Topic: Fretboard oil

I'm building an electric guitar and the fretboard is made of Indian Rosewood. I read somewhere about putting wax on it but some forums disagree with this. I found that I should use lemon oil for it so I did a google search for some and found different 'grades' of the oil. What should I use? I can't remember what it does sorry

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Re: Fretboard oil

[youtube]/watch?v=idNayrqL7XI[/youtube]
loads of info on youtube

but rule of thumb... never wax anything with a grain in it

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Re: Fretboard oil

So I should oil it instead? What oil should I use? I've done some more reading and found that and oil containing petroleum distillates, no silicon and no wax should be used. Some people said use 3 in 1 oil or WD-40. Others said Dr. Duck's Axe Wax or some Fret Doctor. I can't any fret dr. Other suggestions were dunlop 65 lemon oil or skydd from Ikea. I have no idea which to go for!

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Re: Fretboard oil

I think lemon oil is more of a cleaning / maintenance product. Smells and looks great though  default/smile

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Re: Fretboard oil

Referring to my original post. I think it's for sealing it. What's best for that?

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Re: Fretboard oil

http://www.cumpiano.com/Home/Articles/A … 20oil.html

it seems you can use almost anything within reason..there is no one absolute
treatment

it seems like turps is a pro choice

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Re: Fretboard oil

this is a response from a master guitar builder who is a good friend and superb guitarist
http://www.wilkesguitars.co.uk/index.htm

'Hi Al
There are lots of different ways to seal a fretboard depending on the wood so here goes .Nice to hear from you ;it's been a long time .
When my band were touring Germany in the early sixties we used to back "Billy Lorento" you may remember him from the old Framus Catalogues . He was basically the german Bert Weedon who we also backed .Who's rambling ,any way Billy used to swear by Lard and in a way he was not far off. If the wood is either Rosewood or Ebony I use a mixture of danish oil ,Boiled linseed oil and teak oil  ,If its maple I use either clear or slightly tinted  nitro cellulose or two pack melamine laquer .Rickenbacker fingerboards are usually Padauk although quite hard needs a good laquer;they use a two pack polyeurathane.
Any way Hope all my drunken ramblin helped
cheers Doug.
P.S. some people use Lemon oil ,it's ok for cleaning the fingerboard but I personally dont care for it'

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Re: Fretboard oil

I just lemon oil....

Imagine if the words of Imagine ever came true.....

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Re: Fretboard oil

I see this thread on ever guitar forum.  There seems to be a lot of conflict.

Guitars: Fender MIM Strat, Epiphone Explorer, Aria Pro ii Magna Series
Amp: Peavey Classic Chorus 212
And an ever growing pedal board

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Re: Fretboard oil

"I see this thread on every guitar forum.  There seems to be a lot of conflict"
....change 'conflict' to preferences

there's more than on way to skin a cat

read post 7 he's been building , repairing , servicing , modifying , designing etc etc etc  guitars for over 45 years ( visit his website ) and ask him for yourself .. let experience rule the day

one thing for  sure though never use wax

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Re: Fretboard oil

Yes, I see one of the items is boiled linseed.....which I've heard mixed tales of.

Lard, being a food product, at some point, will become rancid.   Although until it does, it'll make your fingers smell like fish and chips.  default/big_smile

Guitars: Fender MIM Strat, Epiphone Explorer, Aria Pro ii Magna Series
Amp: Peavey Classic Chorus 212
And an ever growing pedal board

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Re: Fretboard oil

dont shoot the messenger .. + its not compulsory to follow proven methods
perhaps billy whats his name likes smelling like a chip shop..who knows

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Re: Fretboard oil

Shooting messengers isn't my style.

What do you use?  In the past I used lemon oil but stopped as it made my strings rust much quicker.  I switched to simple furniture wax.  The reason I'm interested is that I bought an old Epi Explorer that had a dry fretboard and trying to find something that does the job (I do have some bore oil on the way).

Guitars: Fender MIM Strat, Epiphone Explorer, Aria Pro ii Magna Series
Amp: Peavey Classic Chorus 212
And an ever growing pedal board

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Re: Fretboard oil

ive never used anything to be quite honest i'm not much up on the subject
but in the past i have cleaned and lubricated the fingerboard with light mineral oil ( similar to bore oil i suppose )
didn't know it was a "done" thing

wax though should not be used on anything grained..it gets trapped
and causes rotting

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Re: Fretboard oil

In my view Fender Lemon Oil Works well to clean and put some moisture into the fret board and I found the  Fender stuff is thicker than and other brands and gets right into the fret board. Depend on how dry the Rose wood is I'd use one coat of lemon oil and see how quick it soaks it up.

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Re: Fretboard oil

Does the Fender stuff rust the strings?

Guitars: Fender MIM Strat, Epiphone Explorer, Aria Pro ii Magna Series
Amp: Peavey Classic Chorus 212
And an ever growing pedal board

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Re: Fretboard oil

I've used it many of times and it hasn't. When applying to the fretboard when the strings are off make sure its all soaked in and wipe off any bits left over. Then leave it for a few minutes wipe again with clean cloth and should be fine. They tend to rust if you have lots of lemon oil left on the fretboard when the strings are on.

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Re: Fretboard oil

how does any oil rust strings ( or anything else for that matter ).... the biggest contributor to contaminated strings
is sweat and dirt ...so wash your hand before any session....the most adverse effect of oil is
the ' de twang factor'  ie it will soon sound like an old string if it gets impregnated with oil

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Re: Fretboard oil

polyal wrote:

how does any oil rust strings ( or anything else for that matter ).... the biggest contributor to contaminated strings
is sweat and dirt ...so wash your hand before any session....the most adverse effect of oil is
the ' de twang factor'  ie it will soon sound like an old string if it gets impregnated with oil

It's acidic.

Guitars: Fender MIM Strat, Epiphone Explorer, Aria Pro ii Magna Series
Amp: Peavey Classic Chorus 212
And an ever growing pedal board

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Re: Fretboard oil

I heard that it can Rust the strings but personally I haven't had that issue. It depends on what type of oil I guess. Have you sorted the fret board yet?

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Re: Fretboard oil

If it's an older guitar, I use boiled Linseed oil twice a year, quite hard to get hold of nowadays. Newer guitars I use Lemon oil to clean every string change.

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