Superglue wicking on Fretboard

[Ron Daves]

I used superglue on the ends of the frets I installed on a curley maple fretboard.  Any way to remove?

Would HHG have been a better idea?

[Kerry Krishna]

 Ron, maybe I am the only one here, but I think you should just make a new board. There is not a person here who has not suffered the consequences of doing something like this, and it ending up in the Fireplace. I have a small bin filled with wrecked stuff from the last 20 years. One day, there WiLL be a fire

[Ron Daves]

I'm giving that option some thought, but, as I said before, this is a cigar box uke and it's going to be funky, anyway. So I'll try some tricks and if none of them work, I'll just call the stains "artistic flourishes" and move on

Thanks

Ron

[Mark Pollock]

Oh heck, if it is a cigar box uke, just slather CA glue over the whole thing. In fact, I would put a light coat of boiled linseed oil on the board to really make the grain pop, then put a layer of CA over the whole thing. Polish the frets, and you are done. 

I found a StewMac article about something similar. 

http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0139.html

Mark

[Ron Daves]

I read the StewMac article.  Sounds like painting the fretboard with CA glue might be the answer.  I'll test it on some scrap and see how it works.  I'll report back later.

Thanks

Ron

[Thomas James]

I have done this with CA on re-frets where I have sanded the maple board. It works well.

[Ron Daves]

Do you use a paint brush or just squeeze it on from the bottle? It dries so fast that I'm wondering if one should do something other than a brush.

[Thomas James]

I wiped it on with cloth pad. Blended it with fine sandpaper. Built a few coats and buffed it.

[Ned Knepp]

I think everyone has figured it out but, for the record, it appears to me that you haven't so much "stained" the fingerboard as you finished it ins only certain areas. Applying even a "clear" finish almost always darkens the color of the wood which appears as a stain in this case because it's only applied in small areas.

Next time it might be better to finish the board before setting the frets. 

 If I'm stating the obvious, please forgive me, I just thought it should be spelled out in a fairly straight forward manner for anyone coming along with the same sort of issue.

[Ron Daves]

Good point.  I failed to finish this FB properly and installed the frets while the board still had a pencil line down the middle.  You learn as you go.

[Thomas James]

You should be able to remove the pencil marks with a single blade razor. Another idea would be to install the inlays before fretting as well. Sanding them level as you true up the board. Much easier than sanding/scraping between the frets.

[Ron Daves]

Got it.  I installed the frets too soon. 

[Ron Daves]

Just put a "finish" on the FB.  Taped off all the wood and waxed the frets.  Removed the tape segments one-by-one and applied CA glue with a Pipette, then quickly wiped it down with a clean rag.  Looks good.  Woo-Hoo! you guys helped me make lemonade out of a lemon. See pic.