I have a friend who told me he rubs down the ebony fingerboard on his Carlo Giuseppe Testore bass with olive oil. I expressed a concern that it might go rancid, but he said it doesn't. Thoughts?
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Double Bass Oiling your Fingerboard (Olive Oil)
- Thread starter bassmanchu
- Start date
I'll stick with Formby's Lemon Furniture Treatment on my ebony. While I do use olive oil often, it's for food only....
You are correct!
Stick to lemon oil, but not the 'essential' variety 'cause that'll go rotten as well.
I would think olive oil is too heavy an oil. Lemon oil is more of a volatile oil. seems olive oil would accumulate and slowly penetrate down to the fingerbaord neck interface glue joint.
bongomania
Commercial User
Bear in mind of course that "lemon oil" for wood care is a light refined petroleum with solvent and lemon scent added.
I've never been happy with anything I tried on my fingerboard other than having my luthier apply one of the "drying" oils. I've never tried lemon oil and likely never will. I just wipe down the fingerboard with a microfiber cloth after play and have my luthier retreat the board every 1-2 years or as needed. Of course, if a trip to the luthier is inconvenient then I suppose the second-best approach (for me, anyway) would be to use whatever he uses (concoction with boiled linseed oil?)
I never believed it myself till I tried it on my old Cougar, worked like a charm. Try it the worst that will happen is it dont work for you, but I bet it will improve them like crazy
Greg Clinkingbeard
Commercial User
This contains silicone so I stay away from it. Mineral oil or a drying oil are fine but only needed when the board is dressed. Once the strings go on oil is unnecessary.
Que the 70's porn musicSo your Cougar likes it when you rub olive oil on her headlights?
Rob
Jake deVilliers
Commercial User
- May 24, 2006
- 6,349
- 607
- Disclosures
- Owner of The Bass Spa, String Repairman at Long & McQuade Vancouver
I try to avoid anything that has petrolium or heavily refined materials in it. Walnut oil works great, as it is a naturally hardening oil. You can find it in the baking section of most supermarkets, especially the overpriced Whole Foods types. I also use it for French polishing, and on my gut strings with excellent results. Since this thread has some fretted responses- yes, it works well for all my fretted fingerboards.
Remember- just a little bit- wipe it on lightly and then wipe it off. You're trying to freshen up the fingerboard, not drown it! If you have major cracks on an old fingerboard, I would not use it. You will probably want another solution for fixing those. If you flood things with oil, nothing else will adhere.....(And if you get too much under the frets, it may loosen them...)
j.
www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com
Remember- just a little bit- wipe it on lightly and then wipe it off. You're trying to freshen up the fingerboard, not drown it! If you have major cracks on an old fingerboard, I would not use it. You will probably want another solution for fixing those. If you flood things with oil, nothing else will adhere.....(And if you get too much under the frets, it may loosen them...)
j.
www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com
Well you could be right, but as I've been using it on one bass for almost 25 years, and the ebony still looks brand new, I'm not "overly concerned"......LOL. Only do it about once a year, when changing strings.
It's a bit overpriced, but since I've already bought it, I use Fret Doctor. It's a blend of plant oils.
The biggest problem with silicone products is that they screw up the ability to glue the wood later - like in a repair or a fret or fretboard replacement. So, you're right that you wouldn't have seen any problem from using it. But, if you have a separate problem later, the silicone can make that problem much bigger.
Please don't put olive oil or baby oil on your fret board. It will stink and go rancid. Bad bad idea. They make products for this purpose. Use those products.
