Epoxy on fretless bass fingerboard

[Mamberg Jr]

This isn't a question on if I'm doing Epoxy, but WHAT epoxy. Every forum I see just says "epoxy", but what kind of epoxy is it? Am I missing something, or am I just dumb as frick?

For anyone who cares, I have an Ibanez g10 Mikro that I want to justify keeping because it was a gift, so it's going without frets. I want to go full Jaco on this mf.

Or, what kind of Epoxy does fender use on the Jaco signature? all the fender website says is "epoxy". I played one at guitar center and it's fucking sweet

[Devin]

I just want to say that I picked up one of those Mikro basses at Red River Music and plugged it in to an SWR bass combo and that little fucker sounded SO good.....I was shocked. Slap n pops for dayz....

[rock flag and eagle]

I just bought some random 2 part epoxy at home depot, did it to a cort p bass copy about 12 years ago, still looks fine.

[Mamberg Jr]

I just want to say that I picked up one of those Mikro basses at Red River Music and plugged it in to an SWR bass combo and that little fucker sounded SO good.....I was shocked. Slap n pops for dayz....

It surprised me too. They sound very good. I was gonna replace the pickups, but then I kept playing the stock pups and decided against it. it would be a waste of money

I just bought some random 2 part epoxy at home depot, did it to a cort p bass copy about 12 years ago, still looks fine.

like.... JB weld?

[rock flag and eagle]

I think I used envirotex lite

[jgreenwd]

Luthier groups I follow on facebook recommend using West System epoxies and "marine epoxy". I would look for something with a reasonably long setup time; not the 5-minute JB Weld and such at Home Depot. You are going to want to apply it evenly over the fretboard, and my experience with the 5-minute stuff is that it won't give you long enough to get even. That would mean more sanding afterwards. I would also look into getting a radius'ed sanding block to match the radius on the fretboard: http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-serv ... ius-blocks

One other caveat for the epoxy is that it needs to have a relatively high glass transition temperature (which the West System stuff, apparently, does). Once you sand it it, you'll want to polish/buff it. Some stuff has a transition temp around 100/105. That's low enough to start turning back into goo with some heavy sanding/buffing. West System is supposed to be around 150.

[Mamberg Jr]

Luthier groups I follow on facebook recommend using West System epoxies and "marine epoxy". I would look for something with a reasonably long setup time; not the 5-minute JB Weld and such at Home Depot. You are going to want to apply it evenly over the fretboard, and my experience with the 5-minute stuff is that it won't give you long enough to get even. That would mean more sanding afterwards. I would also look into getting a radius'ed sanding block to match the radius on the fretboard: http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-serv ... ius-blocks

One other caveat for the epoxy is that it needs to have a relatively high glass transition temperature (which the West System stuff, apparently, does). Once you sand it it, you'll want to polish/buff it. Some stuff has a transition temp around 100/105. That's low enough to start turning back into goo with some heavy sanding/buffing. West System is supposed to be around 150.

https://www.westsystem.com/105-epoxy-resin/
Something like this?

[jgreenwd]

Probably. I can't find the hgtt / hgtv on the MSDS, but it's most likely good.

[Mamberg Jr]

Probably. I can't find the hgtt / hgtv on the MSDS, but it's most likely good.

The what/what on the what?

[jgreenwd]

"high glass transition temperature" - the "turns back into goo" temp

[Mamberg Jr]

"high glass transition temperature" - the "turns back into goo" temp

gotcha. Do you know any Epoxy's that you know work?

[jgreenwd]

Just found the right data-sheet for the 105 epoxy. It's good up to 126ºF. So, it should be fine. Definitely use the 206 hardener, though. The 207 "clear" is only good up to 117ºF.

[Mamberg Jr]

Perfect. Thanks!