Two Things My Techy/Luthier Told Me...

[SamJ]

....And I and many others think the opposite. Wood fretboards do not need to be oiled.

Well, I'd say these guys might know a bit more about the subject that we do.. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
You (and others) are entitled to your own set of opinions, but you're not entitled to your own set of facts.... I'm sure if you took a poll of Luthiers here on TB you'd find that you (and others) are in the great minoriy. On Fender's website, Gibson's, Taylor's as well as Martin's they all advise occasional oiling of natural fretboards... maybe they know a thing or two about guitar care?

That being said, I'd agree that over oiling a fretboard is probably worse (on balance) than never oiling one..

Moreover, remind me to never buy a used guitar from you...

 

[/\/\3phist0]

But bear in mind the manufacturers recommend it for cosmetic reasons.
Warwick also recommends beeswax for their unfinished models.
I worked at G&L and the "oil" was used on the rosewood and ebony fretboard because of the naphtha content. To remove the polishing compounds left behind from the fretpolishing. Just a solvent would leave the surface milky looking. The oil residue left behind would add Lustre to the finished product. This is the reason you see it at a luthier.
Cleaning and cosmetic.
Wood surfaces oxidize like everything else. Abrasion from rubbing with a clean cloth takes care of that.
The pent ration of the oil into the surface is minimal so in truth will NOT IN ANY WAY PREVENT CRACKING.
I use it minimally to clean and "shine" my fretboard regularly. .. not often.
The Warwick Dolphin gets waxed annually after cleaning it with first melamene sponges, followed by lemon/orange oil wiped on and scrubbed with soft cotton followed by thin hand rubbed carnauba wax. The neck only receives a wipedown with the sponge and a towel dampened with oil to remove the debris. ...
FTW ; )

 

[SamJ]

The pent ration of the oil into the surface is minimal so in truth will NOT IN ANY WAY PREVENT CRACKING.

Which is why you need to do it the way Alembic recommends.... you let the oil sit on the fretboard for 30min or more until it soaks in... then wipe off excess... trust me, at least on my Ebony boards, I've seen the better part of a teaspoon of oil soak in with very little left to wipe off... the WRONG way to do it is the wipe on/wipe off.

 

[SamJ]

well, and just as I expected, Luthiers here on TB seem to unanimously agree... oil any unfinished wood!

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/opinion-from-luthiers-oiling-a-fretboard.1126940/#post-16820796

 

[okcrum]

fret sprout, cracking, all that, is about humidity; that means water, not oil. you can't "moisturize" wood with oil any more than you can quench your thirst by drinking canola.

and if said oil isn't a drying, polymerizing finish like linseed or gun stock oil, it doesn't even do much to affect how water comes and goes in the wood.

I believe the oil is indeed sealer, for bare wood boards like ebony, pau ferro, redwood, etc. Fodera and Alembic recommend oiling unfinished fingerboards every 6 mos. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] used to recommend Old English. Do they have these debates in the DB forums?

 

[Bob_Ross]

I've been caught a couple times by my bass starting to lose volume in mid set. No prob, just flip it to passive and crank it up a little more.

One thing I got in the habit of doing with my basses that can run active or passive is back their volume control way down when running active so that if I have to do one of those emergency on-the-fly switch to passive moves, I actually have enough range on the volume pot available to be able to crank it up a little more! Nothing worse than smugly telling yourself "I'll just switch to passive now" and discovering that your bass is now 20dB quieter! :|

 

[MVE]

One thing I got in the habit of doing with my basses that can run active or passive is back their volume control way down when running active so that if I have to do one of those emergency on-the-fly switch to passive moves, I actually have enough range on the volume pot available to be able to crank it up a little more! Nothing worse than smugly telling yourself "I'll just switch to passive now" and discovering that your bass is now 20dB quieter! :|

My PJ is wired so when I go passive, the only thing in circuit is the pan pot. I use the onboard pre to get a nice mid scooped slap tone from the J pu and then switch off and twist the knob to get a hardwired p tone.
It's like having two separate channels.
Now if I can only figure out a way to go from rounds to flats with a flick of a switch.?.?.?