Rosewood board with gunk in the grain

[brensabre79]

I'm not great with rosewood boards, having started with maple and continued with it. I recently aquired two rosewood ones. both came with some sort of green gunk in the grain of the wood. I tried using standard wood polish to clean them up, but whilst it brightens the surface it doesn't get the green stuff out of the grain of the wood.

Any ideas on how to get it out, and also how to prevent it building up again?
I'm guessing its old sweat or something...

Cheers

[deepbass5]

Fish n chips.

An old tooth brush, may be a mild dilute detergent if it really is Rank, dry thoroughly then lemon oil. Just lemon oil after the initial clean each time you change the strings should keep it in good nick.

[paulpirie8]

+1 for lemon oil!

This is the one I use:

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dunlop-Formula-Lemon-Oil-Pump/dp/B0013HJJUG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359991152&sr=8-2"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dunlop-Formula-Lemon-Oil-Pump/dp/B0013HJJUG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359991152&sr=8-2[/url]

Paul

[lettsguitars]

Yea a stiff bristle brush and oil will do the trick. You can remove any build up of crap on the surface with an old fashioned razor blade (chemists). I would recommend finishing with danish oil rather than natural oils. This will add a touch of protection too.

[CHRISDABASS]

I use planet waves fingerboard conditioner. It really brings a rosewood board back to life and is quite cheap

[brensabre79]

Thanks folks, some great replies, I think I'll try lemon oil and a brush.
I'm going to nitro the Tokai once its cleaned, but I'll try the danish oil on the Ibanez. Shame they don't do either of these with maple fretboards though really, I just don't get on with rosewood.

[Pete1967]

[quote name='lettsguitars' timestamp='1359991805' post='1963095']
Yea a stiff bristle brush and oil will do the trick. You can remove any build up of crap on the surface with an old fashioned razor blade (chemists). I would recommend finishing with danish oil rather than natural oils. This will add a touch of protection too.
[/quote]
+1 I've done two in the last month - one being a mate's Martin D15, which was clenched buttocks time - and used exactly this technique (except I used a Stanley blade) with great results.... Scrape, brush, polish. Obviously, work with the grain.

[geddeeee]

No, no to lemon oil!!! It will dry out your fingerboard. It's OK on sealed finishes.

As the rosewood is open grained, use linseed oil.

8-9 drops on the fingerboard. Don't let it sit, you're not marinating a steak!!! Then work the drops into the fingerboard and wipe off with a paper towel straight away. This will moisturise and seal the wood. It will also keep any crap out. (sweat, dirt etc).

Only do this maybe twice a year at most.

If you use lemon oil on any open grained fretboards it will eventually bow the neck. Lemon oil evaporates and will really dry out your fretboard. Use it and you will end up with serious problems.

Edited February 18, 2013 by geddeeee

[icastle]

[quote name='geddeeee' timestamp='1361151811' post='1982026']
No, no to lemon oil!!! It will dry out your fingerboard. It's OK on sealed finishes.
[/quote]

I think you might have that the wrong way round.

The majority of fingerboard cleaning products use lemon oil and state that they shouldn't be used on maple (sealed) finishes.

[Mr. Foxen]

I think lemon oil might be a bit meaningless, in that it can be applied to many things, some are detergent cleaning products that will dry your board, but all the recommended ones are actually oils that will benefit. Danish oil is another one, some is wipe on varnish, but the good stuff is tung oil and dryers. Dunlop is good lemon oil, Rustins is good tung oil.

[gary mac]

[quote name='geddeeee' timestamp='1361151811' post='1982026']

If you use lemon oil on any open grained fretboards it will eventually bow the neck. Lemon oil evaporates and will really dry out your fretboard. Use it and you will end up with serious problems.
[/quote]

I've yet to spot a bowed neck on any of the basses that I've used Lemon Oil on over the last twenty years or so

[brensabre79]

Thanks everyone, have used lemon oil to clean and then tung oil to rehydrate/seal came up a treat! I think if I'd just gone straight in with the tung oil it would just seal the gunk in there, I needed to get the green cack out of the grain before sealing it

[icastle]

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1361182865' post='1982221']
I needed to get the green cack out
[/quote]

I love it when you guys start getting technical...

[Truckstop]

I use saliva....applied with my tongue.

[paul_5]

[attachment=127973:WirebrushDettol.jpg]

[geddeeee]

No lemon oil on unsealed finishes... it dries out the wood which is BAD!!! It's a fact!! I wouldn't use lemon oil on a musical instrument, ever. It is just too harsh. Save it for furniture...

Same goes for Pledge or any other furniture polish. After a while there is build up from these products, which needs to be cleaned off.

I know a lot of fingerboard cleaners use lemon oil, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. After 35 years of playing and setting up basses, these are some of the tricks you learn.

Lemon oil dries out wood, period. If you care about your bass, NEVER use it. It's just a gimmick...

In the end, it's up to each individual what they use. Just trying to help.....

Edited February 18, 2013 by geddeeee

[icastle]

[quote name='geddeeee' timestamp='1361205843' post='1982756']
Same goes for Pledge or any other furniture polish. After a while there is build up from these products, which needs to be cleaned off.
[/quote]

Well that bit does sound about right

As for the dire prognostications regarding lemon oil though... totally unconvinced I'm afraid.

[geddeeee]

Dire prognostications??? Now that's a mouthful...

Ask any experienced luthier about lemon oil on fretboards.... Be prepared for a barrage of expletives!!!!

[dannybuoy]

That's not gunk, it's funk, and you should leave it alone - never did James Jamerson any harm.

[Mr. Foxen]

Pledge and furniture polish is a bad one because it sometimes contains silicone, which will ruin everything forever. It is horrible stuff.

[Phil Starr]

The problem is that a lot of these terms like Lemon oil aren't standardised descriptions of actual products. Danish oil contains a mixture of things like Tung oil but also alkyd resins, the basis of varnishes and oil based gloss paint. Over time you could build up enough resin to effectively seal the fretboard. I'd avoid Danish oil for fretboards. Even things sold as tung oil contain varying amounts of actual tung oil. Lemon oil can contain dramatically different amounts of lemon oil and can also contain tung oil, mineral oil any number of other natural oils, detergents, solvents and even lemon juice. Lemon oil itself is excellent for wood but there might be very little there.

The best thing is to go and buy something made for fretboards, They charge ripoff prices compared with DIY products but you use so little that it doesn't make much practical difference. I bought some Dr Ducks 5 years ago, I'm the worst continual cleaner of things with six basses/guitrs and it only went down visibly when I knocked the bottle over. At current rate of usage it will last another 20 years.

I'm off to clean my basses, it's been a week or two.

[brensabre79]

Wow i'm kinda glad I prefer a maple fretboard actually, rosewood seems like a minefield with all the products you can buy to permanently damage your instrument. I think I'm going to nitro my Ric copy just to be sure

Does WD40 do any harm? I use it on my oak floors as it really makes it shine without being slippery. Its good at preventing water spots on shower screens too and a thousand other uses.

[paul_5]

I've heard of people recommending WD40 for ebanol fingerboards (pretend ebony) for fretlesses etc... not tried it myself though.