Fretboard conditioner

[Wayne8]

Is fretboard conditioner bad for strings? I want to treat my board (rosewood) but I'm not ready to change strings yet, and probably won't be for quite a while. I don't think I can treat the board without getting it on the strings.
Even if I wait until I do change strings, if I change them one at a time like some folk say, it'd still be hard to do without getting it on the strings.

What I have is Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes (has orange oil in it).

Thanks.

[JustDavid]

Take all the strings off, condition the fretboard, put all the strings on. Your neck will not twist, warp, nor explode into splinters the size of toothpicks.

I can't comment on the product. I use pure (truly pure, not Marketing Department's "pure") Tung Oil on my rosewood.

[Craig_S]

Doesn't Tung oil dry hard?? Mineral oil is probably a better solution, as it is the main ingredient in most fretboard conditioning products, including the wipes marketed by Ernie Ball.

[JustDavid]

Originally Posted by Craig_S

Doesn't Tung oil dry hard?? Mineral oil is probably a better solution, as it is the main ingredient in most fretboard conditioning products, including the wipes marketed by Ernie Ball.

I believe Tung Oil will give a bit of a hard shell to the wood's surface, & I'm unsure why that would be a bad thing.

It is an 'organic' product, made from tung nuts, & I'm more inclined to use it than mineral oil.

I can't really opine on the EB Wipes, but I feel sure they are more convenient than tung'ing. Do you know the function of the mineral oil in their task?

[Craig_S]

Originally Posted by JustDavid

I believe Tung Oil will give a bit of a hard shell to the wood's surface, & I'm unsure why that would be a bad thing.

It is an 'organic' product, made from tung nuts, & I'm more inclined to use it than mineral oil.

I can't really opine on the EB Wipes, but I feel sure they are more convenient than tung'ing. Do you know the function of the mineral oil in their task?

The purpose of the mineral oil is to soak into the wood and keep it from drying out too much. Rosewood is a naturally oily wood.

The tung oil might do the job (not sure), but it builds a coating on the wood, like a sealer. I wouldn't want a buildup of tung oil on my fretboard, personally.

There is surely someone more knowledgeable than I on the subject. I have just never heard of using tung oil on a fretboard; bodies, on the other hand, surely get tung oil.

[JustDavid]

I'm far far far from guru level here. Anyone with the real scoop, feel free to let me learn.

It seems we might be taking different paths to the same goal. Is the mineral oil intended to replace lost oil in the rosewood?

I'm still a fan of organic versus inorganic, & will use tung oil everywhere except for lubricating tuners . I do routinely hear of lemon oil being used on rosewood fingerboards, but not mineral oil. Tru-Oil (for guns I believe) gets a lot of users too.

For maintenance I'll annually (or when I get around to it) I'll clean & oil the fingerboard. Dry cleaning with a soft bristle brush, mostly in the fingerboard/fret junction. On with a liberal coat of tung oil, & brush again with it on (might wet-sand the frets now if they look like they want it). Oil is on for 10 minutes maximum, then is completely wiped off. After 20 minutes the fingerboard is again completely wiped off (some tung can 'bubble' back up to the surface).

I've done this for a few years now on several rosewood fingerboards, & I don't note any buildup or any other issues.

[Largedon]

I just use Guitar Honey. Over the counter product for treating fretboards. Shouldn't have any effect on your strings, as long as you don't get it directly on the strings while applying. Just make the sure the stuff has soaked in completely and wipe it down good before playing.

[JustDavid]

Originally Posted by Largedon

Guitar Honey.

Ingredients?

[Largedon]

Here's a link to info about Guitar Honey.

http://www.gerlitzusa.com/faq.html

Actually, GC has started carrying this stuff.

[62bass]

Originally Posted by JustDavid

I'm far far far from guru level here. Anyone with the real scoop, feel free to let me learn.

It seems we might be taking different paths to the same goal. Is the mineral oil intended to replace lost oil in the rosewood?

I'm still a fan of organic versus inorganic, & will use tung oil everywhere except for lubricating tuners . I do routinely hear of lemon oil being used on rosewood fingerboards, but not mineral oil. Tru-Oil (for guns I believe) gets a lot of users too.

For maintenance I'll annually (or when I get around to it) I'll clean & oil the fingerboard. Dry cleaning with a soft bristle brush, mostly in the fingerboard/fret junction. On with a liberal coat of tung oil, & brush again with it on (might wet-sand the frets now if they look like they want it). Oil is on for 10 minutes maximum, then is completely wiped off. After 20 minutes the fingerboard is again completely wiped off (some tung can 'bubble' back up to the surface).

