Darken Your Fretboard With Leather Dye! (Bonus: Darken Your Fretboard Markers Too!) 

Here is an update/supplement to this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-I5x4YuypeWs.html. The leather dye didn't remain on the dot markers over time, and so I eventually replaced the dots with darker "aged clay" dots.

Hi Nathan - Great little informative video. I’ve been using the black Fiebings on rosewood fingerboards for a few years now and have a few extra bits of info that may help. 1) As you point out, the dye can come off slowly over time if the rosewood is oily. If your guitar fingerboard has been oiled quite often over the years or if the rosewood is a naturally oily piece (some seem to be more oily in nature than others), then you really need to clean the wood thoroughly as you suggest. I didn’t bother too much when I first started doing this dyeing business and the dye would stain my fingers black! It also made the fingerboard feel somehow softer and it would actually dampen the resonance of the strings. New sets of strings would somehow get dull sounding much quicker than they would do normally! Sounds odd I know, but I found this to be the case. So basically ... just to repeat what you already said: Get the fingerboard as dry/non oily as possible before applying the dye. 2) I used the black Fiebings and -like the brown version you used - it does not obscure the grain completely and doesn’t make the board totally black. It just gives it a brilliantly dark, vintage look. One advantage with the black dye is that you can get away with less coats to attain the required dark, vintage look. Less coats=less chance of saturating the rosewood which may mean less risk of dye leaking over time and staining your hands when playing. (I liked the idea you did of sealing the dye in with the fretboard conditioner though.I’ll try that next time for sure!) 3) To avoid getting the dye on the fret markers I roll Blu Tac into little balls and push it onto the markers. Just need to press the Blu Tac down until it completely covers the marker. (As long as the fret markers are round of course!) 4) If the dye does get onto the fret markers (and you probably don’t want that to happen if you use the black dye!) then you can use a regular pencil eraser to remove it - as long as the markers are smooth surfaced. (Clay can be wet’n dried too). Or you can use those fret polishing rubbers. You’ll need to ‘sharpen’ the eraser/rubber to a point though or you’ll end up rubbing the dye off the surrounding rosewood too if the rubbing surface is too wide. It’s best to do this rubbing as early as possible after application of the dye too. Rubbers/Erasers can remove dye spills from the lacquer on the neck too. Remember to use a hard eraser if possible. There we are. Job done! By the way I have found that a few guitars come from the factory with a very similar dye on the rosewood. A China made Squire and the China made Fender Modern Player I have both had nice dark boards which I later found were dyed. Cheers!

So I have a background in leatherwork so a few pointers. There are 2 types of feibings dye, both are alcohol based but one (pro dye) has an oil based colour, and the other is a powdered pigment. Oil based will soak into dense wood far far easier than powdered pigment which will sit on the surface. You can thin down both types (I would recommend it) to build up more uniform coats from multiple applications, which will give much much better control. Be sure to thin down your dye with the appropriate thinner (isopropyl is what I use) Both types of leather dye are heavily pigmented and will leave a layer which hasn't soaked in on top. Take some isopropyl and a rag and buff the surface until the rag comes off clean. This won't remove any colour which has soaked in, but will remove the surface layer of pigment which is loose. After that you can reapply the stain, this will stop it staining your fingers when playing, and make sure the colour you like is permanent. This will also remove it from the frets themselves, so you don't have brown metal. It's a good idea to dampen the fretboard prior to staining, otherwise it will wick up the stain too fast when it's first applied and give you streaks where the wool dobber first makes contact kinda like coffee stains. If the fretboard has been dampened it won't pull in the dye as fast and will let you apply it evenly without forming that initial staining 'ring'. Removing is nearly impossible unless you physically remove the wood from the board. It soaks in deep, and you can always add more. The wood grain will absorb the dye at different rates depending on how absorbent it is, another reason to dampen the fretboard and to build it up over many layers. Wood grain dries at different rates. Finally, I would recommend buying some cheap wood offcuts of the same material as your fretboard and testing. If you don't like it, sand it down and try again while changing your method. Different amounts of thinning and dampening will vary your results so take notes so you can remember what process gave you your favourite results.

Nice job on the darkening. I'm looking to do something similar for the jatoba fretboard on my SC-550, so thanks for the tips! Ps. For those who want to protect their inlays, you can get masking fluid at any art or model store. Apply with a small modelling paint brush, let it dry and apply the stain/oil. After you are done you can simply peel off the masking fluid.

I use the Old English Scratch Cover For Dark Woods. Apply just like you do lemon oil. I mix the lemon oil with a few drops of this product, rub it in thoroughly and let it dry. I use it on all my rosewood fingerboards that aren't as dark as I would like. Fantastic results and super easy.

