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Caring for rosewood fingerboard.
- Thread starter Jinobass1
- Start date
I definitely agree with the mineral oil!
But considering the laxative effect: I love the imagery of cleaning up bass fingerboards with a product that gets the booty moving.
Happy New Year to you, too! Your collection is to die for! (...or, at the very least, risk criminal prosecution for grand theft!
)For my fretboards, I'll throw in with this lot...
Someone here on TalkBass recommended Howard's Feed & Wax and I'm so glad I got a bottle. A bottle which, by the way, will probably last me 'til the end of time. A little goes a very long way. To wit, I've developed a whole process for it;
- Shake bottle to properly mix the oil and wax. It's kinda clumpy, much like honey that's started to crystallize.
- Pour a blob about the size of a silver dollar (remember those, kiddies?
) into a small cup or piece of paper, like a Post-It or something. - Scoop a little out with a cotton swab with a paper stick, not wood or plastic, and spread it out between the nut and first fret, making sure to work it into the teensy crevasses between fret and board.
- If the fretboard is all gunky, scrub the stuff into the board with a mild amount of force. That's why you don't want to use wood or plastic stick swabs. They could scrape up your board.
- Let it soak in as you work your way down the fretboard.
- Once the whole board is coated, use a soft cloth to wipe off the excess and, if needs be, scrub off any leftover gunk.
- Voilà! Your fretboard is protected for a spell and it's thirst is satiated!
Funny you should mention that, the Howard's goop has that covered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003B1KTGK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Roche Thomas Accordion Accessory (RT61)
Roche Thomas Accordion Accessory (RT61)
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Jason at Fodera and Roger Sadowsky say to use mineral oil, so that's what I use.
I saw the pictures in the original post. Those fretboards look nasty and oily to me.
I have never oiled a fretboard since 1967, when I started playing bass. I don't plan to. I live in arid environments and it hasn't created problems with my 1967 P or my 1964 Gibson EB-0. Neither have fret sprout or any other problems. Humidity where I live runs 40% or less, sometimes down to 10-15%.
Bottom line: YOU DO NOT need to oil rosewood.
Ever.
Over and out.
I have never oiled a fretboard since 1967, when I started playing bass. I don't plan to. I live in arid environments and it hasn't created problems with my 1967 P or my 1964 Gibson EB-0. Neither have fret sprout or any other problems. Humidity where I live runs 40% or less, sometimes down to 10-15%.
Bottom line: YOU DO NOT need to oil rosewood.
Ever.
Over and out.
I have used this product for years on rosewood, ebony and pau ferro boards. Have always been completely satisfied; never any issues. A little goes a loooong way. No affiliation except as a satisfied customer.
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Which ever one has a more sturdy container. Most of the time they all start leaking within a few months.
Do not use the mineral oil used for bicycle disc brakes and Euro power steering and conversely do not use that mineral oil where food grade is required. But lemon oil etc is not really food grade, Hmm.
As a woodworker who has worked with antiques for decades, as well as used fresh rosewoods and ebonies in various pieces...
We're all getting ripped off as musicians with many products. Save your money. Most of the products sold as fretboard maintenance are marked up 100's of times over as snake oil.
Facts:
- wood used in musical instruments (or factory furniture in the last 80-100 years) is already dead and dried to normal conditioned space equilibirum. In your home or studio, it will gain or lose only a tiny amount of moisture seasonally.- Rosewoods and ebonies have natural oils, a main reason why they're not coated with finish on instruments
- Most consumer wood care products, like "lemon oils", are simply scented and/or thinned mineral or boiled linseed oil, sometimes with a drop or two of coloring.
Your fingerboard (or your furniture) doesn't need "feeding", moistening, or other additives unless it's abused, like left in a 120F attic for years. It's a dead set of fibers similar to tiny straws. If it is abused, it may not be recoverable.
Oils can clean simply by moistening the dirt and grime. Alcohols will clean, but will also remove the natural oils already present in the wood. Woodworkers use denatured alcohol to prep rosewoods, ebonies, and other exotics for gluing during builds. The natural oils in some woods prevent glues from adhering, so it needs to be cleaned before assembly.
