stop oiling your fretboards

[Killed_by_Death]

8 minutes ago, Maude said:

I'm saying if an oiling every now and again keeps the board looking pretty and inhibits moisture migration, then immediately happy to do it. 

inhibits, means it just slows it a little

IF you leave the instrument in a dry environment i will lose moisture, regardless if it's oiled or not.

I don't care if it's pretty, so I don't oil. I wipe it down with a clean, damp cloth when changing strings & I'll never have to worry about the issues Terry brings up in his thread that I linked to on the previous page.

 

8 minutes ago, Maude said:

your aggressive posting style

Well, in that case I did call 'bull' right out of the gate, but did apologize later-on. I respond accordingly sometimes, like today. Calling me out for contradicting myself in a very trivial sense did not spark a good kind of enthusiasm.

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Killed_by_Death
page correction & spelling

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

 

[Maude]

This is also further down in your link to Talkbass, 

Then the next question is "What oil should I use?" If you are looking to inhibit moisture loss, then a polymerizing oil is the best choice - linseed, Tru-Oil, gunstock oil, tung oil. But if you just want it to look pretty you can't beat mineral oil - that's why so many products made for fretboards are mostly or all mineral oil, and that includes most "lemon oil" products. 

Just below your post promoting the use of furniture cream on your fretboard to moisturise it. 

I'm not actually disagreeing with you, but putting everyone down who dares to disagree with you doesn't sit well. 

I'm out. 🙂👍

[Maude]

14 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

Well, in that case I did call 'bull' right out of the gate, but did apologize later-on. I respond accordingly sometimes, like today. Calling me out for contradicting myself in a very trivial sense did not spark a good kind of enthusiasm.

 

I apologise for that, it was trivial. But so vehemently stating you are right while posting statements that contradict each other made me bite. 

I actually am out now. 😁

[Killed_by_Death]

 

It's facts, water & oil don't mix, so oiling a fretboard doesn't moisturize it. Vehement comes from being contradicted by all & sundry while they're at the same time proposing a concoction no one should be using, LMAO!

On talkbASS it would turn into the 'this is what I use' threads.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

for anyone still following along,

just look at those frets in the OP image, that's what's happened to every fretboard out there that's being oiled, it's seeping in around the frets

 

[Killed_by_Death]

10 hours ago, BassTool said:

white wine vinegar and fresh lemon juice

I apologize in advance, but I can't stop picking apart this vinegar & lemon juice thing.

You're marinating your fretboard. I made a lot of jerky over the Winter & what helps tenderize the meat is soaking it overnight in a marinade that is 1/3 apple cider vinegar, & 1/3 lemon juice.

The acidic nature of those two breaks down the meat & makes a big difference in the tenderness.

If I want it more tangy I'll use lime juice & balsamic vinegar.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

  

On 19/05/2021 at 18:40, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I use Dunlop 65 but other brands specifically for instruments are available

I think you have the incorrect thread, this one is about not using oil, not asking which you use. This is how it went every time elsewhere, LOL!

and as for posting videos of people oiling & promoting it, how many times must I write on here that the industry is promoting this to sell product?

 

2 hours ago, Maude said:

putting everyone down who dares to disagree with you doesn't sit well. 

Everyone?

HellZero & I have a history where they've chosen to claim I have a reading comprehension problem. I can provide direct links.

One person posts a crazy concoction that NO one should be using & it gets liked. It makes me lose faith in my fellow humans.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I reviewed the entire thread to see if I was 'putting people down'. TBH I don't see it, except in the case of Maude for needling me on purpose, HellZero (payback) & whoever is using vinegar & citrus juice & thinks it's wise.

On 19/05/2021 at 14:24, mybass said:

Once on tour I asked the hired German guitar tech to simply wipe clean my bass with a dry cloth. He ignored both me and the guitarist and ‘cleaned’ our guitars every night with the new wonder called Lemon Oil. It saturated the boards, softened the graphite nut on the strat allowing the strings to literally melt into it, leaked over to the bridge s via the strings and this idiot was adamant that it was okay! I have to say that it’s been a good advertising campaign getting players to believe that Lemon oil is ‘the business’!

Not sure how I missed your post the first time, but I should have focused on this instead of all the contrarians.

Yes, the industry (the sellers) have convinced everyone they NEED lemon oil.

 

On 19/05/2021 at 16:19, Stub Mandrel said:

I have to agree that the idea of 'moisturising' something by adding oil is absurd. It should be the number 1 misused word in English (although mainly for beauty products not fretboards).

Thank You,

but 'literally' is the new one that replaced it, LOL!

in a figurative sense

Maybe it's not a thing in the U.K, but here in North America people are peppering their conversations with literally, even when it's clearly figurative.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I got trolled quite well yesterday, marinade for 'fretboard conditioner', a reach so far for 'contradiction'. I can laugh about it now, LOL!

1 more for the archives:

How oiling your fretboard can adversely affect the instrument

"I just re glued the inlays on a Les Paul Standard that had an owner who oiled the fretboard often. The oil had soaked into the inlay routs and loosened the adhesive."

There are probably more in that thread, a vain user wants to buff the fretboard to make it pretty.

 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

12 hours ago, Killed_by_Death said:

and as for posting videos of people oiling & promoting it, how many times must I write on here that the industry is promoting this to sell product?

I've never been big on conspiracy theories, but 'big fingerboard oil' conspiring to ruin peoples' guitars is now my new favourite — and its less dangerous than the one about a certain election being stolen.

One thing I have noticed since oiling the fingerboard of my JMJ mustang the other day is that apart from the rosewood looking nicer, the minor 'fret-sprout' I could feel over the last few months seems to have gone away.

