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should i oil my fingerboard?

#21
I agree about lemon oil being mainly detergent and fragrance, and linseed oil getting gummy--which is why I use neither...

I've always used Teak Oil; it's designed for marine use to protect the wood fixtures on boats from saltwater.

My logic is that saltwater and sweat are VERY similar, and very tough on raw wood.

The teak oil soaks into the surface and protects and toughens the wood, BUT you've gotta use it in moderation--I wipe on a VERY thin coat, give it a minute to soak, then wipe it off and buff the fretboard with a clean, DRY cloth.

This maintenance regime eventually stopped the seasonal "fret-sprout" that instrumets get here during Colorado winters when the relative humidity gets into the single digits...

Also +1 to the comments about how your hands enter the equation; I've bought used basses from people who had oily skin, and the fretboard was in good shape. But, I have ridiculously dry, cracking skin so I have to get oils into the fretboard from an external source.
 
#22
I read somewhere to use bore oil- the stuff woodwind players use in clarinets, oboes, etc. There's one company that makes that and one formulation specifically for finger boards called Fret Doctor. I haven't used it, but it has been recommended by several others.

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#27
i also see people using murphy oil soap and one guy says to use vasoline. another is saying to clean the board with naptha? then oil it.

if i ask 5 people i will get 5 different answers on how to CLEAN (not treat) a fretboard.
 
#28
maskedman72 said:
to answer the questions;

the wood looks great as it did 10 years ago.
i do not sweat when i play and my hands are not oily.
i have never wiped off the finger board, not even 1 time.
the only thing i have ever put on the board is fast fret.
it seems that people are 50/50 on the use of lemon oil. i hear it is bad and others swear by it.
Click to expand...

The answer is clear from this repsonse: you have NO problem; therefore, you don't need to fix anything.

Warning: I am in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it crowd", with overtones of curmudgeon.

I wouldn't oil that fretboard. In fact, absent a problem that could only be solved by oiling, I wouldn't oil any fretboard.

I have a 1963 P with a '72 neck and a 1964 EB-0. Neither have ever had the fretboard oiled. Neither have any problems. Both have been in environments with low humidity for the past 40+ years.

IMO this is a manufactured problem and a solution is unnecessary. I have never understood all the discussion about this on TB, as I don't perceive a problem that needs to be solved.

If you have fret protrusion, the problem is not oiling, it's low humidity - or a simple need to have the frets dressed.

If you do not have a SPECIFIC problem you are trying to solve, and unless that problem is SPECIFICALLY related to something that can be solved by oiling (I can't imagine what that would be), there is no need to oil it.

There are lengthy discussions here about various oils used to dress fretboards. Based on what I have read, if I were terminally bored and wanted to amuse myself by oiling a fretboard (about the only way I would do this,) I would not use raw linseed oil under any circumstances, not would I use anything called "lemon oil". The first has a reputation for staying sticky, and the latter is essentially a "mystery oil" that is made up of many different things depending on who made it and who is selling it.

In that hypothetical circumstance of boredom, I would either use an oil formulated for use on fretboards, or I would use Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil, which I know absorbs into the wood, forms a bit of a protective layer, and is not sticky.
 
#29
Been playing rosewood boards with nothing more than a good wipe down now and again for a loooong time and never had any problem. I wash my hands before I play and I never use any kind of skin treatment on my hands so if my boards ever get anything it's sweat and body oil from my hands.

As for cleaning, if I buy a second hand bass and it's got excess mung on the fret boundaries, I'll take a soft toothbrush and warm water to it after removing the strings. Brush parallel to the frets and use just enough liquid to keep the crud from flying around, and always applied to the brush, not the board. After brushing, an old T shirt dries everything up and removes any remaining loose crud. If the wood is darkening where you are brushing, you are using too much liquid. I usually dip the brush head, then tap it on a rag to remove the excess liquid before brushing and only repeat the dip/tap thing when the crud quits breaking up without a lot of pressure on the brush.