Antiques sometimes moved a lot because they were made from wood that wasn't dried to the standards of the last 100-120 years.
A LIGHT wipe, as in you barely know you applied it, with drugstore mineral oil or home center boiled linseed oil can remove finger gunk and caked dust. Too much of a polymerizing oil like BLO, will actually build to a finish. For example, TruOil and Watco Danish Oil are mostly BLO, you build a finish via many applications. Too much of a non-polymerizing oil, like mineral oil or "lemon oil" will stay sticky for a long time and trash your strings.
A great data point are studios or rental agencies that own many instruments. Most simply keep them relatively in tune over decades, in normal conditioned spaces. Nobody is "conditioning" or "feeding" the fingerboards.
Your best friend may be a simple very slightly dampened microfiber cloth.
We're all getting ripped off as musicians with many products. Save your money. Most of the products sold as fretboard maintenance are marked up 100's of times over as snake oil.
Facts:
- wood used in musical instruments (or factory furniture in the last 80-100 years) is already dead and dried to normal conditioned space equilibirum. In your home or studio, it will gain or lose only a tiny amount of moisture seasonally.- Rosewoods and ebonies have natural oils, a main reason why they're not coated with finish on instruments
- Most consumer wood care products, like "lemon oils", are simply scented and/or thinned mineral or boiled linseed oil, sometimes with a drop or two of coloring.
Your fingerboard (or your furniture) doesn't need "feeding", moistening, or other additives unless it's abused, like left in a 120F attic for years. It's a dead set of fibers similar to tiny straws. If it is abused, it may not be recoverable.
Oils can clean simply by moistening the dirt and grime. Alcohols will clean, but will also remove the natural oils already present in the wood. Woodworkers use denatured alcohol to prep rosewoods, ebonies, and other exotics for gluing during builds. The natural oils in some woods prevent glues from adhering, so it needs to be cleaned before assembly.
Antiques sometimes moved a lot because they were made from wood that wasn't dried to the standards of the last 100-120 years.
A LIGHT wipe, as in you barely know you applied it, with drugstore mineral oil or home center boiled linseed oil can remove finger gunk and caked dust. Too much of a polymerizing oil like BLO, will actually build to a finish. For example, TruOil and Watco Danish Oil are mostly BLO, you build a finish via many applications. Too much of a non-polymerizing oil, like mineral oil or "lemon oil" will stay sticky for a long time and trash your strings.
A great data point are studios or rental agencies that own many instruments. Most simply keep them relatively in tune over decades, in normal conditioned spaces. Nobody is "conditioning" or "feeding" the fingerboards.
Your best friend may be a simple very slightly dampened microfiber cloth.
I bought into the snake oil, I think they look better oiled twice a year when I change strings. I used to use “lemon oil” but then discovered F1 oil. Works for me.
When it runs out, refill your F1 bottle with mineral or flaxseed oil.
Mineral Oil - 16oz - Up & Up™ : Target
That's not the point. Rosewood is a wood that does not require oiling. There seems to be a long-standing myth that it dries out and that oiling periodically is required to prevent this abominable and detestable condition. Maybe if you hung a bass in an old barnwood shed in the Mojave Desert, it would. But not if it's inside any home I've seen in the US.
Cleaning is different. Cleaning an instrument is needed occasionally to protect the finish of the instrument and the functionality of the metal parts. But that's not the same as mopping oil on a slab of wood that doesn't need it.
(Edit: see @Zooberwerx post below, indicating possible harmful effects of careless or excessive oiling.)
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A lot of gummy adhesives come off easily if you use oil as a cleaner - tape gunk especially. 3 in 1 oil is a good solvent to have on hand for things like that.
I like 'em to grow a protective rind like a fine French cheese.
There ya go! If you do apply a substance, you want to wipe it off just as quickly. The prep's have the nasty tendency of finding exposed / vulnerable end-grain (fret slots for example), wicking up, and potentially softening the surrounding wood.
Riis
