Tung oil finish maintenance

[fokof]

I have two fretless basses wich are tung oil finished.
The fingerboards are ebony , unoiled.
They are both maple+Walnut.
What's best for tung oil maintenance ?

I've read contradictory stuff on other thread.
I use lemon oil (Circa 1850) wich doesn't have any wax or silicone.
I do this twice a year.

Would it be better to use tung oil ? Don'T want to rip the bass appart each time....

For the fretless ebony fingerboard? Bore oil ?

[praisegig]

Clean the surface with naptha to remove any oils, dirt/grime. If there are any scratches or the wood looks dry, reapply a coat of tung oil, let dry and buff. Another coat will give another coat of protection, slightly minimum at best. For a little more shine, you can apply a coat of furniture paste wax, per their instruction.

[bassplayer7770]

My Hanewinckel 5-string has an oil finish, and Pete suggested using Howard Feed-N-Wax. He says it can be applied with a Viva paper towel, then remove about 20-30 minutes later with a clean Viva paper towel. My bass has an Alder body with Walnut top, the neck is Maple, and the fingerboard is Pau Ferro. I probably won't touch the fingerboard, but the neck and body may be getting a coat soon.

On the neck, I'm also planning to gently rub in the Feed-N-Wax using a piece of 600 grit sand paper (Pete's suggestion if I'm comfortable using the sand paper).

[Hugh Jass]

I think you are going to hear about a billion different opinions on this one.

Here is what I know: Ebony is one of the hardest commonly used woods out there. Tung or danish oil will not hurt it but neither will it really sink in. Ebony is very dense with a closed grain and therefore will not soak up oil like say a rosewood. Ebony has a lot of natural oils in it which is why it takes such a great polish. As long as it was properly seasoned (no way of knowing that now) you should not have a problem with it cracking. The most common cause of cracks in Ebony is excessive heat from power tools. You could always oil it as a way of sealing in those natural oils in as tung oil kind of forms a hard finish but it is probably not necessary.

My $0.02

I re-sanded a knife handle recently that I had finished with tung oil. It was made of Pau Amarillo (yellowheart /quite hard) and brazilian kingwood (more like rosewood). The oil had penetrated fairly well into the kingwood but had pretty much just polished on the surface of the Pau Amarillo. This was after about five or six liberal coats.

[fokof]

My main concern is;
- as a twice a year maintenance without removing everything on the bass , (knobs , pickup , bridge , keys) what's best?

If I put Tung oil around the knobs/pickup/bridge , is it gonna leave marks since I won't be able to buff?
I know that lemon oil does not ......

[Pilgrim]

You need to do some homework on the differences between Tung Oil and Lemon Oil - both come in different formulations, but they have different purposes. IME you don't want Tung Oil to build up anywhere, as it dries to a hard finish.

I suggest you do some searching on TB about this - there are at least two extensive threads on oils going on right now....plus many archived.

[MNAirHead]

I have a tung oil bass that discolored.. wore through it.. doesn't match reapplications.