Cleaning an ebony fretboard...

[Zooberwerx]

Some woods like rosewood, and even ebony to a lesser extent can be over oiled and can get soft. I had a customer, with a Strat with a rosewood board who would oil his board once a week, after about two months he was having problems with high frets and dead spots. because the fretboard was over saturated. Ebony isn't as porous and no normal person would ever use that much oil on their fretboard so its basically a non issue. I was just bringing up a point to the contrary of the importance of oiling the fretboard.

Unfortunately, this is true. A little oil applied and immediately removed will make the fretboard nice and pretty but not much else. If you're actually able to marinate by applying copious amounts and allowing to soak over time, you're running a greater risk of de-stabilizing the frets. The oil...any oil...will eventually seep beneath the frets, find end grain, and via capillary forces will wick-up the balance of the fingerboard. IME, this is most visually evident with rosewood boards: the board will retain an unnaturally dark hue adjacent to the frets long after the excess oil has been removed.

For cleaning, I prefer a soft cotton rag and Zippo lighter fluid (naptha). FWIW, I'm a Zippo loyalist as I used to live two blocks from the factory in Bradford, PA.

Riis

 

[Hopkins]

Rosewood,depending on conditions(you'll be able to tell by sight anyway) will need oiling every 4-6 mnths.

This is not true, I have a 20 year old guitar, and 32 year old bass, both with rosewood boards that have never once been oiled, and both are just fine. Neither have dried out or cracked. Rosewood is as naturally oily if not more so than ebony.

 

[WyreAndWood]

This is not true, I have a 20 year old guitar, and 32 year old bass, both with rosewood boards that have never once been oiled, and both are just fine. Neither have dried out or cracked. Rosewood is as naturally oily if not more so than ebony.

And,without fail,here we go again with the self serving dopes…

Rubbish!
But,if you like most detractors here,had read my post without jumping in ahead of your *ahem* brain,you would have seen I said it depended on the individual instrument and conditions.

 

[Hopkins]

And,without fail,here we go again with the self serving dopes…

Rubbish!
But,if you like most detractors here,had read my post without jumping in ahead of your *ahem* brain,you would have seen I said it depended on the individual instrument and conditions.

You post incorrect information about how ebony is naturally more oily than rosewood and call me a dope? You putting something in italics doesn't change the fact that your information was wrong.

 

[Major Softie]

Hopkins: right. Wyre: rude and wrong.

1. Rosewood is a naturally oily wood.

2. I have never had to oil a fretboard except after cleaning used purchases owned by individuals who apparently only played while eating finger foods. Once cleaned and oiled, they have lasted for decades without further oiling.

 

[MissJoanna2U]

As a new owner of my first ebony fingerboard wanting to learn how to maintain it, this thread was like walking into the kitchen of an Italian family while they were throwing food at each other during an argument.

 

[Vinny_G]

As a new owner of my first ebony fingerboard wanting to learn how to maintain it, this thread was like walking into the kitchen of an Italian family while they were throwing food at each other during an argument.

As for everything that people like to put on their fingerboards, you haven't seen anything yet.

 

[Arie X]

fretboard care has been a pitched battle since the internet was started. maybe even before. a couple of "points?" stuck out as i reviewed this crypto-thread:

-steel wool is not favorable around magnets, like the ones found in pickups. steel wood sheds like crazy, try it and see for yourself. believe the science.
-real lemon oil is sold in supermarkets -for baking cakes, not "hydrating" lumber.
-lemon scent is added to a lot of products. society has been swindled for an eternity into thinking that "lemon freshness" equals "cleaning prowess confidence"

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Just out of left field, are you sure it's an ebony board, or an ebony board that was dyed? The world is running out of jet black ebony, and most really dark ebony you see now is dyed. I'm wondering If you are just seeing string wear on the dye itself?

 

[Turnaround]

A natural grocers or whole foods or any other natural grocery store would carry essential oils...look for "lemon oil" in the essential oils. Those are 100% pure extracts.

Pure lemon oil is a powerful astringent. If you intend to use it,

fretboard care has been a pitched battle since the internet was started. maybe even before. a couple of "points?" stuck out as i reviewed this crypto-thread:

-steel wool is not favorable around magnets, like the ones found in pickups. steel wood sheds like crazy, try it and see for yourself. believe the science.
-real lemon oil is sold in supermarkets -for baking cakes, not "hydrating" lumber.
-lemon scent is added to a lot of products. society has been swindled for an eternity into thinking that "lemon freshness" equals "cleaning prowess confidence"

To add to this.... Pure lemon oil is a strong astringent. If used undiluted it can cause nasty skin irritation, and will strip the natural oils from your skin causing drying and cracking. Are you sure you want to use this product on something you will be touching a lot? I do use citrus oil to clean instruments, but it is highly diluted. Even then it causes the skin on my fingers to crack unless I wear rubber gloves when handling it.

 

[fhm555]

Rosewood,depending on conditions(you'll be able to tell by sight anyway) will need oiling every 4-6 mnths...

We must live in widely dissimilar conditions. I've never had a rosewood board that needed oiling save one and it was on a bass I bought where the owner had used some kind of substance on the board that dried it out so bad parts of it looked gray and it left tiny bits of metallic looking silver residue behind.
I've bought other rosewood board basses with so much mung on the board it was built up around the frets. On those I used a worn out tooth brush and warm soapy water, then wiped it dry, but a bass I bought new in 1990 with a rosewood board had never been oiled and still looks as rich and dark as it did the day I got and that's after the first 10 years of ownership playing 3~5 nights a week in bars and frat houses.
If rosewood needs oiling twice a year I've got a pile of ruined basses.

 

[Arie X]

Pure lemon oil is a powerful astringent. If you intend to use it,

To add to this.... Pure lemon oil is a strong astringent. If used undiluted it can cause nasty skin irritation, and will strip the natural oils from your skin causing drying and cracking. Are you sure you want to use this product on something you will be touching a lot? I do use citrus oil to clean instruments, but it is highly diluted. Even then it causes the skin on my fingers to crack unless I wear rubber gloves when handling it.

remember the "citrus-orange" craze? that stuff was everywhere. many a machine shop used it to de-grease parts pretty effectively. it'll turn your hands into raisins.

 

[Old Fart]

I wonder if you guys know how stoopid you are. Just kidding. Sort of. Humility is refreshing. I know how stoopid I am. Here is a pic of a quarter-sheet of paper towel after it has been infused with Old English Lemon Oil (which as someone mentioned is an amalgam of various ingredients none of which are lemon oil) rubbed (just now in fact) on an ebony fingerboard during a string change. Apparently, it did something to lift dirt off the board. This is the question asked in this thread which is entitled "cleaning an ebony fretboard."