Looks like a vintage rosewood board now. Great look.

Bro has a Marv T-shirt, he's won in life

I found that this dye also did a nice job staining my knobs and pickup covers. It was also nice on the pick-guard, but it didn't last. I scuffed the pickguard and darkened it, but over the course of a year, my pick-guard became close to the original color again! I didn't try this on my neck yet... I'm kind of scared since it's a $4k custom shop, but I also just don't like like the color of the neck right now.

If you need to do this fold the sandpaper to have doubled clean hard edge Next place the sandpaper against the fret an push toward the next fret. Stop before you sand a fret!. Reverse it and go back the the fret you just came from. The idea is to not have across grain sanding marks.

I darkened my pau ferro fb with dark stock oil for guns (instead of the usual lemon oil), works great!

I think the black dye would have been the way to go. I'll let you know as I am getting ready to dye a rosewood board black so it looks like a vintage Brazilian fingerboard.

When first seeing the top of the head (and hair) on the T-shirt I thought it was a picture of an early 1960s Bob Dylan.

3 things: 1. Fiebing's WILL COLOR your plastic - however, it's easy to remove and in case you're going for a vintage look, slight discoloration is rather a feature, than a bug!🐛 2. Below, someone says to dampen your fretboard - NEITHER necessary (even on old rosewood), NOR recommended! Just think: What kind of wood is used to build instruments? Correct: DRIED wood... and what happens to wet wood? Yup, it swells... if overdone, water may impair the wood's rigidity, which, in the worst of casers, can lead to frets working loose, or even your fretboard separating from the rest of the neck (Hide-glue anyone? That is hot in th eguitar world, bcs it's water-soluble); minimum, you'll have to sand after dampening the wood, as the water causes the fibers to rise. Rather, be sure to degrease your board thoroughly before applying dye (any fat-residue, even through touchung the fretboard after degreasing, where result in the word not taking the dye well, leading to stains brighter than the surrounding wood. 3. FIEBING'S Pro Leather Dye is great stuff. However, a word of caution regarding BLACK: That formula includes some blue-ish stuff (and, according to StewMac, has for a while). Not what I would want my fretboard to look like🥴... Then again, the Pro-dyes are mixable (YAY!), so you can come up with your own favourite hue. All of that stuff may sound like a lot of work (and rtisk!) - be assured: It isn't. Just take your time (don't rush), use your head (thinking never hurts), and if in doubt, ask on one of the many guitar forums. Sure enough, someone will help you - the first fretboard I died - was positively died with sweat, tears and fear (and took me 2 weeks... slowly, remember?). Now, I can do two in one afternoon...

They make a vinyl tape for masking off areas. The vinyl tape does a much better job at preventing bleed through/under the edge. It is a 3M product specially designed for exactly what you are doing here.

Nice job on this & great upload Nathan !!

That color really made it look great!

Thanks for this! Also for posting a before-after picture, which is a thing not many remember to do. Kudos!

For anyone that has a bonded neck ..the reg paint tape will not stop stain ..maybe it will stop this ..but you use stain it will sink into the edges of the binding and be much darker ..just throwing that out there ...wish I would have watched this first

I actually really do appreciate that shirt

I’m doing a vintage build I done the same thing Awesome video

I found that just a liberal oiling with lemon oil (as in apply, leave to soak, reapply, repeat until the wood no longer absorbs oil) made my fretboard darker anyway.

in regards to tape bleeding, take fine sandpaper to the taped edge and gently sand until you can barely feel it. this will prevent bleeding.

...lol I’m watching this as my fretboard is resting on one of my old t-shirts. I tried a q-tip to apply and used the clean end to quickly wipe the inlays..seemed to work pretty well. Thanks man!

Nathan - what was the feel of the fretboard on your fingers after you dyed it? Any cons or were you 1000% happy not only with the final results color-wise BUT the feel on your fingers?????

Home alone is not a Christmas movie and you can’t change my mind.

Working on this on my Slash Epiphone Firebird. Rarely play it so a good test subject for working around block inlays. I’ll likely work around them then use my dry rag or brush to fade some dye in. Wish me luck! Message me if you want to know how it turns out ha.

