Do Fender dye their fretboards?

[GreenKnee]

I had my AO Jag on the bench the other day to give the fretboard a clean and the frets a polish. I noticed a tiny bit of superglue on the board (bound fretboard) just after the last fret (22nd) and so I got a tiny bit of acetone on a rag and set to cleaning it off. The superglue came off no problem, but then I noticed on the rag some brown marks left behind, and I wonder if this is some sort of dye on the board. The wood left behind is a tiny bit lighter which I understand would happen from the solvent, a bit of lemon oil darkened it back down again once soaked in, but the brown left behind on the rag has me a little perplexed.
Is it dye? Is it the oils from the wood? It seems too dark and to be too plentiful for it to be the oils. No finger gunk down there either as it's past the last fret on the low E string.

[indiedennie]

This is normal for rosewood, when applying acetone. I am not sure if this is the case for pao ferro as well if that's what your fretboard is made of.

[Lost In Autumn]

tropical fretboard woods are naturally oily and using acetone on it removed some of those natural oils. That is all.

[Wucan]

This is normal for rosewood, when applying acetone. I am not sure if this is the case for pao ferro as well if that's what your fretboard is made of.

The darker pao ferro boards are definitely dyed. I've played multiple Fenders where my fingertips got stained black lol

[bessieboporbach]

The darker pao ferro boards are definitely dyed. I've played multiple Fenders where my fingertips got stained black lol

The stuff that comes off the board onto your fingers when you play a newer guitar is buffing compound and residue from the factory fretwork. Pau ferro isn't dyed the way ebony usually is.

[GreenKnee]

Thanks for the info. I thought it would be strange for Fender to dye them, but I also know darker rosewood is more coveted in the guitar world and so thought it may be possible. Especially as there is such a variance in the colour of rosewood.

[adamrobertt]

The darker pao ferro boards are definitely dyed. I've played multiple Fenders where my fingertips got stained black lol

The stuff that comes off the board onto your fingers when you play a newer guitar is buffing compound and residue from the factory fretwork. Pau ferro isn't dyed the way ebony usually is.

It could also just be from the strings. Some string alloys turn my fingers black from the oxidation of the metal.

[seenoevil II]

I feel like dying would be too much work for fender. They shape and fret their boards in situ as opposed to gibson who build their boards modular then glue the whole thing on, binding and all. Dying would require some way of keeping the stain off the maple. It would have to happen after the clear coat went on, and that would mean the sides of the board were covered. You'd see a difference. Even if it's bound, the little bit up on the headstock past the nut would still be coated. I guess the ultimate test would be popping out an inlay or a fret and comparing the difference.

[Embenny]

It could also just be from the strings. Some string alloys turn my fingers black from the oxidation of the metal.

I find a lot of stock strings on guitar store/factory guitars do this to my fingers, as well. None of my trusted string brands seem to. I know it was the strings, because I've bought guitars that stopped leaving the black marks as soon as I changed them (without cleaning the fretboard).

[Scout]

I've seen the pau ferro boards come through really dry and soaking up a good bit
of oil and darken up alot. If the board has been oiled the acetone will pull some out
for sure. Alternately wood varies depending on drying scenarios and other factors.

[Powdered Toast Man]

I feel like dying would be too much work for fender. They shape and fret their boards in situ as opposed to gibson who build their boards modular then glue the whole thing on, binding and all. Dying would require some way of keeping the stain off the maple. It would have to happen after the clear coat went on, and that would mean the sides of the board were covered. You'd see a difference. Even if it's bound, the little bit up on the headstock past the nut would still be coated. I guess the ultimate test would be popping out an inlay or a fret and comparing the difference.

Also, given the variation we see on the colour of Fender's RW boards I seriously doubt they're applying anything to them. If they were all consistently a certain shade then yeah, somethings up. But there's a lot of difference between each guitar neck. Also Fender really hasn't seemed to give a shit whether some are light and some are dark in the past.