I've done this for a few years now on several rosewood fingerboards, & I don't note any buildup or any other issues.

Tung oil can build up to a hard surface film if left on in thick coats. Then it'll get gummy sometimes or flake off. But I've used it on rosewood fingerboards without any problems. Wipe on a thin coat, allow to penetrate for a few minutes and then wipe it all off the surface including the tops of the frets with a dry cotton cloth. It seals the wood some and also the fret slots. It also makes the rosewood look better.

Mineral oil is a thin oil that does not harden. It dries out after a short time. Lemon oil and orange oil and a host of other liquid products are simply mineral oil with a colour added and a lemon or citrus scent. They clean the fingerboard of grease and grime and make the grain and colour of the rosewood stand out more. Rosewood on its own won't dry out, at least not the real stuff. It's a very oily wood and stays that way for centuries. It can get a dried out look to it--that's mostly humidity drying out and the wood expanding and contracting. I've never had a rosewood fingerboard dry out and crack because it wasn't oiled.

To clean rosewood (or ebony) fingerboard I like to use plain old mineral spirits, also known as paint thinner and sold under names like Varsol, etc. It gets the gunk off better than mineral oil and dries quickly leaving behind a nice clean board. Naptha (lighter fluid is naptha) also cleans just as well but evaporates even faster. One type of Coleman lamp fuel is naptha. It says so on the can. It's much cheaper than buying lighter fluid for cleaning or thinning varnish or paint. I use it to to thin varnish a lot and to clean brushes because it's a better solvent and dries faster.

So, most of these products sold as lemon oil, orange oil and most, if not all, fretboard "conditioners" are being hyped to you to make more money. They are simply mineral oil with colour and scent added. Why waste your money falling for that?

Another thing to watch out for--many of these products contain silicone which leaves a very shiny, glossy surface for a short time. Silicone is almost impossible to remove completely. Nothing will stick to silicone. So it can make refinishing and repairing a finish very difficult if not a waste of time. I avoid all those products for that reason. Silicone is also added to some waxes such as Pledge and just about every other similar product to it by other brands. I won't even allow it in my house. I've got an old place with nice hardwood everywhere that needs maintenance from time to time. I don't want to have to deal with silicone. Even sanding all the old finish off doesn't get rid of all of it. It can get into the wood.

Some other household products contain silicone, such as Enddust. It is also sometimes added to cleaning and polishing cloths so I don't buy any that are treated with anything. I don't know what's on the Ernie Ball cloth but I won't use it. You can buy a box of soft cotton cloths in Home Depot for under $10 and use it for all kinds of things including cleaning and polishing your bass. It's even good for cleaning gunk off strings. That reminds me of another product to watch out for--string cleaners. Some of them contain silicone along with the usual solvents for cleaning. Someone gave me a bottle of one well known brand name string cleaner. Luckily silicone was listed on the label so I didn't use it, but not all of them tell you the ingredients. I've used GHS Fast Fret and it doesn't contain silicone and is a good string cleaner that can brighten the sound of old strings. Some guys don't like the slippery feel it gives though.

I'm not an expert compared to some, but I've been finishing and refinishing wood for 25 years or more, sometimes as a business and now mostly as a hobby so I've learned a lot from experience, by studying books written by true old time experts and working besides some real experts who can do the work as well as talk about it. I've also learned a lot from my mistakes over the years and there have been a number of them.

By the way-I don't have a clue what's in Guitar Honey, but it sounds like advertising hype to me. Of course I'm also old and cynical.

If you want to put a nice shine on your bass once it's clean, furniture paste wax is great. You have to use a bit of elbow grease to buff it to a shine but it does protect the finish some and hides very small scratches. There are a number of good brands. Don't use a floor wax. They dry too hard to polish by hand with a cloth and are meant to be buffed with a floor polisher. Don't use car waxes either. In a pinch I've used Kiwi neutral shoe wax for polishing furniture after a good cleaning. It is not quite as hard as furniture wax but does a good job. The neutral has no colour in it. Sometimes I use a coloured shoe wax like oxblood or dark brown to hide a scratch. So do the antique dealers.

[JustDavid]

Originally Posted by 62bass

Of course I'm also old and cynical.

There's a difference between cynicism & experience.

And thanks!!! I owe you several coffee or beer!!


Curious on the furniture paste wax. I've a very scratched black paint bass that I'm trying to de-scuff. I believe I'm fine on the wetsand phase & am collecting the whole set of Turtle Wax scratch removal team but after I've got it down to a dull haze I'm unsure what's best. GHS Guitar Gloss doesn't do much if anything & I thought of going for even more Turtle Wax product. Would the furniture paste wax be better or is that just nice for open woodgrains?

