• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Dressing/Oiling a Fingerboard?

Keith Rawlings

Keith Rawlings

Aug 3, 2019
1,476
2,756
#1
I’m doing a bit of amateur repair this weekend to get my old Kay to make it through a show next month. I’m going to sand down some buzzing areas on my fingerboard in first and fourth positions and move the soundpost around as I’m not getting a decent sound right now with the bass. This will be the last time I’ll be doing such a repair on this fingerboard as the bass is going to the luthier sometime this summer for a new setup, neck reset with a nice ebony fingerboard, nut, Aubert bridge and a new tailpiece and endpin.

Before when I’ve completed the sanding, I’ve simply just put the strings back on and that was that; but I’ve read some of the forum threads here on Talkbass that discuss how rubbing the completed fingerboard with either boiled linseed oil or tung oil will effectively seal the wood after such a repair. Which would be better to use? It seems like there’s about a 50/50 split in the responses on those threads as to which works best. Thanks.
 
#2
You probably already know but I'll say it anyway.. go slow on the board! A little is a lot. I've used tung, linseed, and walnut oils on fingerboards. The linseed that you get at the hardware store has drying agents in it, and it stinks pretty bad for a while. Tung takes a while to really dry, and it can be gooey/sticky if you don't polish it mostly off. I'm into the walnut personally, wipe a thin coat then buff tough with a dry rag, seems to work fine. Have you replaced the coat hanger tailgut with a cable yet? Seems to help Kays open up
 
  • Like
Reactions: james condino and Keith Rawlings
#3
unbrokenchain said:
You probably already know but I'll say it anyway.. go slow on the board! A little is a lot. I've used tung, linseed, and walnut oils on fingerboards. The linseed that you get at the hardware store has drying agents in it, and it stinks pretty bad for a while. Tung takes a while to really dry, and it can be gooey/sticky if you don't polish it mostly off. I'm into the walnut personally, wipe a thin coat then buff tough with a dry rag, seems to work fine. Have you replaced the coat hanger tailgut with a cable yet? Seems to help Kays open up
Click to expand...

No. I bought a nice replacement tailpiece cable online and I was planning on putting it on now that I’ll have the strings off. It doesn’t look that hard to do. So walnut oil? I bet that has a better scent to it than linseed or tung oil. Tung oil smells horrible from what I remember from my carpentry job 20 years ago but I know it works pretty well to seal and penetrate.
 
#4
I would use boiled linseed oil and very fine wet/dry sandpaper. Apply a coat of the oil and sand it into the wood using small circular motions. This fills the pores of the wood with the wet wood dust and blackens (if the board is ebony?). Rub the board and neck well with a soft rag and dispose of any oily rags with care to avoid spontaneous combustion. Take the same disposal care with tung oil, and probably walnut too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Keith Rawlings
#5
David Potts said:
I would use boiled linseed oil and very fine wet/dry sandpaper. Apply a coat of the oil and sand it into the wood using small circular motions. This fills the pores of the wood with the wet wood dust and blackens (if the board is ebony?). Rub the board and neck well with a soft rag and dispose of any oily rags with care to avoid spontaneous combustion. Take the same disposal care with tung oil, and probably walnut too.
Click to expand...
It’s a rosewood fingerboard that’s on the Kay now. This will be the third and final time I sand this one as it’s been planed three times previously due to slapping and really needs replacing. It sounds a lot like applying these types of oils is very much like applying finishing coats of sealer or varnish to wood furniture or cabinets: with fine sanding in between coats.
 
#6
David Potts said:
Take the same disposal care with tung oil, and probably walnut too.
Click to expand...

This is wrong.

Walnut oil is a completely inert food grade plant oil that has zero concerns and also hardens over time. You can eat the oil soaked rags if you really wanted. You'll likely have no issues with the oil, but you may have an anaphylactic reaction to the fingerboard dust! It presents no combustion issues and is thrown away in the standard kitchen trash can in 1,000,000s of restaurants, bakeries, and home kitchens around the world every day.

On the other hand, tung & linseed oils are a completley different beast, loaded with volatile solvents that smell like @$$ and do present a hazard of combustion with oil soaked rags.

Sand out your fingerboard to 800, polish with 0000 steel wool, and then a light coat of walnut oil and you can string it up in ten minutes. Try the Spectrum brand, WITHOUT the vitamin E preservative, available at your local grocery store in the baking aisle. I also use it on plain gut strings...
 
  • Like
Reactions: RSBBass, Michael Drost, Reiska and 6 others
#8
David Potts said:
Thanks for setting me straight about walnut oil, James. I would probably just use 400 and linseed oil on my own ebony boards, taught to me by my luthier. Rubbed down well afterwards it ends up with an intense matt black finish.
Click to expand...

After the boards are planed to the correct shape, I go to sanding blocks progressing to 220 grit. Then, I’ll start with 300 with a light mineral oil and go up from there. Generally, boiled linseed oil sanded in with 600 is where I stop but I have gone to 1200. Linseed oil is a traditional finish and I like the smell. Different strokes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Keith Rawlings
#9
james condino said:
This is wrong.

Walnut oil is a completely inert food grade plant oil that has zero concerns and also hardens over time. You can eat the oil soaked rags if you really wanted. You'll likely have no issues with the oil, but you may have an anaphylactic reaction to the fingerboard dust! It presents no combustion issues and is thrown away in the standard kitchen trash can in 1,000,000s of restaurants, bakeries, and home kitchens around the world every day.

On the other hand, tung & linseed oils are a completley different beast, loaded with volatile solvents that smell like @$$ and do present a hazard of combustion with oil soaked rags.

Sand out your fingerboard to 800, polish with 0000 steel wool, and then a light coat of walnut oil and you can string it up in ten minutes. Try the Spectrum brand, WITHOUT the vitamin E preservative, available at your local grocery store in the baking aisle. I also use it on plain gut strings...
Click to expand...
This one?
2D3B1451-622D-4F37-98B9-AAA2C8FF8B09.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: james condino
#11
Come to think of it I believe I got clued into the walnut oil watching Condino use it. Aside from the lack of smell, there's something nice about using food-grade products on something that I have a lot of bodily contact with.
Keith Rawlings said:
No. I bought a nice replacement tailpiece cable online and I was planning on putting it on now that I’ll have the strings off. It doesn’t look that hard to do.
Click to expand...
I bet that will make much more difference than moving the soundpost! It's not hard at all, just make sure the crush clamp/securing mechanism is tight.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Keith Rawlings
#18
While I’m at it with the Walnut Oil — the fingerboard is dressed! I’m going to get the last out of the old rosewood board before it goes under the knife with the luthier. Thanks to everyone for all of the advice. Talkbass is the best resource for anything when it comes to DIY work on an instrument.
A6D2F275-8733-42E3-AA5D-E3CF7246BFB7.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: marcox
#20
David Potts said:
Rub off the excess with the grain after waiting for a little while, and clean any off the neck too, to remove any patches of hold-out.

Your bass looks lovely but I would like to see my colleagues' faces if if I took it to my orchestra rehearsal !!!

Best wishes and keep safe,

DP
Click to expand...
I wonder if anyone has ever tried to bring a custom painted hot rod style bass to an orchestra rehearsal just for laughs? I would love to see that too! The Kay actually doesn’t sound too bad with a bow; painted plywood and all. It’s not anywhere near carved top glory but it works for what I do — for now at least. Ultimately I want a carved bass as I continue to go down the arco rabbit hole with private lessons. The Kay will of course hang around for bar gigs though.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back