Just pop the nut off next time....I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere. But it does make it A LOT easier. You can also pop the nut off if you want to relic it by making it darker or amber. I gave mine a slight amber tint like aged bone would have. Take a small screwdriver, place it along side the nut and give it a light tap with either a rubber mallet or a plastic handled screwdriver, they usually pop right off because there isn't, and shouldn't be, that much glue of holding them on. When you reinstall it, a few drops of Elmers Glue will do the trick. It only take a couple of drops...you don't want to use any more than that and NEVER, NEVER use Crazy Glue. The glue's real purpose is to keep the nut in place when the strings are off or the string tension is loose. Your strings being installed and tuned to pitch keep the nut in place. I used Stew Mac vintage amber wood dye on some white plastic fret markers to give them a clay dot look. It worked well...but you have to get a sanding pen and sand the plastic a bit to make it slightly porous so the dye actually works. If darkening your fret markers doesn't work the first time...use a sanding pen and try again. It took two applications with mine.

My only concern is the reaction of solvents in the leather dye on the glue holding your frets on the board. It may not be as much of a problem if you're using an oil based leather dye, but it's probably a better idea to use a dye designed for wood.

Thx for sharing your experience mate...this absolutely worked...even on my brand new pau ferro board. Awesome...thx for the video and very nice axe you made there btw.

Gj brother. Gonna do the same on my new classic 60s fiesta red. However,may just use a stain from the store. Either super dark brown or ebony like. There is also a product called montys Montypressos.

i've seen your other videos, and find them very helpful. so thanks. but i forget...is the mid-part of the back of the neck COMPLETELY unfinished? if so, do you have any worries about the neck absorbing moisture (from hand or just environment) and swelling, bowing, etc.???

Hey Nathan, just wondering how your dye has held up since this video and whether or not it comes off on your fingers or rubs off in any way. Thanks! Strat looks amazing man!

Looks awesome

Thanks so much for the help! Mine came out really solid. My before and after was basically the same as yours. Darkened it up like 20 years would, and took those lite colored stripes out of it. Just a heads up for anybody else. I ran out of painters tape about halfway through it, ended up using some gaffers tape..but I had some leaks under the painters tape. Might just be the cheap painters tape I used, but either way, heads up. Gaffers tape was absolutely perfect and nothing was getting underneath it. Originally, I had removed the nitro from my neck, sanded it down properly, and then did the tru-oil routine. Since I waited too long to notice the leaks underneath the painters tape, I'll probably end up having to sand off the stains I have. As of now they're not too bad, but I'll probably redo the neck with tru oil routine. Anyways, rambled enough, thank you so much for the tips on the products and the process. *To anyone else trying this..definitely follow his tutorial very closely, especially checking underneath the tape to make sure of no leaks.* Cheers and take care!

Love the shirt man. And the video. Lol

Stained my binding pretty good with this. What’s the best way to get the black dye off my binding?

Has this dye held up with time? Does it still look dark? Or do you have to keep applying the oil?

Brilliant video mate👍 how long did you leave the stain on for? It looks great .

I only used flax seed oil and linseed oil on my fretboard, my rosewood fretboard looks dark but jatoba fretboard only shines for few days and it's not darkening.

Good job! 🤘

It has been a year how does the fret board look with a year of playing on it

Lookin good! Did the dye hold out eventually? No black fingers?

It looks good...has the appearance of an older fretboard!👍😎🎸🎶

Hey Nathan, for the last step: putting oil on the fretboard. I tried putting lemon oil and the Dye starting coming. A lot of it came of. Does that mean I should use the Nomad F1 Oil instead? Or can I simply skip oiling at the end?

Now you got some nice yellow markers all over the fingerboard

Nice video, I'm planning to do this with leather dye. Why do you need to sandpaper fretboard before dye? Or maybe there is no need to? Tnx

I want to darken my fretboard but I don't want to yellow the clay dots how would I go about that?

Does anyone know how it holds up over time? Especially when played by someone with aggressive sweat?

Hey Nathan, love the look of it. I’m in the middle of my own relic job right now and I’m wondering, how long should I let the dye dry for before wiping it?

Now that it's been a couple of years. Does it leave any stains on your fingers?

I did the same procedure with my strat rosewood neck. After about a year of playing you could see finger tip lines at the first three frets. Ugh

darkened it, but not BLACK. I wonder if some Higgins ink or some other method for betting Jet Black, like an old school Ebony fretboard?

So I used jet black angelus leather dye on my fretboard and it darkened my mother of pearl dot in lays quite a bit, any idea how to remove it off the dots?

Hey good video. Planning on doing this with a fender player p bass (pau ferro). How long do you let the dye rest on the board before damping it off?

What should I do after staining the fretboard on my les paul custom, should I use a finishing wax or oil ?

How did you polish the frets after you finished the fretboard? Did you just tape the board and use wire wool?

Sick ass tshirt

Will water based leather dye works too? The Fiebings was an alcohol based, can't find similar dye at my local shops.

