Which finish for a maple guitar neck?

I am about to spray a guitar neck which has a maple fingerboard.
The board is traditionally finished whith a nitro lacquer which i refuse to use because of its health and environmental issues. The finger board obviously is a high stress are with hot sweaty fingers pounding it night after night, so the finish has to be a tough one.
I have chosen 3 readily available finishes and wonder which would be best to use?
Wattyl water based gloss
Wattyl water based gloss floor finish
Cabots oil based polyurethane.
I know i can import special waterbased guitar varnishes from the state but hopefully will avoid that and use a product i can get at bunnies any old sunday arvo.
Thanks

Have a look around here:http://projectguitar.com/, then go here:http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/ if you still haven't found what you need. I'm in the process of building my first guitar and have foud those to be great.
A sfar as the finish goes, i'd head for an oil, unless you particularly want the high gloss look.

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Originally Posted by mingus

Have a look around here:http://projectguitar.com/, then go here:http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/ if you still haven't found what you need. I'm in the process of building my first guitar and have foud those to be great.
A sfar as the finish goes, i'd head for an oil, unless you particularly want the high gloss look.

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Mingus....with a nickname like that you must be building a bass??

what about shelac?

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Originally Posted by soundman

what about shelac?

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Dont think shellac is durable enough on a fretboard is it? The maple necked Fender Strat I owned back in the early 80's had a laquered fretboard but the stuff eventually wore off after a few years use.

From a luthiers point of view I think theres a lot of merit in having a fretboard made from a durable wood that doesnt have to be finished.

Cheers Martin

I used wattyl estapol on my acoustic (mahogany) neck. I was in the same boat and didn't want to import anything, just headed down the local mitre10.

I was after a nice smooth neck, so I got both the satin and matt in small cans and tested each on scrap. I didn't spray, just wrapped a clean rag around my finger, dipped it in the can (i used the matt), and rubbed it on the neck (basically rub it on and rub it off). I lost count of how many coats, probably about 15 very thin coats an hour or so apart, enough to fill most of the pores. Then when it was dry I rubbed it back with some 0000 steel wool. Smoothest, fastest neck I ever played.

I think the only reason people generally put a finish on maple fretboards is because they eventually get pretty grotty looking if you don't.

thanks for the comments.
I caved in and ordered a gallon of stewmacs waterbased lacquer from the states.

I will however try the local stuff on a cheap neck and play it for a while to see how it holds up.

Maple fretboard are a pain, which is why I use jarrah or rosewood. I have tried KT clear acrylic lacqueur from an auto parts store and it's not too bad but not rock hard. Lately I've been using Cabots CFP floor finish with the hardener on bodies, but I haven't tried it on fretboards... the downside is that by the time you've bought both you've spent $50.