LeftyBassist.com

Hey guys,

So I have been playing my fretless alot and noticed that my right hand gets black stuff on the finger tips. I figured it was just the satin finish (blueburst on back of neck, satin) wearing in. Well, I then noticed that my fretboard was getting "ripped up" quite fast. I took a tissue and was able to remove all of the scoffs from the fretboard, it was the black stuff and not wear. It gets on the strings and clumps up a little bit.

So is the black stuff from the satin neck? Or what? Should I call Carvin and be like WHAT IS THIS AND WHY IS IT HAPPENING?!?!

Ebony is not always jet black... It naturally has a lot of brown streaks in it. Some builders dye ebony fingerboards so they're a solid color because that's what people expect to see and most people think it looks better.

I'm guessing that the black stuff you're seeing is some sort of residue left from the dye... But it still doesn't sound like it should be that bad.

If I was you, I'd call Carvin and talk to them about it.

What kind of strings do you use?
Do you wipe down the strings after use, and if so with what?

And now for something completely different: Are you doing yard work b4 you practice and are forgetting to wash your hands? LOL

Lol I'm using generic carvin flat wounds. Whatever ones they sell online (i believe they only sell 1 type of flatwound). I don't wipe my strings regularly, but I have just been using tissues to wipe them down.

Also, this stuff is 100% from playing and not anything else. I don't notice it before I play, and definitely do after I play.

@Addison, that makes sense. I personally like the brown in ebony and would rather see that than a completely black board. It almost has to be some sort of dye on the board itself (and not the neck), as the area around my thumb that is on the neck does not get black.

I will call Carvin and just let them know and see what I can do to help speed up the breaking in process or what.

+1. I suspect that is the cause. I have a Burns Brian May guitar with an ebony fretboard and it does the exact same thing if you're playing it over a period of time. Sweat and acid in your hands will cause it to stain. Eventually it goes away. (i.e. when most of the die is either gone or has been absorbed in your fretboard).

I read an article recently and it was about ebony and the issue mentioned is that there is almost no pure black ebony available anymore. Now I have also read that some countries relaxed a bit on their rules and laws about exporting certain exotic woods but I don’t believe ebony was one of them.

I prefer the streaks in the ebony I think it looks awesome. I did however just get a fretless with ebony fingerboard as well so I’m home from vacation now so I will have time to start playing it a bunch and give a report if mine does the same thing.

The dye theory is 100% spot on. You can actually buy the stuff from Stew Mac site to dye rosewood or whatever solid black. Pretty lame I think. Probably why more builders are starting to use ebonol and other manufactured stuff and I’m seeing some fretless basses with snakewood which is supposed to be harder that ebony...

Played my fretless G&L last night for almost 2 hours straight sweating and using round wounds. Nothing came off my ebony board at all i checked my right hand finger tips several times and I had no discoloration or anything different on my hands or strings. Sounds like Carvin uses a dye.

I don't think it's a huge deal. Like it was mentioned it will stop and go away after a while and you could even clean your board down with lemon oil and get the rest of it off pretty easily..No big deal.

It seems to have gone away. The plus side is that due to their mistake with the dye (i'm assuming it wasn't dried or whatever long enough), I now have brown streaks in the board which I really like and think look better than the all black board.