Cleaning permanent marker off a fret board

[Jono Bolton]

Yep, you read that right, I've been given a Marlin Sidewinder (yep, a guitar!) to clean up by a mate, and someone's drawn on the fret board with a marker. I've had a go at it with lemon oil but that's not done much, I would normally go for nail polish remover for marker pen but I don't know how that would affect the rosewood as it's quite a porous wood. Any suggestions?

[~tl]

Try some white spirit, it should remove the marker and is safe for the rosewood.

[EBS_freak]

Lighter fluid. It'll clean that stuff right off and is safe for the wood as it evaporates quickly.

[Jono Bolton]

Cheers guys, I've got both of those kicking about in the cupboard somewhere so I'll give them a bash over the weekend.

[ambient]

Surgical spirit removes it too.

[Paul S]

Can you let us know which one works, please? ta. My money would be on lighter fluid.

[iiipopes]

Nothing. The solvent in the marker will have caused the dye in the marker to soak into the wood fibers themselves. It can't be cleaned off. The best thing to do is to take the same dye that classical bass luthiers use to cover the streaks in ebony fingerboards to give them a uniform appearance. Yes, it will be uniformly darker, which may or may not be a good thing depending on how the rest of the guitar is finished, but that is the reason they are called "permanent" markers.

[Adrenochrome]

Isopropyl alcohol shits permanent marker from most things - probably depends how much the wood has taken up.

[Count Bassy]

I would go with IP as well, but what ever works use it on a cloth and keep it 'dryish'. If you get it too wet the solvent will go into the wood and take the ink with it.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='Adrenochrome' timestamp='1364769819' post='2030792']
Isopropyl alcohol shits permanent marker from most things - probably depends how much the wood has taken up.
[/quote]

Deliberate or a typo?

[BILL POSTERS]

Meths. little bit on a cloth and you just wipe it off. Used to use it all the time to get marker pen writing off of TV screens. .

[icastle]

Isopropyl is good but it also strips oil.

Give your fingerboard a wipe over with some lemon oil or something similar afterwards.