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Cracks in my fretboard

songwriter21

songwriter21

I have an obsession for wood. The musical kind.
Jul 31, 2005
6,786
9,722
Baltimore-ish, MD
#1
Hey All,

I just bought a "used" 2010 Peavey US Cirrus Tiger Eye 5 (possibly new-old stock). I LOVE this bass, but last night, looking over the fretboard, I noticed a number of hairline cracks in the ebony board. A few days after I got it, about a week ago, I cleaned it with Fast Fret, but hardly any dirt was on the wood, and not much FF soaked in. So, because of the second factor, I'm guessing that the board wasn't dry, and that's why I wonder about the cracks.

Lastly, because of those cracks, should I seal the cracks by using a penetrating oil, like Fret Doctor? I've read that that stuff is the best. I know ebony is strong, but it obviously can be brittle. Plus, all of the basses I've played extensively, had rosewood fretboards that never had the moisture concern.

Any and all input is appreciated...THANK YOU!

Ben
 
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#2
I'm also interested in hearing responses to this; in my case it's a maple board and a bit of a larger crack. At some point a decade or decades ago it looks like the truss caused a split between the nut and first fret.
-John
 
#5
Cracking is caused by the loss of moisture, and that moisture is water. If you put any oil on it now it will seep into the cracks and make any further repairs very difficult and costly. Not recommended.

Either the board should be re-hydrated, or the cracks should be filled. Rehydration will swell the wood so the cracks close, but they will still be there. That will be OK if you keep the instrument from drying out again by raising the relative humidity of the environment the bass lives in. If that's not feasible, the only good option is to fill the cracks. Even then it's a good idea to keep the instrument in an environment with a higher RH.

Oils, such as bore oil help to keep the fingerboard from drying out, though they are not terribly effective - better than nothing though. They are no good for rehydrating.
 
#7
I've been looking for something for my 1937 Regal Bassoguitar - just placed an order for that Fret Doctor oil, thanks for the link, sounds like good stuff.
 
#8
Turnaround said:
Cracking is caused by the loss of moisture, and that moisture is water. If you put any oil on it now it will seep into the cracks and make any further repairs very difficult and costly. Not recommended.

Either the board should be re-hydrated, or the cracks should be filled. Rehydration will swell the wood so the cracks close, but they will still be there. That will be OK if you keep the instrument from drying out again by raising the relative humidity of the environment the bass lives in. If that's not feasible, the only good option is to fill the cracks. Even then it's a good idea to keep the instrument in an environment with a higher RH.

Oils, such as bore oil help to keep the fingerboard from drying out, though they are not terribly effective - better than nothing though. They are no good for rehydrating.
Click to expand...
Point taken - and with this crazy weather this year, I'm already at the point of running humids full blast and hanging damp towels off the window rods, still can't keep it much above 20%.
 
#9
Turnaround said:
Cracking is caused by the loss of moisture, and that moisture is water. If you put any oil on it now it will seep into the cracks and make any further repairs very difficult and costly. Not recommended.

Either the board should be re-hydrated, or the cracks should be filled. Rehydration will swell the wood so the cracks close, but they will still be there. That will be OK if you keep the instrument from drying out again by raising the relative humidity of the environment the bass lives in. If that's not feasible, the only good option is to fill the cracks. Even then it's a good idea to keep the instrument in an environment with a higher RH.

Oils, such as bore oil help to keep the fingerboard from drying out, though they are not terribly effective - better than nothing though. They are no good for rehydrating.
Click to expand...

My luthier once suggested putting 1-2 humidifiers inside my case (those little Herco cans) to keep everything regulated throughout the year, especially this season. For an electric in a hardshell, with not much room as is (custom molded), would this be effective in preventing more cracks or not?
 
#11
songwriter21 said:
My luthier once suggested putting 1-2 humidifiers inside my case (those little Herco cans) to keep everything regulated throughout the year, especially this season. For an electric in a hardshell, with not much room as is (custom molded), would this be effective in preventing more cracks or not?
Click to expand...
The ideal RH for instruments is around 40%. Anything you can do to keep the environment in which the instrument lives close to that is good. But beware, too much humidity is also not good.

You don't need to be so fussy with the RH with solid-body instruments as you do with acoustic guitars. But the ideal RH is the same. The question is how do you know when you've got it right? The answer is that you need to measure. A hygrometer in the room with the instrument or in the instrument's case is a good idea so you can track the moisture levels and take appropriate action. Though many instruments have lasted decades without humidity control, you may not see a problem until the damage is done if you ignore the RH. Better safe than sorry?

The preferred way to handle RH is to adjust the humidity of the room. If that's not feasible, then keep the instrument in a case and humidify the case. However, it's actually more difficult to keep an even RH level in the case. You charge up your humidifier, put it in the case, close it up and the RH can initially soar quite high. Then as the humidifier dries out the RH can plummet. It's much easier to keep a room at a relatively even RH.
 
#14
Ebony fretboards tend to hairline crack; this is not unusual, and I agree that moisture (lack thereof) is probably the culprit.
From what people have advised on TB, the hairline cracking is not an issue, and will not diminish the quality or sound of your instrument. Now, in the case of the maple board that temperate posted, I would take that to a luthier, cuz that is a much bigger problem.
 
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#17
felis said:
I interpret this to mean that you should put water on the fretboard and let it soak in.

Please correct me if that's wrong.
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That seems rather drastic and likely not to have the desired effect. I'm thinking more along the lines of hanging a damp, not wet, towel over the fingerboard, with the bass in a horizontal "on its back" position if possible. Or a good humidifier in the case. You don't want to change anything too fast with old dry wood, slow is the way to go.
 
#19
I had a crack in an Ebony board that disappeared after soaking with Lemon oil, there's only a very thin line visible where the crack used to be.

From the Alembic club:

"... we like the lemon oil because it replaces some of the large molecules that evaporate out of the wood as it ages, and leaves the fingerboard unfinished with the nice touch of the natural wood. Cracks in the board start at cells where one of these large heavy turpines has evaporated. The heavy turpines in lemon oil are similar to the ones in ebony, so it's not like soaking it in water, more like ebony juice ;) and just replacing what was lost."

From the Alembic owners manual:

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.
 
#20
Turnaround said:
Cracking is caused by the loss of moisture, and that moisture is water. If you put any oil on it now it will seep into the cracks and make any further repairs very difficult and costly. Not recommended.

Either the board should be re-hydrated, or the cracks should be filled. Rehydration will swell the wood so the cracks close, but they will still be there. That will be OK if you keep the instrument from drying out again by raising the relative humidity of the environment the bass lives in. If that's not feasible, the only good option is to fill the cracks. Even then it's a good idea to keep the instrument in an environment with a higher RH.

Oils, such as bore oil help to keep the fingerboard from drying out, though they are not terribly effective - better than nothing though. They are no good for rehydrating.
Click to expand...

This^

The Ebony fingerboard on my Alembic fretless 6 developed some small cracks along the bottom (high notes) end of the fingerboard.:eek: Oiling them before you glue them is NOT what you want. Ebony is known for doing this because of the differential expansion of the Ebony and the wood it's glued to. As turnaround notes, rehydration helps it from getting worse but you also want to glue the cracks and fill them to stabilize the board. I filled them with epoxy. Epoxy is very strong and stable. The key is to get it into the cracks. To do that use Epoxy with a longer setting time and use a hair dryer to warm it up until it is thin and runny. I didn't bother to color it (as that makes it not as thin) and since cracks were small it ran in and looks fine after sanding even without color. After the filling and sanding Fret Dr. brought the fingerboard right back to where it was before the cracks.
 

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