[60bass]

I've used lighter fluid (easy cause I own a zippo) for cleaning and boiled linseed oil for conditioning. Used this combo for over 30 years on all my Rosewood boards with no problems.

The linseed oil can gum up if you put too much on. I use some cheesecloth wetted with the oil and wipe the board fully. I just use a thin coat without saturating the board. I leave it on for a few minutes and then wipe it off and buff the board with a soft cloth. I repeat about three times a year as I live in the desert southwest and the air is dry here.

I don't worry about the oil leaching off the board to the strings as I don't soak the board too much and the strings are off when I treat it. I always carry a bunch of those small alcohol packets and wipe my strings (Rotosound RS66 SwingBass) clean after every set so they stay nice, clean, and bright too.

[BryanSwift]

I use lemon oil on my fret-board strings and all, it really cleans and brightens up the strings... Ive been doing it for years and never had any negative results...

[62bass]

Originally Posted by JustDavid

There's a difference between cynicism & experience.

And thanks!!! I owe you several coffee or beer!!


Curious on the furniture paste wax. I've a very scratched black paint bass that I'm trying to de-scuff. I believe I'm fine on the wetsand phase & am collecting the whole set of Turtle Wax scratch removal team but after I've got it down to a dull haze I'm unsure what's best. GHS Guitar Gloss doesn't do much if anything & I thought of going for even more Turtle Wax product. Would the furniture paste wax be better or is that just nice for open woodgrains?

Thanks for the kind words.

The car polishing scratch removers are good for restoring a a shine to a gloss finish. I've used Turtle Wax products because they're easier to find in Canada. You have to go up through the various grades though and sometimes the scratches are too deep to buff out. But if you've collected the full set just work up from coarsest to finest and you should do okay. Be careful not to overdo it or you'll cut through the clear coats on top of the black. If there are some scratches left that are too deep you can cover them with black shoe polish. You can also find coloured furniture paste wax in some well stocked places. Apply it with a soft cotton cloth or micro fiber cloth, let it haze over and then buff it out thoroughly with a soft cloth. You'll be removing most of the wax and just leaving black wax in the scratches. When the wax is completely dry after buffing it won't come off on your clothes. The guys at ReRanch know a lot about polishing compounds and it's worth checking them out.

Waxes work best on gloss and satin surfaces but are often used over oil finishes such as Warwick's. My old P bass which I stripped and refinished in an oil/varnish blend is waxed with furniture paste wax. Once a year or so I just wipe it clean with water with a drop of dish soap in it, wipe it dry and then apply another very thin coat of furniture wax. No problem with wax build up and it still looks great after more than 10 years.

I haven't been able to find furniture paste waxes in Home Depot or Lowes but can get it at a few high end paint stores that cater to the home decorator crowd.

The furniture waxes are basically comprised of paraffin wax, beeswax and carnauba wax ( a very hard wax) in a solvent. The ratio of wax varies from brand to brand. Bison brand is one good onegood. Floor waxes have a higher percentage of carnauba so are hard and tougher to polish. Shoe wax has a lot of beeswax and paraffin in it. Kiwi is one of the best brands of shoe wax I've used except for an obscure brand from China called Redbird.

[Lowbrow]

I use rendered chicken fat.

[JustDavid]

Thanks.

From the link "It says on my bottle of Guitar Honey for fingerboards, that it contains petroleum distillates." No thanks.

[rodneyat]

Howards Feed N Wax is really good for oil finishes rather it be on the body, fretboard etc. It is a good conditioner. If the fretboard is in bad shape, you can use something like the Fretboard Finishing Oil from Stew Mac.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishin...shing_Oil.html

I think it has Tung Oil in it but I believe it is mixed with something else too. I could be mistaken about that though.

[JustDavid]

Thanks!

Lighter fluid sounds horrid; naptha 'spins' better ; ) Still nervous about such a solvent, but your 30 year history is reassuring; thanks!!

I've heard linseed & tung are similar. I picked tung awhile back, partly from the 'flammability of work cloths' issue & partly because it's less fun to "linseed a neck".

[JustDavid]

Thanks again; more beer/coffee owed!

Off to surf ReRanch & Lee Valley.

[GeoffByrne]

I have a very old can of 'Liquid Gold' from which the volatiles (mainly trichloroethyline) have long since evaporated leaving the heavy organic oils.

I clean the board with old toothbrush & Q-tips then wipe on a layer of 'Gold', leave for 30 mins & wipe off. I sometimes do the Tung Oil thing as described above as this seals & darkens the rosewood.

I'll use Turtlewax for the glossy paint finish as I find a hard car wax shows far fewer fingerprints than furniture wax.