely soft to be used for fretboards?
That's the whole reason for the superglue finish...
I have a question. How would I stain the colors pink and green without them blending together on the guitar? Want to do an aurora borealis type thing. Mainly green with bits of pink here and there
Staining the wood I would use two different types of stain.. Ie one colour in water based stains and the other spirit based.. No bleeding together at all in that case.. www.crimsonguitars.com/products/stunning-spirit-stains
A Crimson School alumnus refinished my fretless bass fingerboard with superglue. Been playing it a bit for the past two years and no sign of wear - flatwound strings help! On a fretted guitar this should outlast the frets.
Do not know if your read your comments. But ever though of doing a warhammer themed guitar with cool artwork...
UA-cam channel called fanblade instruments has used superglue for finishes for years and they always look excellent
interesting finishing option for woodwork in general, wonder how it would work on a longbow under both compression and torsion.
Клей делает древесину немного также, возможно появление трещина, так как лук имеет постоянные изгибы при работе, но возможно что трещины не будут появляться при тонком слое, лучше попробовать предварительно на ненужных кусках древесины при толстом слое со временем я обнаружил эффект некого масляного вида от рук при загрязнении
The fingerboards look great! Ken Parker does a similar thing with epoxy for the finishes on his archtops. I've used brush-on poly buffed on with printer paper - great results, but it still cures slowly. Using CA glue is a similar process (applying a liquid polymer by buffing), but without the mixing of epoxy, or the long cure times of poly. From the comments, CA glue appears to have brittleness issues. This makes sense - it's not as strong as epoxy, and not durable like poly, lacquer, etc. It should work fine on a fingerboard or flat surface, but edges and parts that can get dinged might have issues. Perhaps an experiment is called for. Do a build. Finish it all in CA glue. Compare costs and difficulty to other finishing options (oil, flash coat, rattle can, etc.). Put the build in the demo room for 6 months and let everybody play it. The do a follow-up episode showing how the finish fared.
Thanks for sharing :)
What super glue are you using?
Question: what do you use to clean your fingers from super glue?
ацетон, спирт
@@NewWhite-wd2yu I find acetone doesn't quite cut it for me so I wondered if he used anything else, thanks though
Element zero guitars did a video like this but used black star bond. He said it helped enhance the grain
i made a wooden hheadstock badge a few eeks ago that i finished with thin superglue and it was one of the most gorgeous finishes i've ever seen. two coats, sanded the first to 400 (or maybe 600, I don't recall) and the second to 1000. I did wet sand using linseed oil instead of water, but i can't see that having any effect on such a sealed finish. I just happened to also be working on a linseed oil finish where it DOES matter and figured it couldn't hurt.
I'd like to do an entire guitar with it, but that would be a bit pricy and...possibly a health hazard lmao
I used to use super glue as a finish on pool cues. It seals well and polishes almost as well as auto clear but it is more brittle. If you bump it it will chip.
Was just about to say it chips too easily
That is just beautiful wood but being so old I would believe really hard to work with
I would use parchment paper as a protection when using superglue
I had an absolute nightmare using super glue on my bound fretboard so much so I sanded it off and went with an oil finish. Now it was probably my technique and applying after it was bound but cleaning out the fret slots after each application with the inevitable slip and scratching the board nearly gave me a meltdown!!! It however gives a great finish if you can do it right.... I couldn't lol
I would think an ideal finish would be one that is this thin, that penetrates the same way, that hardens the same but is UV cured. Would give you as long an open working time as you need and basically nothing out-gasses. Is there something like that on the market?
Есть, это называется ультрафиолетовая смола, UV epoxy, твердеет ультрафиолетовым светом .
Another general tip; ive found that super glue works really well as a glue primer. If you ever have trouble adhering to something, try using super glue as a primer layer on both surfaces!
That's a great idea, thank you!
Maybe a "Wood Hardener" might achieve what you're trying to do.🤷
"Wood hardener restores and revitalizes wood damage including wood rot or wood decay. Penetrates wood surfaces and strengthens and reinforces old wood fibers. Use to fix and repair interior or exterior wood surfaces with rotting wood or decaying wood including wood furniture, wood floors, wood doors, wood decks or trim."
Latex gloves would have been a good idea!
Actually, I use poly food service “gloves” because CA glue doesn’t stick nearly as much to polyethylene.
for me - at least here in Ontario Canada - using CA glue for a finish is fairly expensive. i can get a clear spray finish that will so the same thing for a couple bucks cheaper that a bottle of glue the size Ben is using.
There is a distributor in BC that sells CA glue in bulk for a reasonable price.
Hey Ben, not wanting to complicate your life at all but I would love to see your take on a headless guitar one day.
That would be cool!
It won,t stick to skin? bcoz you are not using gloves
Seems like a very good method of stabilising and structurally improving softer woods but wouldn't it have been safer to radius the fretboard before the glue application due to the minimal penetration? I know there are more ways of killing a cat ........ but normal procedure seems to be glue on the fretboard , work on it and then finish it. You could have treated the back of the fretboard and then continued in the accepted fashion.
A pouring deep set epoxy can also penetrate pretty deep into wood. Now they say not to mess with the mix. But most epoxy can also be thinned with a small amount of acetone.
Problem is superglue needs moisture to cure. So it may not cure deep inside. So completely unhelpful
Kemper casually sitting in the corner 🤔😂
Oh I thought the superglue was reacting with the paper, and/or the cotton jeans I've dropped a bit on.
I didn't realise it was just the glue setting.
For your purpose here (making a usable fretboard from a softwood), this appears to be ideal. For a complete finish on an electric guitar? A bit pricey, but probably doable (with proper safety equipment - someone I know who uses it for finish on small side tables tells me that he not only wears a respirator in a well ventilated room, but also wears swimming goggles AND runs a fan across the surface to disperse fumes). For an acoustic guitar? A few years ago Bruce Sexauer (of Sexauer Guitars) wrote: "In retrospect, CA produces an acrylic finish which is very hard and has a serious structural component. Both of these qualities are the last thing I want on my guitar."
this is what jaco pastorious did on his fretless jazz bass
Good vid, Ben. Man, how did your fingers not glue together... that is a ton of glue. No thanks for me, after a few drops my eyes get irritated, etc. Way to toxic. The finish looked great tho.
Foam brush.
If I tried this I'd end up with EVERYTHING in the entire workshop, stuck to everything else. Does look good though.
UV epoxy, попробуйте, твердеет быстро, можно полировать, матовый и сатинированный финиш выглядит как сатинированное лаковое покрытие после пескоструя,
Oh, Ben Ben Ben Ben....
You know you should be wearing gloves when playing with CA glue.
Sweet solution though.
Good call!
Just build guitars use hide glue or titebond super glue is only good for inlays not even frets