Polish a fretless delta metal fingerboard?

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WilmerTheWhite
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11 Mar 2021 17:06

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? 
1Patrice Vigier
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11 Mar 2021 17:21

Any product that polish is fine, this metal can handle them all :razz:
WilmerTheWhite
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11 Mar 2021 17:23

The metal polish I have is the Autosol metal polish. 
1Patrice Vigier
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11 Mar 2021 17:31

Whatever the product it will be fine.
WilmerTheWhite
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11 Mar 2021 17:42

Thanks Patrice, you’re the man. 
WilmerTheWhite
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26 Mar 2021 16:41

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. 
WilmerTheWhite
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28 Mar 2021 08:44

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.
WilmerTheWhite
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29 Mar 2021 06:15

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? :( 
1Patrice Vigier
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29 Mar 2021 12:39

You may want to find another brand. Music Nomad makes cymbal cleaner that may work.
WilmerTheWhite
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29 Mar 2021 16:59

Right now, with that extra polishing, it’s absolut perfect. The guitar sings all over the fingerboard. 
WilmerTheWhite
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30 Mar 2021 18:57

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. 
WilmerTheWhite
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09 Apr 2021 12:00

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. 
1Patrice Vigier
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11 Apr 2021 08:07

and Musicnomad makes more ecological product.
WilmerTheWhite
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17 Apr 2021 16:53

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. 
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