I once wound up with an old bass that had a board so gummy it caught dust and lint, so I mixed a little denatured alcohol with water (about 3 to 1 H2O to alc) to cut the gum. I wound up wetting the board more than I wanted before I was satisfied with the cleaning job, so I took a blow dryer to it then let it air dry for a week before putting tension back on it. It might have been a wasted week, but the bass was fine afterward so I was satisfied with the result.
 
#30
maskedman72 said:
to answer the questions;

the wood looks great as it did 10 years ago.

i do not sweat when i play and my hands are not oily.

i have never wiped off the finger board, not even 1 time.

the only thing i have ever put on the board is fast fret.


it seems that people are 50/50 on the use of lemon oil. i hear it is bad and others swear by it.
Click to expand...


It doesn't sound like you really have a problem at all, and that you just want to clean the board. Based on your responses, I wouldn't oil the board at all. I'd remove the strings, and with a clean soft terrycloth towel, I'd buff the fingerboard like I was shining my shoes. That will reveal any areas that have any kind of buildup of skin oils or dirt.

I have used everything from a water-dampened towel, to rubbing alcohol (yes, rubbing alcohol, perish the thought!) to clean dirty boards. Just dampening a cloth with it is enough and afterward, I resealed with Lemon Pledge. It works great.

Work the area between only 2 frets, one at a time. Only rub until the area is clean, and rub gently.

I know people will scream about this technique, but I've never screwed up a fingerboard with this method - ever -

:cool:
 
#31
I think the best product for oiling fretboards is Dunlops deep conditioner for fretboards. I think lemon oil the worse choice. Linseed as sold for fine furniture would be what Id rate as 2nd best to dunlops stuff. No boiling desired or wanted for it. I do fretboard about once a year. Though since youve never done yours.l Id do a 2nd light application on it after a couple months. Fast fret though not a fretboard conditioner has probably acted as a kind of replacement for that to an extent for your basses fretboard. Kind of like "fret ease" aerosal spray from the 70's.
 
#32
+1 to the fret doctor (it's all i use now), but +1 also to mostly using nothing.

the fact that there's so much disagreement as to what works, along with so many anecdotes of people using everything from nose grease to olive oil to motor oil with no ill effects, leads me to suspect that none of it makes much difference.

some stuff does indeed polymerize into an actual finish (new fenders come with something on the rosewood that does this), but for my money, if i wanted a finished fretboard, i'd play maple necks (i don't, so i don't).

as for cleaning a rosewood board, naphtha plus 4x0 steel wool is the ticket; get the board wet with the naphtha, which will soften the finger gunk built up around the frets, then steel wool it vigorously while wet to remove the gunk from the wood and shine up the frets themselves.

there are other methods (toothbrushes, etc.) but this one works, and it works fast. it also avoids water on the board, not a good idea as it swells the wood. (if the naphtha swells the wood, it doesn't do it for long, as it evaporates very quickly.)

sometimes this method will leave the wood a little grey-looking, as it strips out any oil that's on there already. if so, i follow up this step with a bit of the fret doctor, and the board looks beautiful (and clean) once again.

in fact, sometimes i'll see a board that looks overly dark and "oiled"; i'll use naphtha on one paper towel and another dry paper towel to leach out some of the excess, wetting it with one hand and mopping up the naphtha with the other (changing often to a new dry paper towel). hit it with the fret DR afterwords and it looks good and will be fine for a long time to come.

as for ebony, that wood seems to be more in need of oiling, not less. ebony is a "twisty" wood, and has an annoying habit of cracking and splitting along the twists in its grain if it gets dry. (it's hard to find a big 5 or 6 string fretless ebony board that doesn't have a crack or two; filling these cracks with thin superglue is a routine repair.)
 
#37
msaone said:
I know he was right cause it was on the Internet.
Click to expand...
sig-worthy :D

i just discovered the nomad f-one oil, which is sold as being all-plant oils just like fret Dr (i.e., no mineral oil) but at like half the price.

so far it seems to "work" as well as the fret Dr, even soaking in and disappearing slightly faster, while still leaving the wood nice and dark-looking.
 

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