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Author Topic: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?  (Read 8576 times)

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rnolan

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Here's one to kick off some discussion.  How often do you oil your fingerboard and what FB oil do you use.
Obviously this is for non-lacquered FBs e.g. rosewood (may fav as they fight me a bit and don't get too slippery) or ebony etc. 
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RandallRG

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #1 on: Time Format »

Rich hey Buddy how ya doing? For me I always clean & oil my board each time I change my strings.. (now maybe that's a bit "Overkill") but I just jam at Home & change my strings every few Months etc..Depends on how much I am playing. I use Dunlops 6502 Fingerboard Kit. My Kramers have Rosewood Boards & this kit works great. It cleans them up real well & gives the board that Deep Dark shine. Hope all is well Mate!  :metal:
 
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MarshallJMP

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #2 on: Time Format »

Rich hey Buddy how ya doing? For me I always clean & oil my board each time I change my strings.. (now maybe that's a bit "Overkill") but I just jam at Home & change my strings every few Months etc..Depends on how much I am playing. I use Dunlops 6502 Fingerboard Kit. My Kramers have Rosewood Boards & this kit works great. It cleans them up real well & gives the board that Deep Dark shine. Hope all is well Mate!  :metal:
 

+1,but i use the bigger kit.(dunlop 6500)



« Last Edit: Time Format by MarshallJMP »
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Dante

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #3 on: Time Format »

I use Dr. Stringfellows - it's just lemon oil. Typically, the only time I use it is when there's a bunch of gunk on the fretboard.

I used to have a bottle of Fiddlebright, that works very well too!

rnolan

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #4 on: Time Format »

Hey Dante, Lemon oil is a bit of an issue, from my guitar building/repair days, lemon oil has some water in it and makes the grains swell in the wood (very bad on rosewood particularly), not to mention leaves a white dusty "finish" on your Fret board, so I only use it for cleaning the polished surfaces, which it does well (gets the blood off nicely...), I don't need to use polish, lemon oil with a good cloth works fine but not for the FB.  I'm using the Dunlop 02 as it seems the best around (though there have been better FB oil mixtures, just can't get them anymore...).
Timing wise, these days I'm kind of with you Steve, I oil the FB when I change strings, and now I'm not playing 3 to 5 nights a week (back then changed strings every 2nd night or I'd bust a D on floating whammy, pick up spare...) so now every few months as I'm not playing as much.

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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #5 on: Time Format »

Hey Gang,
 I just use the polish to clean the crud off my Rosewood fretboards, but when I need to treat the Rosewood with oil, I use Homer Formbys Lemon oil. I simply soak a cotton ball with the lemon oil, and slop it on the fretboard generously. Then I'll let it sit just like that and go back and check on it. The fretboard will drink up the lemon oil in about 20-30 minutes, and I'll re-apply another dose.
I see the concerns about water in lemon oils, but I can tell you from experience, Formbys does not. I never had any kind of white crud deposits on my fretboards from it. This one is a winner folks! My guitars have very healthy Rosewood fretboards because of it!

Harley
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rnolan

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #6 on: Time Format »

Hey Harley, reminds me of an TV add we had here years ago for engine oil, 2 mafioso guys discussing and ends with one to the other, oils aint oils Sol (Sol was complaining the Castrol (or whatever) was more expensive). So great you've found one that works for you  :thumb-up: , you shouldn't need the polish BTW, the lemon oil should clean the crud easily. I generally give the board a lite sand with 1200 paper (also removes the crud and polishes the frets) from time to time, you can also use 000 or 0000 steal wool but mask of the PUs or the steal wool bits get into your PUs attracted by the magnets.
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GuitarBuilder

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #7 on: Time Format »

I use Dr. Duck's AxWax, which is a misnomer because it contains no wax!

It is amazing stuff, IMHO far better than lemon oil.

http://www.ducksdeluxe.com/ddaxwax.html
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
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Richard, I use the lemon only to treat the Rosewood really, and I only do that once a year. While it keeps the fretboard healthy, it does feel kind of oily after the application. That's why I use the polish after that. It makes it feel slick again. I don't use any abrasives on the green Strat because the dots are clay. I agree about the filings from steel wool. If I had to use anything like that, I would go with 800-1000 grit sandpaper, but then again, that would take the laquer off the top of the clay dots!
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Rusty

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #9 on: Time Format »

Back in the early 80's I started to learn classical guitar and I was told to use boiled linseed oil on the fingerboard with a little piece of steel wool to clean off the build up of dirt when it built up. Linseed oil is a heavier oil than lemon oil and needs to be thoroughly cleaned off, ever since I have used it on all my guitars when needed with great results. 
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rnolan

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #10 on: Time Format »

Hey Harley, I go for 1200 paper but that's a once a year (ish) thing (comes from the guitar building course I did 35 years ago where we all built (6 students) an acoustic from bare bits), and generally it's when I want to "dress" the frets. I used to have this fantastic oil concoction (some guy in the US made it, it included coconut oil in the mix, he tried to get someone to take over the recipe but alas...). These days I use the Dunlop oil, it's not too bad but I oil my boards every time I change strings, I let them drink and wipe off the excess afterwards.  But also I live in Canberra (Oz) which is very dry air and big temp changes from summer to winter.

Hey Rusty, really fine grade linseed oil would work well and a bit of very fine grade steel wool (000 or 0000) is good to clean the board (on a classical, there are no magnets to attract the residue LoL), also works fine on electric guits but need to mask of the magnets... If you working on a bolt on neck that's unbolted (off the guitar, then no issue, and I think 0000 wool is finer than 1200 paper ?)
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
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Richard,
I know what you mean about living in Canberra. You need to treat unfinished woods in that kind of climate a bit more often so it won't split. I use the Homer Formbys Lemon oil because it's a wood treatment. Do you remember the old Vox Phantom VI I had? The fretboard on that guitar had split down the center from the 17th fret to the end, and had almost 1/8" gap in it. After treating it with the Formbys, that split closed back up and you can't tell it was ever there unless you use a magnifying glass! There is only a line as thin as a human hair where that split used to be, but if you didn't know about it, you'd think it was just part of the natural grain of the wood.

Rusty,
Stevie Ray Vaughan's tech used to use Linseed oil on his No1 guitar too. I remember reading about that in an article a long time ago. I still won't use steel wool on the fretboard though, because the filings it leaves behind will still settle in the wood grain on the neck. After all, the purpose it to clean it and make it smooth. Even a magnet won't get the filings all out. Just a thought...
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rnolan

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Re: Fingerboard Oil (how often, what oil)?
« Reply #12 on: Time Format »

Hey Harley, great news you got the FB back together with the lemon oil treatment. Sounds like really good stuff  :thumb-up: . I tried steel wool (once or twice) years ago and felt the same about the filings, as you say, even if you mask the PUs it still leaves very fine filings in the wood.  I find 1200 paper does the job, it leaves some grey residue and wood dust which I whips off with a cloth (wash my hands LoL) then clean with the application (or a couple of applications and wipes) of FB oil. This dresses both the FB and frets quite nicely I find.
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