Pino and Chris Chaney - Glossy Neck??

[The Big Chief]

So after watching a few vids and seeing images of both Pino Palladino and Chris Chaney, I couldn't help but notice that both of them seem to have an unusual glossed or highly oiled finish on their fretboards.
Pino on his old rosewood P Bass and Chaney on a Lakland.
I only call this unusual because I don't recall ever seeing a stock version of a fender rosewood fingerboard that looked glossy.

Now I have to admit, I think I like the look of it and wouldn't mind finding out how it can be done. My problem is that my bass of choice would be a '65 P Bass and I can't say I'm sure I'd want to mess around with the fretboard too much.
Of course it all depends on what they've had done to get this look.

Anyone have any idea of what's required to achieve that glossy, oiled look?

 

[mrtn400]

Without seeing pics, I'd say lots of high-gloss tung oil.

 

[NOVAX]

Tung oil is a finish that seals and penetrates DEEEP. I would NOT put that on a RW board IMHO. My guess is plain old lemon oil FWIW.

 

[kevin_lindsay]

Pino's rosewood fingerboard on his P-bass is standard - he just keeps it clean with the occasional wipe. Also, whenever Martin Peterson at The Bass Gallery works on his basses, he cleans the board with lemon oil.

The sunburst P-Bass and his old Salmon Pink / Fiesta Red basses are both really nice instruments, and as I have played them both when Pino was in The Bass Gallery I can say for certain the fingerboards are simply "normal" unlacquered wood.

The thing with old wood, especially on boards where the neck has been given a real workout over the years due to the players dexterity, is that the wood is "smoothed out" and can result in places where it appears to have a slight sheen to it due to the gentle polishing of the fingertips on the wood. I have that in a few places on my old 1956 Gibson Les Paul goldtop - let me see if I can get a pic of what I mean

 

[The Big Chief]

That's interesting to hear that Pino's neck looks stock up close.
In the John Mayer - Where The Light Is video it sure looks to me that it has much more sheen than normal. In that video, specifically the solo angle clip, it "appears" to have the same look as a fretless that's been heavily oiled and rubbed to a shine.
I guess it must just the nature of the video though. If someone who's actually held the bass say's there's nothing unusual, then I'll have to believe that's that.

 

[svtb15]

could be that their basses are old 60s basses that most likely has a dalbergia Negra RW fingerboard.. My dalbergia fingerboard has a gloss to it over the standard RW fingerboards on my other basses.