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Oil on rosewood fingerboard

AmazingGracePlayer

AmazingGracePlayer

Oct 8, 2006
3,193
3
Summit, NJ
www.google.com
#1
I've read from many threads that lemon oil is bad for rosewood fingerboard, I was wondering, can those "Extra Virgin Olive Oils" be applied to rosewood fingerboards without damaging it? How does it compare to lemon oil?

I remember using lemon oil on it a few months back and I was hoping that the fingerboard would become somewhat shinny and moist, but it just got dryer... and it got waxy stuff on it.
 
#2
I'm not speaking for him, but here is a post from ROger Sadowsky that may provide some help.

Here in the shop I clean fingerboards (except maple) with 0000 steel
wool. I do not recommend you do this at home as you will contaminate
your pickups with steel wool dust. Now don't laugh at this, but the best
fingerboard cleaner I have found (especially for cleaning built up skin
cell grunge) is the aerosol Windex (the spray can, not the pump). Cover
the body and the headstock with an old rag or towel and spray the
fingerboard with the aerosol Windex (it comes out as a white foam). Let
it sit for a few seconds and then scrub the fingerboard with an old
toothbrush until all the old grunge lifts. Then wipe down the entire
fingerboard with paper towels until it is clean and dry. You can safely
do this with rosewood, ebony and lacquered maple fingerboards.

Follow up the Windex with a coat of boiled linseed oil on the rosewood or
ebony boards. Wipe it on to coat the entire board and then wipe all the
excess right off. The lacquered maple boards could use a once over with
Martin guitar polish after the Windex.

You might have better luck finding the aerosol Windex at hardware stores
or office supply stores than at the supermarket.
 
#3
I use isopropyl alcohol on rosewood, ebony and other, non-varnished boards. Lightly wet a paper towel. Melts the crud right off. It does have a tendency to dry the fingerboard, so oil right afterward.
 
#4
bassman10096 said:
I use isopropyl alcohol on rosewood, ebony and other, non-varnished boards. Lightly wet a paper towel. Melts the crud right off. It does have a tendency to dry the fingerboard, so oil right afterward.
Click to expand...

Which oil do YOU use? Thanks! :cool:
 
#5
AmazingGracePlayer said:
I've read from many threads that lemon oil is bad for rosewood fingerboard, I was wondering, can those "Extra Virgin Olive Oils" be applied to rosewood fingerboards without damaging it? How does it compare to lemon oil?

I remember using lemon oil on it a few months back and I was hoping that the fingerboard would become somewhat shinny and moist, but it just got dryer... and it got waxy stuff on it.
Click to expand...

No, don't use extra virgin olive oil or any other raw vegetable oil. It will get very gummy and turn rancid. Also don't use raw linseed oil, use boiled linseed oil.

Boiled linseed oil, although made from the oil of flax seed and is a plant oil, is treated with a drying additive which allows it to cure. Boiled linseed oil used to be an important ingredient in exterior paints. If you follow Roger Sadowsky's method for treating rosewood boards you'll get good results. The trick is to wipe up all the surface residue before it dries. Linseed oil will darken the wood so is best used on fingerboards that you want dark.

A lot of those furniture oils contain wax, as you've found out.
 
#6
Luckydog said:
I'm not speaking for him, but here is a post from ROger Sadowsky that may provide some help.

Here in the shop I clean fingerboards (except maple) with 0000 steel
wool. I do not recommend you do this at home as you will contaminate
your pickups with steel wool dust. Now don't laugh at this, but the best
fingerboard cleaner I have found (especially for cleaning built up skin
cell grunge) is the aerosol Windex (the spray can, not the pump). Cover
the body and the headstock with an old rag or towel and spray the
fingerboard with the aerosol Windex (it comes out as a white foam). Let
it sit for a few seconds and then scrub the fingerboard with an old
toothbrush until all the old grunge lifts. Then wipe down the entire
fingerboard with paper towels until it is clean and dry. You can safely
do this with rosewood, ebony and lacquered maple fingerboards.

Follow up the Windex with a coat of boiled linseed oil on the rosewood or
ebony boards. Wipe it on to coat the entire board and then wipe all the
excess right off. The lacquered maple boards could use a once over with
Martin guitar polish after the Windex.

You might have better luck finding the aerosol Windex at hardware stores
or office supply stores than at the supermarket.
Click to expand...

I would be honored to have that Sadowsky guy clean my 500 dollar bass.

62bass said:
No, don't use extra virgin olive oil or any other raw vegetable oil. It will get very gummy and turn rancid. Also don't use raw linseed oil, use boiled linseed oil.

