Panga Panga Maintenance?

[Matthew_84]

I have an Ibanez SRF705 (Portamento) on order and the new ones sport a Panga Panga board (which is a wood species closely related to Wenge) and since it's a fretless, maintenance and finishing may be even more crucial.

I don't want to finish it right away, but I'm just curious if I should clean or oil it routinely? Also, depending on how it wears, I may end up finishing it later on to give it a bit more protection.

I have the Dunlop Fretboard 65 Ultimate Lemon Oil that I use on my rosewood board and am happy with it, but I don't know what that would do to Panga Panga.

I've researched finishing Panga Panga and have read that it can have natural occurring, unattractive, yellow silicon deposits/splotches that are very hard to come out ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]) and (Google Groups), which makes me worried.

There also seems to be conflicting reports in these two links. The guy in the first link claimed to finish his guitar with Zinssers Bullseye Sanding Sealer, which is a de-waxed shellac-based sealer, and he had issues with it (seemingly after he applied this finish), while people in the second link seem to have success with (and recommend) de-waxed based shellacs.

 

[96tbird]

Just wipe it down after playing it and let it age naturally. Daily wipe down will distrubute finger oils and the natural wood oils keeping it sealed well enough, and lift dirt and other crust away.

Oils will ALWAYS darken the wood they are applied to. Use it if you like. Most guitar oils are just mineral oil with scent added. They help block liquids and dirt from staining the wood. They don't cure. They don't penetrate deep either.

Most Finishing oils differ in that they will cure and create an actual finish LAYER on top of the wood. Not very durable for use on a bass board but easy to reapply when needed.

Then there's your poly finishes. Great if you use rounds on your fretless. Better than any above for durability. But they can chip or seperate from the board and not easy to repair.

As for naturally y ocurring silicon deposits, it's just a common fearure of the wood. It is mineral (dissolved in ground water sand dust basically) deposited right into the wood cells and unlike you say "very hard to come out" is more likely impossible to do anything about because it is deep in the fiber (cell) layers.

Don't fret (punny) so much. Get your bass, wipe it down vigourously after each use, watch how it wears and then consider further action. Start with guitar oil if you don't mind darkening the wood a bit.

 

[Matthew_84]

Thanks @96tbird! Will do!

 

[96tbird]

Btw, Ibanez is a good company and I have confidence that the panga they decided to use is durable enough to give long life as a fretless board.

 

[James Collins]

You can use your lemon scented mineral oil on it, but it does not cure and will basically just evaporate off after a time. Other options are beeswax (like comes with your Warwick). I use a cutting board conditioner that has mineral oil and beeswax in it on my fingerboards. Finger oil can work, but my finger boards still end up looking dry. Since I'm waxing the basses every 4-6 months anyway, I just treat the fingerboards then.

I am not familiar with Panga Panga other than a quick internet search and the yellow impurities do not seem like they would be affected one way or not by a fingerboard conditioner.

I have one used fretless bass that was well cared for, but still had wear from the metal strings. I'm not sure if they used round wounds or flat wounds on it, but the common thought is flat wounds will cause less wear. I sanded my board down to removed the gouges and use Labella white tape wound strings. I love them. They have a nice feel, sound, look great, work with magnetic pickups, and I know they won't damage the fretboard since nylon is softer than wood.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001ESTA3...t=&hvlocphy=9011165&hvtargid=pla-307206483735

 

[Matthew_84]

Thanks @James Collins! I think I'll just try wiping it down for now, but if the board looks dry, I'll try that product out.

Also, I'm likely going to use nickel rounds (like DR Sunbeams), as I love the tone and I'm going to use a bit of an odd tuning and will have more options with rounds, but I'll make sure to see if I can get other strings to suit. Thanks again.

 

[Sharkzy Lowend]

Did anybody figure out anything on how to clean the panga panga fretboard. I really don't know what to do and I have recently bought an Ibanez btb805ms that comes with the panga panga. Help!

 

[llmk]

Did anybody figure out anything on how to clean the panga panga fretboard. I really don't know what to do and I have recently bought an Ibanez btb805ms that comes with the panga panga. Help!

I use Dunlop 01 cleaner & prep on my basses with Panga Panga necks, I essentially treat them as rosewood/ebony fretboards. Once a year I'll use a little lemon oil too because of the big seasonal changes where I live.