Dyed the fretboard on my MH-301 and made some other changes

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mrp5150

mrp5150

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So I got this guitar for $250 a couple weeks back. Really nice for what I paid, and it came with a set of JB/59 pickups already installed. I've had a bottle of Fiebings Leather Dye laying around for a while, so I finally decided to put it to use. This is the second time I've dyed a fretboard, but the first time was around 5 years ago and that guitar didn't have any binding.

I taped the binding up as well as I could, but a decent amount of dye still got through. It was fairly easy to clean off with a pencil eraser though. Turned out way better than I thought it would. It was kind of a pain in the ass, but if I can do it, anyone can. That leather dye gets all over everything. I used a Q-Tip to apply it and wiped off the frets and inlays with paper towels. I think I put about 3 coats of dye on and I cleaned the fretboard with some Fret Doctor before and after I applied it. I didn't restring it until a day later because I forgot I didn't have any spare strings, but so far none of it has got on my fingers while playing. I also replaced the truss rod cover with a plain black one and put an ESP decal over the LTD logo. Now onto the pics...

Before

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After

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Much better now!

:thumbsup:


Let us know if you start getting color on your fingers.


Did the color on the binding and inlays ALL come off?
 
~Abstract~":nsbnyyhi said:
Much better now!

:thumbsup:


Let us know if you start getting color on your fingers.


Did the color on the binding and inlays ALL come off?
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About 99% of it, yeah. The only bits that were tough to remove were the spots real close to the fret ends. If I would have had a stronger eraser, I probably would have been able to get all of it removed, but the only things I had were a few shitty pencils. I should have planned that out better. :lol: :LOL:
 
~Abstract~":3igela99 said:
Ah well...still a killer guitar! :thumbsup:
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Yeah, you can barely see the spots that I couldn't get out and it was $250. I think part of the reason some of the dye got through was because I knocked some of the tape loose when I was wiping the frets and inlays off as it was drying. I wasn't really thinking to be more careful. :lol: :LOL: :doh:
 
Looks great Mark. I want to do that to one of my guitars but Im either too busy or too lazy to get around to it LOL!!!

Kage
 
I've always wanted to do that to one of my guitars but I'm worried about the dye rubbing of on my fingers, let us know how it works out for you once you put her through the paces. Looks great :thumbsup:
 
BlinkTwice":34jpbqkc said:
I've always wanted to do that to one of my guitars but I'm worried about the dye rubbing of on my fingers, let us know how it works out for you once you put her through the paces. Looks great :thumbsup:
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I've read that some of it will get on your fingers initially, but after a while it doesn't. I noticed a very small bit today, but nothing really worth mentioning. I always wash my hands after I play guitar anyways. :lol: :LOL:
 
Gainzilla":1io3el7d said:
Looks great Mark. I want to do that to one of my guitars but Im either too busy or too lazy to get around to it LOL!!!

Kage
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Haha, yeah I know what you mean. I bought that dye so long ago and it took me until now to even open the bottle. It only took me a couple hours though. Not too time consuming.
 
Slick idea, bro. Never heard of that. I like the after way better :thumbsup:
 
I did several guitars years back. Until I spilled half the bottle on carpet :doh:


I need to get another bottle though, because I have few guitars now I wouldn't mind doing.

I am kind of worried about inlays though. I remember I thought it darkened them up some. How long did you wait until you wiped it off?

So, it comes right off the binding with an eraser? that is weird.
 
Shask":iisxpx8j said:
I did several guitars years back. Until I spilled half the bottle on carpet :doh:


I need to get another bottle though, because I have few guitars now I wouldn't mind doing.

I am kind of worried about inlays though. I remember I thought it darkened them up some. How long did you wait until you wiped it off?

So, it comes right off the binding with an eraser? that is weird.
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I covered about 5 frets at a time with the dye, let it sit for about a minute, then wiped off the frets and inlays with a paper towel. It sinks into the wood pretty fast, so the paper towel didn't really remove any of it from the actual wood, just the frets and inlays. And yeah, I even used the eraser to clean off the inlays. The dye did make the inlays a little bit dark, but the eraser shined them right back up. Works perfectly, I have no idea why, but the dye just comes right off. :lol: :LOL:
 
Turned out great mark!

i have done this to 2 guitars and i got the idea from you a while back :thumbsup:

Halford
 
I'm typically not a fan of ebonizing rosewood boards, but in this case it really did make the guitar look better. Nice work :thumbsup:
 
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