Caring for rosewood fingerboard.

[Steve Fox]

I’ve used lemon oil or mineral oil forever, but I recently tried Dr Ducks and I thought it did a great job. About every 6 months or so Ill apply a bit, scrub it with a nylon brush and wipe it down. Keeps the gunk buildup down.

 

[fhm555]

I prefer rosewood and ebony boards. If a bass is used I clean it good when I first get it, including around the frets. I use a soft toothbrush (dry) around the fret bases, then wipe it down with an old T shirt rag lightly dampened with warm water. The only time I ever had to hydrate a rosewood board was when the previous owner used something that left the wood dry looking with whitish residue on it. I used the toothbrush to get as much of the residue as possible, then the lightly dampened rag, It got all the gunk off, but the wood looked dry. On the advice of a local repairman I used a tiny bit of cooking oil and a lot of elbow grease, and it's been fine since. This is the last neck I cleaned up. It's pau farro from an MIM Deluxe J freshly cleaned and frets polished.

 

[Steve Fox]

I don't buy into the idea that oil is an effective cleaner, either. Where else in the world do you tackle grime by smothering it in oil? Where else do you combed dehydration with oil?

I’ve been in maintenance for 15 years and we do that all the time. Heavy grease is a bear to clean, but if you thin it out with old motor oil or something similar it make it a heck of a lot easier.

 

[WestyBassBob]

I've never used anything other than several drops of water on a soft cloth to clean the (uncoated) fingerboards of my instruments. It seems to work well for me, and the wood doesn't seem to need anything else apart from that -- it still looks pristine.

Oh good. I have never wiped mine down (3 years now) and was beginning to feel bad.
I’m with Bootsy. The funk is in the gunk. Although TBH it looks fine. Just some darkening where I get the strings most.

 

[moon-bass]

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.

There's a huge difference between just slathering oil on a fretboard and using oil appropriately as a part of maintenance and cleaning on a fretboard.

 

[WestyBassBob]

I’ve been in maintenance for 15 years and we do that all the time. Heavy grease is a bear to clean, but if you thin it out with old motor oil or something similar it make it a heck of a lot easier.

It’s counter intuitive but it’s true. After all solvents are a part of almost any commercial lubricant. So the “oil based” product will clean and lubricate simultaneously

 

[N4860]

That seems too frequent. Not all lemon oil is equal either. Some is just a blend of mineral oil, solvents and a scent.


I don't buy into the idea that oil is an effective cleaner, either. Where else in the world do you tackle grime by smothering it in oil? Where else do you combed dehydration with oil?

I used a form of oil for hydrating dry skin when I wash my hands too much. Pretty sure plenty of lotions contain a form of oil.

 

[Nightman]

I just finished installing new strings on my PRS Grainger with a Rosewood fingerboard and I used this and don’t bother trying to clean it first.

 

[Malak the Mad]

I don't buy into the idea that oil is an effective cleaner, either. Where else in the world do you tackle grime by smothering it in oil? Where else do you combed dehydration with oil?

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.

Speaking as someone who works with oils every day at work (28-year veteran massage therapist), micguy is correct. I learned a long time ago that "lubricants are the natural predators of adhesives". If a client has a bandage, kinetic tape or some kind of adhesive medical doo-dad on their skin, I have to make sure I work around it. Even gently brushing up against it with a teensy amount of product can weaken it's grip.

 

[Malak the Mad]

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.

True story...I've seen one for-sure case like this. To be fair, though, the conditions were subtly brutal.

One winter day, I stopped at a music store for a quick peek at their stock to kill some time. I pulled a number of instruments off the wall, including a Fender American Standard Jazz with a rosewood board. After less than a minute of noodling upon it, I noticed...

1. There was a frighteningly high degree of fret-sprout along both sides of the fretboard...real "saw tooth" texture.
2. The strings were sailing high above the fretboard, but the bridge saddles weren't out of spec adjustment.
3. The board was a very dry, pale brown.

