My last EBMM (hopefully)

[MarkF786]

The St. Vincent guitar was my gateway EBMM - and another five guitars and two basses, here I am.

What got me back into EBMM after my first was the Valentine, not because I know or like the guitarist much, but I like the design and the hardtail - but I hadn't found the right one. I finally pulled the trigger on a BFR in mint condition.

The fretboard looks like it must be dry, because that's supposed to be rosewood! The seller lists it as maple, but all the rest of the run were rosewood - so either it's dry or a one-off anomaly. I've had some very light rosewood fretboards that darken up with a good dose of Fret Doctor.

 

[Astrofreq]

That is gorgeous!!!

 

[GWDavis28]

Congrats!!! Great color!!!

Glenn |B)

 

[beej]

Nice! Love the colour.

(Btw I corrected the thread title.)

 

[Sweat]

Wow, super nice congrats on that one

 

[Ted]

That is awesome! Congrats! When I got my first EBMM guitar-- a new 2018 BFR Valentine Pine Green, the BFR Baby Blue like the one you have was really crying out to me too. It was a hard decision-- would have loved to have both. Baby Blue is such a killer color with the Valentine's aesthetic. The painted headstock is great too.

Yeah, that is some very light rosewood. It might be dried out, but it seems like I remember seeing a few guitars (though not all) from that particular run of Baby Blue BFR Valentines that had lighter than normal looking rosewood on the fretboards-- so maybe they had a supply of lighter rosewood to work with at the time. I'm sure some oil will do it good.

Cheers!

 

[jlf599]

Gorgeous! Congrats!

I'm still pondering a Valentine, m'self.

 

[TripHazard]

Do it, you won’t regret it

 

[MarkF786]

I'll let ya know how it turns out. I prefer hardtail guitars, yet all my other EBMMs have trems. They're all amazing guitars, but I'm curious to experience an EBMM hardtail.

 

[MarkF786]

It arrived today, indeed in mint condition as described, and the fretboard is definitely rosewood. It seems like nice rosewood, but could benefit from some oil.

Typically, I do a full setup when I get a new guitar, but I'm feeling a bit tired today and will maybe just enjoy it as is for a while.

 

[Norrin Radd]

It arrived today, indeed in mint condition as described, and the fretboard is definitely rosewood. It seems like nice rosewood, but could benefit from some oil.

Typically, I do a full setup when I get a new guitar, but I'm feeling a bit tired today and will maybe just enjoy it as is for a while.

You’ve had enough time. I wanna see some photos of that rosewood fingerboard after a nice oil bath!

 

[DrKev]

It arrived today, indeed in mint condition as described, and the fretboard is definitely rosewood. It seems like nice rosewood, but could benefit from some oil.

Typically, I do a full setup when I get a new guitar, but I'm feeling a bit tired today and will maybe just enjoy it as is for a while.

EBMM went through a period of lighter colored rosewood on some models (I don't know if that was a choice or just what they were being supplied). I love that, I love to see the grain and I think it's far more interesting that darker rosewoods from that point of view.

 

[MarkF786]

I’ll post some pics this weekend - I’m heading home from a business trip - but it looks beautiful after some oiling of the fretboard. A light blue guitar with a darker rosewood fretboard is a look I love; normally, in the Fender world, I think of sonic blue, but this baby blue is damn nice too.

 

[msquared]

My blue Valentine has a similar lighter colored fretboard. I oiled it when I got it but it stayed the same shade. IIRC this was a short run (58 instruments maybe?) so I'm guessing we all got the lighter rosewood.

I was a bit jarred by this because I was expecting something darker but I pretty quickly came around to the same perspective as @DrKev has. The grain looks incredible with those blocks.

It's really cool seeing another one of these in the wild. I am looking forward to seeing more shots of yours. How does the neck compare to the St Vincent you've got?

 

[MarkF786]

I'd say it darkened up nicely with some Fret Doctor, which tends to be well-regarded, and I've used for many years without a problem. It looks vastly better than when I received the guitar, when it just looked like roasted maple.

Sorry for the quick & dirty picture; I'll try to take better pictures later. I also included a close up. I took the picture next to a window with sunlight to try to naturally capture the color.

I was careful to not oversaturate it. I put a drop ever other fret or so, smoothed it out then let it sit for a little while. Then repeated it twice more. Once it stopped fully soaking in (and even after 3 times, barely little hadn't soaked in), I wiped off any excess with a soft rag.

I've read some advice to oil a rosewood fretboard once or twice a year - which I never do - but I figured with how many years this has gone without any oil, it was ok to go a little heavy with a few coats. I tend to think oiling a fretboard is probably only needed every few years at most.