Black Fingerboard Stain – StewMac

Black Fingerboard Stain

Higgins India Ink is like ebony in a bottle!
Makes streaked ebony fingerboards and bridges uniformly black.

The days of harvesting uniformly black ebony wood are rapidly fading—most ebony today is streaked with brown and gray. Higgins India Ink has become our favorite for making ebony uniformly black (“ebonizes” other woods, too). Wipe on, and wipe off the excess as needed.

Use it to darken new or old ebony fingerboards, bridges, tailpieces and peghead veneers on guitars, violins, mandolins and banjos.

Higgins India Ink is non-toxic and non-flammable. It mixes well with other colorings to make dark tints and finishes darker. Unlike many black stains, Higgins ink is truly black—won’t leave a bluish tint.

2-ounce bottle.

How to apply:
• Clean the wood with naphtha and sand to 600-grit.
• Mask off the nut, binding and anything you don’t want to stain.
• Wear gloves. Apply with a brush or cloth.
• Let the board dry overnight.
• When dry, rub off excess pigment with a slightly damp cloth.
• Let the board dry overnight again.
• Rub with 0000 steel wool to burnish and remove any last pigment.