Soaking up the lemon oil like a sponge...

[TheWoodShed]

Every 6 months or so I always take a day or so to do a few applications of lemon oil on my fretboard and generally on my basses it is only two or three applications and we are done. However I am showing my 13 year old daughter how to change the strings on her guitars and her acoustic has been soaking up lemon oil on the fretboard lik nobody's business. I would say we are on the 10th or so application. Should I just keep going?

[Darkstrike]

Dang! I'd have been afraid to keep going well before 10 coats.

[TheWoodShed]

Usually you go until you wipe off the excess oil but that takes only two or the applications.

[Pilgrim]

If you must oil - because I don't - oil ONCE, LIGHTLY - then stop and wipe it off. The wood doesn't need more.

All you're doing is increasing the chance your frets will come loose.

[TheWoodShed]

Hmm...not sure I understand why people are so hesitant to oil their boards. Alembic says you should at least every six months. The maker of my Acacia also used oil although he used gunstock oil.

[MechEngr]

I worked as a luthier for several years, and still do as a hobby. Rosewood and ebony are extremely oily woods to begin with, but that oil does dry out over time, which causes the wood to shrink bit, more so across the grain than with the grain. If you ever had the ends of frets stick out from a fretboard when they once weren't, you may have seen the results of this drying process. That said, when you oil the fretboard, you can understand that the frets become more tightly engaged, not less. I'm guessing that the acoustic guitar mentioned by Woodshed has a fretboard made of something other than these two woods, and that's why it's drinking up all the oil. The only downside I see to over-oiling a board is that it will grow slightly (and slowly) in the long direction, causing the neck to bend backwards a bit, in the direction you'd get if you tightened up the truss rod. On a neck that's been dry for some time, then heavily oiled, this usually leads to the player having to loosen the rod to compensate.

[TheWoodShed]

It is a rosewood board.

[bassman_al]

Check out Fret Doctor. It is a completely natural and amazing oil. A search here will get you the story. I use it on all my rosewood fretboards. You won't need to apply nearly as frequently as every 6 months.

[Luckydog]

As i understand it, most stuff sold as "lemon oil" contains little oil. Much is solvent based which i've read actually can dry out wood. Sadowsky says use boiled linseed oil.

[seanm]

I thought lemon oil was a no no since it tends to dry out the wood?

[TheWoodShed]

Taken from the Alembic Owner's Manual on their website:

Fingerboard Care

The fingerboard of your bass is unfinished ebony. It will respond to changes in humidity and if not properly maintained, may need to be replaced due to excessive checking and cracking. You will need to oil your fingerboard at least twice a year. We recommend using pure lemon oil (available at health food stores in the aromatherapy section), but any transparent lemon oil will do nicely. Avoid brands that are cloudy, their high wax content only leaves your fingerboard dirty and all that wax makes your strings go dead more quickly.
To oil you fingerboard you should:

1. Remove the strings.
2. Saturate the fingerboard with the oil. Let it absorb for at least thirty minutes or until most of the oil is absorbed.
3. Wipe the excess oil with rags or an old T-shirt. Make sure you get in right next to the fret edges. The cleaner you get the board at this stage, the longer your next set of strings will last.
4. Re-string with your old strings and play the bass for a day or two before putting fresh strings on.

You may notice that the first time the humidity takes a big swing that the fret edges may protrude over the edge of the fingerboard. These can be easily filed flush and you will probably only have to do this once. You can get a service sheet from us if you'd like to do this job yourself.

[bassman_al]

A lot of threads on TB warn against lemon oil. That is how I found FD, which goes on and off really easily. It's expensive but you use so little it lasts forever. One small dot o oil every other fret. Wipe on with cotton ball. Let sit a few minutes. Wipe excess off with cloth or paper towel. Buff with terry cloth.

[Coolhandjjl]

Originally Posted by seanm

I thought lemon oil was a no no since it tends to dry out the wood?

'Cause most of the stuff out there is only partially lemon oil, the main ingredient is a highly evaporative solvent that does damage.

[big90sbasshorns]

I just wanted to chime in with a product that I really like:

Bore Oil for the Fife and Fret Doctor

[Slowgypsy]

Frank Ford is a legendary luthier. Anyone will agree, without exception, that he knows his stuff. He maintains a huge website dedicated to all things pertaining to instrument repair and maintenance. A must read for anyone interested in working on their instruments.
FRETS.COM Acoustic guitar instrument care, repair for players, luthiers

[bassman_al]

I just wanted to chime in with a product that I really like:

Bore Oil for the Fife and Fret Doctor
Reply With Quote

This is the stuff I am talking about. Great stuff.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by Slowgypsy

Frank Ford is a legendary luthier. Anyone will agree, without exception, that he knows his stuff. He maintains a huge website dedicated to all things pertaining to instrument repair and maintenance. A must read for anyone interested in working on their instruments.
FRETS.COM Acoustic guitar instrument care, repair for players, luthiers

Informative site, but I just spent 10 minutes on it searching every page I could find (using Firefox's Edit>Find tool and looking for the character string "oil") and I was unable to find anything about oiling fretboards.

[RustyAxe]

Originally Posted by TheWoodShed

Should I just keep going?

Hell no. Don't be surprised if her frets start popping out ... fret slots expose end grain, and that's where the lemon oil is going. Personally, in 45 years of playing I have NEVER oiled (or treated in any way) a fretboard. Maintain proper humidity and they need no care, other than normal wipedown with a cloth when changing strings.

[Slowgypsy]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

Informative site, but I just spent 10 minutes on it searching every page I could find (using Firefox's Edit>Find tool and looking for the character string "oil") and I was unable to find anything about oiling fretboards.

FRETS.COM

It's a 3 page section. Bit about using oil on the fretboard is on page 2.

[fhm555]

Put me down for never having oiled a fretboard and never had any problems with fretboard shrinkage, loose frets, or any other problem associated with frets or fretboards beyond normal wear from playing.

I've bought used basses with massive crud buildup on the neck/frets and used warm soapy water and a cloth or toothbrush to remove the mung, but I just wiped them dry and restrung them when I was done.

One thing to note here. With few exceptions I've only owned Fender and Peavey basses so I can't really speak for any other brand.