In this one instance, the fretboard was so dried out and shrinking that it was severely contracting. When I looked again at it's spot on the wall, I saw why; it had been hanging just two or three feet from a big air vent, probably for months, and we were in the middle of a very cold and dry winter.

I haven't been back to that particular store, but I've always wondered if that Jazz's board could have been salvaged with an oiling and some neck adjustments. I tried to bring the sitch to their attention, but the sales-dweebs were so fixated on their idle chit-chat, they couldn't be bothered to acknowledge me when I was standing right next to them and making "could you please help me?" eye-contact with one of them.

 

[bassrique]

If I spent time in dry climates I'd likely have a different approach to Rosewood fingerboard maintenance than the minimalist approach. I don't mind fretboard "character".

 

[Egg250]

BLO

I use BLO for gunstocks. As a finish, it is quite forgiving, but it takes a long time to dry/cure. Are you concerned at all about a finish build up on the fretboard? I guess it wouldn't matter too much because it only gets a light application a few times a year, right?

 

[Egg250]

I've seen it suggested that oil 'hydrates' a fretboard or is a necessary maintenance requirement, but I don't think any of this is true.

I use a lemon oil. I bought a second hand bass that had a bit of fret sprout. After a few applications of the lemon oil over 6 months the frets were no longer snagging my fingers and after 12 months they aren't standing proud of the finger board anymore. I think there is some truth to hydrating the wood.

 

[moon-bass]

I use BLO for gunstocks. As a finish, it is quite forgiving, but it takes a long time to dry/cure. Are you concerned at all about a finish build up on the fretboard? I guess it wouldn't matter too much because it only gets a light application a few times a year, right?

I've been putting BLO on some of my fretless basses - one of them has had a twice yearly coat since the early 90's. It now has a really nice BLO finish on the board. Sounds and plays killer and protects the board as well.

 

[Egg250]

That seems too frequent. Not all lemon oil is equal either. Some is just a blend of mineral oil, solvents and a scent.


I don't buy into the idea that oil is an effective cleaner, either. Where else in the world do you tackle grime by smothering it in oil? Where else do you combed dehydration with oil?

Having worked in car shops and machine shops, I've used kerosene to clean parts. That's oil. I have used boiled linseed oil to clean wood gunstocks. I've used mineral spirits to clean wood and metal parts. Furniture polish contains oil to help clean and protect finished and unfinished wood. The oil acts as a carrier to move the dirt and grime away. Solvents are sometimes added to help dissolve the grime to help the oil work.

 

[tb-player]

I honestly don't understand why people overpay for all these snake oil products. Just get a bottle of baby oil or something similar and you've got fretboard oil for YEARS at a fraction of the cost.

Lemon oil should not be used anywhere near fretboards IMO as it will ruin them in the long run. The stuff guitar manufacturers call lemon oil is a different matter of course. Some of those products contain no lemon oil whatsoever (which although misleading is actually a good thing).

Get a bottle of baby oil and save your money for other stuff.

So if olive oil comes from olives, and vegetable oil comes from vegetables, where does baby oil come from?

 

[58kites]

The lemon oil products being used/recommended are mineral oil with lemon scent...real lemon oil is bad for wood.
Mineral oil is not a drying oil so it all comes back out on your hands in the weeks and months after application, not harmful but not my first choice.
Once every couple of years, a few drops of Grumbacker Refined Linseed Oil rubbed on and then wiped to take the excess off is enough to make my rosewood fretboards happy.
Some need less than that frequency, depending on where you live, what your body chemistry is and how much or how little the bass gets played.

 

[Paul New]

Bacon grease. Wright’s hickory smoked.

 

[MisticoRitualista]

The only oil on my fret/lessboards is from my hands. I do clean them sparingly but only with a cloth

 

[RedJag]

I use mineral oil. Roger Sadowsky recommends it for hydrating fingerboards. I apply a small amount with a piece of old cloth to my rosewood and ebony fingerboards every time I restring. It’s inexpensive, and a large bottle lasts for years. It’s a food grade product, and it’s found in the pharmacy at most stores, in the laxative section.

The Fodera guys have a video showing the use of mineral oil too