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Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 11 Mar 2021 17:06
by WilmerTheWhite
Hi all, I’m new here. Purchased recently a Vigier Excalibur Surfreter, from 2003. The delta metal finger board is not very tarnished, but still needs some polishing. Delta metal according to my knowledge is an alloy from copper and zink, which is brass, but also with some percents of iron to make it delta metal. Now I have a tube with metal polish, that can be used for chrome parts. And it also says on the tube that it can be used for brass. My question is if it therefore also can be used for the delta metal fingerboard on my Vigier Excalibur Surfreter special from 2003? 

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 11 Mar 2021 17:21
by 1Patrice Vigier
Any product that polish is fine, this metal can handle them all :razz:

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 11 Mar 2021 17:23
by WilmerTheWhite
The metal polish I have is the Autosol metal polish. 

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 11 Mar 2021 17:31
by 1Patrice Vigier
Whatever the product it will be fine.

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 11 Mar 2021 17:42
by WilmerTheWhite
Thanks Patrice, you’re the man. 

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 26 Mar 2021 16:41
by WilmerTheWhite
So I got my Excalibur Surfreter Special back from the luthier, who had installed a new switchcraft output jack. Now I removed all strings and polished the fingerboard with autosol. The result was chocking, it now shines like a sun. When finished I polished the fretboard with calvados, since autosol tend to taste bad on the fingers. Better with apple taste. I used a bottle of appellation calvados controle, not pays de auge, since the latter probably is less ”clean”, therefore have more taste and are better to drink. Now the guitar from 2003 is like new. 

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 28 Mar 2021 08:44
by WilmerTheWhite
WilmerTheWhite wrote: So I got my Excalibur Surfreter Special back from the luthier, who had installed a new switchcraft output jack. Now I removed all strings and polished the fingerboard with autosol. The result was chocking, it now shines like a sun. When finished I polished the fretboard with calvados, since autosol tend to taste bad on the fingers. Better with apple taste. I used a bottle of appellation calvados controle, not pays de auge, since the latter probably is less ”clean”, therefore have more taste and are better to drink. Now the guitar from 2003 is like new. 
Edit: turns out that calvados made my fingertips black. So I instead used very clean russian vodka and it didn’t stain my fingers.

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 06:15
by WilmerTheWhite
Torns out that russian vodka also makes the fingers slightly black. Finally I used just a cloth with ordinary water and then polished it dry. No black fingertips. But ordinary tap water... it could at least have been Perrier? :( 

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 12:39
by 1Patrice Vigier
You may want to find another brand. Music Nomad makes cymbal cleaner that may work.

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 16:59
by WilmerTheWhite
Right now, with that extra polishing, it’s absolut perfect. The guitar sings all over the fingerboard. 

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 18:57
by WilmerTheWhite
Probably I didn’t realize how much time was needed to polish off the autosol. Some minutes is not enough. Now, however, there’s that waaah sound bass players talk about on their fretless basses, even on the e- and b-strings above the 12th ”fret”. As said, it sings all over the finger board. 

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 09 Apr 2021 12:00
by WilmerTheWhite
However... since it’s in this thread discussed what polish is best to use for a deltametal fretboard, I want to report on my latest findings. I used autosol to clean and polish the deltametal fingerboard, since that is what I use for nickel and chrome pickups on my other guitars. Patrice above recommended another brand, so I tested that too. 
Ok, the result was the same if we talk about cleaning and being shiny. But the problem with autosol was that it made the fingertips black. Calvados, russian vodka and water had to be used before the fingertips stayed clean. Now, with the new polish, recommended above, that problem is gone. Another thing is that the fingerboard is not so easily covered with fingerprints, the board stays clean longer. Therefore, because of my experience with these two products, I don’t want to recommend autosol for a deltametal fingerboard. 

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 08:07
by 1Patrice Vigier
and Musicnomad makes more ecological product.

Re: Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

Posted: 17 Apr 2021 16:53
by WilmerTheWhite
That’s important today.
Anyhow, now that I polished and fixed with this Surfreter Special from 2003, it is like new. But, there’s another thing, except from the excellent woods and fingerboard. The instrument is very expressive, it has it’s own voice and sings almost by itself. It’s like poetry.