Boiled linseed oil, although made from the oil of flax seed and is a plant oil, is treated with a drying additive which allows it to cure. Boiled linseed oil used to be an important ingredient in exterior paints. If you follow Roger Sadowsky's method for treating rosewood boards you'll get good results. The trick is to wipe up all the surface residue before it dries. Linseed oil will darken the wood so is best used on fingerboards that you want dark.

A lot of those furniture oils contain wax, as you've found out.
Click to expand...

Is there a particular brand? Also, will it make the fingerboard look somewhat shinny? Like wet/damp rosewood?
 
#7
I've always used Roche-Thomas Premium Fingerboard Oil on my guitars with rosewood or ebony fingerboards. I believe it's more geared toward violins/violas, but it was recommended to me for guitar and I've always had very good results with it. I even revived an old Gibson that looked like it had spent some time in the desert...it didn't bring it back to 100%, but it came close. It even closed up gaps that were appearing from grain separation.

Link Removed
 
#8
Lemon oil is fine for rosewood, IF you can find a good quality lemon oil. Alot of the stuff you buy nowadays has alot of other crap in it that you don't want - waxes, for example.

I've heard pure mineral oil recommended on here before, but I don't know how much easier that would be to find than good, pure lemon oil. Myself, I use Formby's Lemon Oil Treatment, and it seems to work ok. I got mine at Home Depot or Lowe's, but I think Wal-Fart has it too.
 
#9
Heres Dan Erlewine's method (and mine too!)

Clean the fretboard with 0000 steel wool, ensuring that your strokes go with the grain, so that any burnishing marks or small scratches are less visible.

to remove Any gunge that that method didn't pick up, clean the board with some naptha (lighter fluid is naptha) on a cotton rag.

Make sure with both of these methods that you get your thumbnail right up against the edges of the frets, so that no dirt escapes.

Wipe the board down with a dry, clean rag to remove any loose dirt not picked up before.

use a clean, soft rag to apply raw (I know everybody says boiled, but I'm just repeating Dan'os method to the letter!)
linseed oil to the board. Leave it for about five minutes and then wipe off any excess with yet another clean cloth.

leave the oil to dry completely overnight. You only need one coat.
 
#11
Liberon Finishing Oil is what I use:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16797&filter=Liberon FInishing Oil

It cures more quickly than boiled linseed, and can be rubbed-out to any sheen level you desire, from almost flat to glossy.

I used Liberon Finishing Oil as the primary finish on my last bass - I'll see if I can attach a snapshot that shows what it looks like on mahogany.
 
#13
pin_head_47 said:
I've been very interested in trying that stuff as a finish; I hear it works well if you "wet sand" the finish in before it cures. Do you know of any major retailer that carries it?
Click to expand...

I wet-sanded to apply it, 4 coats, each one day apart; 220-, 320-, 400-, and 600-grit. In addition to looking great, it's also very easy to apply and repair. I posted a tutorial on the method I use to apply it - a search should turn it up.

I buy mine from Rockler (see link, above).
 
#14
AmazingGracePlayer said:
I've read from many threads that lemon oil is bad for rosewood fingerboard, I was wondering, can those "Extra Virgin Olive Oils" be applied to rosewood fingerboards without damaging it? How does it compare to lemon oil?

I remember using lemon oil on it a few months back and I was hoping that the fingerboard would become somewhat shinny and moist, but it just got dryer... and it got waxy stuff on it.
Click to expand...

Helps to follow the instructions. You don't soak the damned thing - you wipe a thin coat on, wait ten minutes, wipe off any oil that didn't soak in, wait ten minutes, then buff the fingerboard. Repeat until you stop pulling dirt off of the fingerboard when you buff it. It's no harder than that. The "waxy stuff" is called dirt, wicked to the surface of the fingerboard by the mineral spirits in the lemon oil.
 
#16
i use maguires/fenders mist spray, you just pump it on and let it sit for a few minutes then wipe it off with a rag rubbing off any stubborn crud left in the frets as you go. if the board is really cruddy and thick (you know those ebay basses), just repeat as needed. the spray actually melts the crud to a thick but watery paste which lifts off nice and easy.

the rosewood comes up dark and rich then dries with the still rich colour to it. DONT use dunlop lemon oil it dries up the board (thanks to roger sadowsky for that tip).
 
#19
Clean with a quick drying solvent, Isoprphyl alcohol or denatured alcohol, naptha, MEK, ect. Then oil with Hoppe's NO#9 Oil {not the powder solvent} it is a clear pure oil used on gun mechanisims and rifle wood stocks. Penetrares quick and doesn't turn rancid. If you can't find it use DR. Ducks Axe Wax. It is all natural and contains no waxes, silicones, ect.
 

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