[Killed_by_Death]

 

That's from an increase in Humidity, not because of the oil. As the weather gets warmer the humidity also rises.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

At the end of the day, I can't force any of you to do my bidding, I'm just informing you of the truth. Some will choose to learn, others will choose to be willfully ignorant.

All I can do is hope that this had gotten through to some & if it has then I didn't waste all my time. To the others, all I can do is mock you with haughty derision:

 

1 hour ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I've never been big on conspiracy theories,

It's not a conspiracy theory, it's Marketing snake-oil. The same applies to those gigantic Capacitors rated for hundreds of Volts. They're unnecessary, as our instrument have less than ONE Volt.

It seems clear to me that now you're just being contradictory for the sake of it, because you've chosen to ignore all the facts I've presented from pros who work on wooden instruments for a living, & they know the truth.

 

1 hour ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

the minor 'fret-sprout' I could feel over the last few months seems to have gone away.

Don't accredit your oiling to that, as mentioned, read the links & quotes I provided & you might get it.

It happens EVERY year in Spring & Summer, Winter climate is what causes the fret-sprout.

 

add: I'm just imagining you doing this after your political comment

 

Edited May 24, 2021 by Killed_by_Death

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

20 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

It's not a conspiracy theory, it's Marketing snake-oil.

I wouldn't recommend using snake oil - Dunlop 65 Lemon oil works much better

[Killed_by_Death]

 

That Dunlop garbage IS snake-oil.

 

 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

No its mostly mineral oil. It is certainly not garbage.

[Killed_by_Death]

 

Jokes on you, I'm about to post a video of Jim Dunlop smashing up snakes in a mortar & pestle to make that oil

😀

OTOH you could start your own thread about how much you love oil:

Edited May 24, 2021 by Killed_by_Death
added link & gif

[BassTool]

Well, you've certainly tried to make a rather forceful point here @Killed_by_Death, and in the process, you've created an interesting thread which has both been informative and at the same time amusing for our community 🤭

 

Each to there own, my basses with rosewood fretboards are all in beautiful condition, so I can only assume I got lucky over the 30+ years I've been doing this to my guitar fretboards, which incidentally, are all - thus far - still intact 🤞🏼

This forum welcomes opinion, it's what makes it interesting and diverse 😁

What it doesn't need is members insisting that they know best, and pontificating that they are right, and everyone else is wrong 😉

 

It's all opinion, and what works best for one bassist, is quite possibly the worst possible scenario for another 😳

 

You disagree with oiling a fretboard, I think we've cottoned on to that now 😆

 

Grab a Budweiser or a Jack Daniels, or whatever your poison is over there in the US, and drink to the fact it's ok to be different, in every aspect of whatever we choose to do with, or in this case what, to our own instruments..

 

Cheers!

😉🍻

[Killed_by_Death]

2 minutes ago, BassTool said:

What it doesn't need is members insisting that they know best, and pontificating that they are right, and everyone else is wrong 😉

 

It's all opinion,

vinegar & lemon juice are acidic, it's a fact

which you can't seem to understand, since you're using it to 'condition'

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

It's hardly pontificating to state that fact that you don't need to oil the fretboards.

Pontificating on the other hand would be insisting you're gonna !@#$%^& do it anyway.

with a weird recipe for marinating 😀

[BassTool]

25 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

vinegar & lemon juice are acidic, it's a fact

which you can't seem to understand, since you're using it to 'condition'

 

Yup.

 

And you still do not seem to understand that...

 

IME...

 

..it's worked for me, for a lonnng time now 😁

 

So, in the words of @Maude..

I'm out 😉

Suggest you still grab that beer or whatever 😆

[Killed_by_Death]

Just now, BassTool said:

So, in the words of @Maude..

I'm out 😉

You mean the person who came in here to troll me with a far reach for 'contradiction' & then made me out to be the bad guy.

Yeah, that's what you've done. Nice one with the recipe, I'll use it for my next jerky batch 😀

I haven't consumed alcohol in years, I'm just overly obsessive-compulsive.

Contrarians are everywhere, but even facts won't help when they're doing it for the sake of it.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

38 minutes ago, BassTool said:

Cheers!

😉🍻

Have a good week, but I'm begging you, please don't suggest for other people to use your marinade recipe.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I'm hoping we can close the page on this, people are gonna do what they're gonna do, even I have changed how or what I do.

  

21 hours ago, Maude said:

Just below your post promoting the use of furniture cream on your fretboard to moisturise it. 

I thought I'd bring this up, because I learned in that thread that the cream is just 'fluffed' oil, although there is also WATER in there.

Anyway, I stopped using it immediately.

I learned from it, which is why I can't wrap my head around when I explain to someone a fact that would make me stop using something immediately.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Dunlop 65 is no worse than any other mineral oil:

MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET
Section 1 Product Name
Common Name: 6554 – Formula No. 65 Ultimate Lemon Oil
Intended Use: To remove grime and return luster to guitar fret boards.
Section 2 - Composition and Information on Ingredients
MATERIALS WT% TLV PEL CAS#
White Mineral Oils >90% 5 mg/m3 5 mg/m3® 8042-47-5

 

Basically it's light mineral oil with a bit of scent.

As snake oil is basically light mineral oil with a scent added, yes you probably can say D65 is snake oil.

But note the intended use - no nourishing, hydration or protection. Its intended use is to clean (it does help remove greasy deposits/dead skin) and return luster (which is kind of like lustre, I imagine).

I use sewing machine oil or D65 (because I like the smell and the bottle dispenses much smaller amounts than my sewing machine oil bottle). But I don't saturate, I just do it because it looks and feels nicer than dry wood.