Did you have to clean the frets at all after the stain or does it not stay on the frets at all? Thanks!

How well did your color remain after your oil set in and the surface dried?

Hi!!!!!! How does it stand up til now? Was it permanently like that? If you recondition the fretboard, does it come off?

The dots have turned yellow!!!

How does this feel after? Do I need to do any aftercare - If I do this would be my first time

Nice video- unrelated question, would you have any insight as to "relicing" Strat pickups with non-removeable pickup covers? im buying a JB junior single coil sized Humbucker that I want to darken up but the covers are non-removeable. Not sure if there's a way to do this with out damaging the product. Thanks!

So brand new neck from Musikraft, no oils on the fretboard fresh from the factory. What would be your choice of chemical to darken the rosewood fretboard now that you learned what you learned. (Btw I was too cheap to cough up 40 for the real aged clay dots just like you, now kinda regretting it)

What about a neck with binding clearly it would stain it ?

The Fiebing's dye doesn't ship to CA. Is there a good alternative that you know of?

So I have to ask the million dollar question , why doesn’t anyone use wood stain like ebony from min wax ??

Hi Nathan i may have the most stupid dumb question one can ask : can i Dye a fretboard using printer ink ? well so dumkb it sounds i noticed via a accident that the damn ink kept on staying on the wood on which it got. i was making a perforator tool to to make myself a guitar strip out of a leather and another simple belt material and well yes the ink of a damn marker got on the wood and i thought : well if this stuff does not come off so easy what about printer ink ? so dumb it may sound this is my question and i do mean it for real ! will it damage my fretboard if i use it ? somehow it seems to even have a similar quality to leather dye

how do you clean off the frets after putting stain on the fretboard

Did your fingers turn into black?

Thanks for sharing Nathan, great information and video. Bravo Sir 👏

How long does this method stain your hands. I did your method last week, but it is staining my fingers every time I play for the last week now.

Hello nathan Is it possible to paint(dye/colour) the neck WHITE? Literally to make the rosewood be seen like maple 😅

i want to try this on a pau ferro rosewood jazzmaster neck, i don’t like how the neck looks so light in color... i want it to look nice and dark. do you think it would work well with pau ferro rosewood??? made in mexico jazzmaster by the way...

Hey man I really need your help. I bought the same exact product as you and it worked great on the wood however my tape must’ve not been great because I got dye all over the back of my gloss neck on the back. How can I remove this? Totally destroyed the neck

can it remove white stains on the fretboard?

Looks great man. Like a custom shop. Do you think this would work on a pau ferro board?

Can i use the same process to darken my pau ferro fretboard?

Will the leather dye eventually come off and does it go on your fingers when you play?

To date, what is the color that it has since you did this process?

how did it held up through al this years, planning to the same with my bass anemic color fretboard

how long did you let it soak in before you wiped it at 11:30?

Hindsight, but you should have used an old t shirt to apply the stain in very small and controlled quantities. Like you said, a little bit at a time. And India ink is very close in color to deep dark rosewood, that's often why people use it!

Where did you buy that neck??

Looks really nice, but why not use wood stain?

Where can you buy that stain?

So,, when you play the guitar, will your hand turns dark?

you tried this with pau ferro?

Does it work on pau ferro as well?

Great work Nathan. I've got a rosewood board Warmoth neck that's too light and red so I'm going to do this. I'm hoping that the synthetic 'clay' dots darken too. Already tinted the maple of the neck a vintage amber colour and clear coated. BTW, Garryflex blocks (www.axminster.co.uk/garryflex-abrasive-cleaning-block-ax20009 ) are great for fretboards (at least for initial roughing work) as you can cut them to size with a knife. Not sure if you can get the in the US though?

are you cold ???????? switch on your air heter

can this work on acoustic too?

cool

Pau ferro sucks! ..good information.

Oh hell no

The music you overlay is WAY louder than your talking and it makes this a hair difficult to watch because I have to crank my laptop to hear you and turn it way back down for the music. Otherwise, it's a good video.

Couldn't you have just used wood dye?

Liked the rockin’ music while working not the soyboy intro whoa whoa muzak

I LOVE IT!!! HAHA! You go and "make" a super relic'd strat. Then get all worried about a single nick on the side of the neck when 2/3 of neck has had the nitro intentionally sanded off. Clapton's blackie wasn't that "relic'd" after more than 30 years of constant touring. I guess maybe that one 1/4 inch nick made it TOO relic'd? Tell you what; you buy a brand new car, and I'll drive it for the first 100,000 miles so that you can get the awesome relic'd version (one of a kind).........