Darkening a Pau Ferro Fretboard | DIY Guitars 

Am old enough to remember when Pao Ferro was an expensive fingerboard option on many high end guitars.

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.

That Pau ferro board looks incredible. That dark line through it!!!

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.

Great job man, has definitely changed my view on the new wood. Perhaps will go this route with a player strat..

Looks great! 👍

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!

I just used Dunlop lemon oil, it definitely made it a couple of shades darker. Looks nice

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

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.

Wonderful

Good work ! Pau ferro looks like 90s squier bullet fretboards.

Awesome

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?

Looks good… gonna do it on my Suhr

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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 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.

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.

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 .

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?

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

Beautiful guitar, I'll have the luthier make an equal. I really enjoyed!

Agree that the PF looks way better. The black stripe looks cool..👍🇦🇺

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.

Steve Ray Vaughan was using Strat with Pau Ferro fretboard.

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

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.

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.

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 .

so it ddint effect the inlays? i want to do this to my kh 602.

What is that track while you're messing with the fretboard? Reminds me of a grateful dead tune called they love each other

I prefer the pau ferro to rosewood, tonally aswell, seems more open, look up Monty’s relic sauce - supposed to be good stuff!

What r u using to polish the frets before u condition the fretboard ?

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.

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

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 .

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.

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 🇵🇱✊

Did you find that after the treatment the sound changed?

How long does the darkness stay on the rosewood fretboard? Is it gonna stay forever for only one time?

why do i prefer the pau ferro fretboard to thge rosewood? looks wise that is.

Can you use lemon oil on pau ferro fret boards?

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.

Remember when it was just Rosewood? LMFAO

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.

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.

Does this work with Indian Laurel fretboards?

Jazzmasters sound the best of all guitars!

One guy told me yesterday that Pau Ferro sits between Rosewood and Maple. 🤷

Jackson has these weird amatanth fretboards

There's nothing wrong with pau ferro. I say, learn to love it. Eventually it will be totally normal for guitarists.

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?

You should never use steel wool on your frets!

To darken it you should dye it.

To make pau ferro look like rosewood, stain it with black leather dye.

Pau Ferro means Iron Wood, I don't know if it's because it's hard or just because of the color.

pao ferro looks waayyy better to rosewood my next guitar will come with pao ferro for sure

in case anyone wants to know, it is pronounced like pau "feho". Great vídeo!

You didn't darken it. You just conditioned it. That's temporary.

Pau ferro is portuguese it means iron wood lol

If it has a strat trem then it isn’t a real jazzmaster

it still looks fugly - dye it properly with rosewood or ebony dye (e.g using something like ColorTone Liquid Stain)

Go to 7:14 for before/after comparison

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.

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..

How come 18000 Mexicans can walk across the border daily but wood from Mexico is banned? Seems odd

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.

Can't stand the look of Pao Ferro!

not helpful at all. great guitar tho

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.

Would love to know how long the darkening lasts. Long enough in between conditioning and string changes?

My late-90's D-35 is soooo illegal right now...