The fingerboard oil survey

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

What is your experience of fingerboard oil?

[lownote]

I oil/wax/ treat my furniture.  It's the same thing.  I'm sure in theory wood doesn't need oiling... does nature have some symbiote flitting round the trees with a tin of pledge and a duster?  'course not, but living wood isn't dead wood.  and furntiure / basses are dead wood. and if oil/wax/ etc keeps my sideboard looking nice and healthy, I submit prercisely the same is true of a fb.  Not a maple one.  But a rosewood, etc one.

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I already know the truth, so I'm OUT!

 

[Passinwind]

40 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

What is your experience of fingerboard oil?

I use it in one form or another a few times a decade as a cleaner, whether I need to or not.

[Trueno]

4 minutes ago, Passinwind said:

I use it in one form or another a few times a decade as a cleaner, whether I need to or not.

A few times a decade sounds about right.

[Killed_by_Death]

 

Use naptha to clean, then wipe it with a clean damp cloth, job done.

 

[grandad]

Rosewood fingerboard I use teak oil sparingly about once a year. 

Maple fingerboard & guitar body I use this:

Edited May 24, 2021 by grandad

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

1 minute ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

Use naptha to clean, then wipe it with a clean damp cloth, job done.

 

You're posting in the wrong thread. This is the one for fingerboard oil

[Killed_by_Death]

 

Let's sum this up, you were on the losing end of a discussion in my thread, thanks to FACTs.

So you started your own thread to mock me, Adios!

 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

There's a big difference between facts and opinion. Stating something is a fact (and using capitals for emphasis) does not make it so.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Passinwind]

10 minutes ago, Trueno said:

A few times a decade sounds about right.

Yep, and that's my running total for four basses and one guitar. I prefer food grade pure orange oil (it's killer in brownies too), but those with plastic bits in the line of fire may not want to go that route.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Passinwind

[rushbo]

Lemon oil- a little and not very often. 

[nilebodgers]

On rosewood fretboards I use "Howard Feed-n-Wax" which is a beeswax/oil wood finish. I only apply occasionally (yearly maybe) and use sparingly if the board is looking a bit dry. I let it sit for a minute or so and then polish it off as much as I can. Makes the fretboard look very nice.

I've read the dire warnings about letting oil penetrate into the fret slots, but I reckon it would need really slathering on heavily and leaving for hours for that to be a potential danger.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, grandad said:

Rosewood fingerboard I use teak oil sparingly about once a year. 

Maple fingerboard & guitar body I use this:

That contains Polydimethylsiloxane i.e. it's a silicone polish.

The last type of polish you want on any quality wood or painted item as it effectively prevents any other surface treatment/ refinishing/touching up. Even stripping to bare wood may leave contamination leading to poor refinishing.  Anyone who is into caring for their car avoids silicones like the plague.

You could do worse than use ordinary Mr Sheen... most furniture polish these days are silicone free, although back in the 90s silicone was the rule not the exception.

[Killed_by_Death]

3 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

That contains Polydimethylsiloxane i.e. it's a silicone polish.

The last type of polish you want on any quality wood or painted item as it effectively prevents any other surface treatment/ refinishing/touching up. Even stripping to bare wood may leave contamination leading to poor refinishing.

I used to have discussions with the local luthier during his slow hours & once I asked him what to polish my Rickenbacker with, as it was a lacquer finish.

He was adamant NOT to use anything except a clean microfibre cloth.

He told me the biggest problem with fixing dings in the finishes was the fact that the owners had used waxes & other polishes on the surface.

 

[Beer of the Bass]

I use a tiny amount of oil extremely seldom on rosewood boards, maybe a couple of times a decade. I'm not convinced it performs any massively necessary role, but it does improve the appearance, removes some dirt in the wiping process and evens up the colour with the parts that have already absorbed oils from the skin. I use woodwind bore oil, a very light mineral oil, and I've had the same 50ml bottle for years.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Beer of the Bass

[Stub Mandrel]

Here, I used to use fast fret on this one from early 80s up until losing the bottle 15 or so years ago...

[Skinnyman]

I tend to use wax or, if that’s not around, a slathering of lard from the bottom of the roast tin on a Sunday will do the trick.

Plus, your fingers smell of beef after a gig.

[Killed_by_Death]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Here, I used to use fast fret on this one from early 80s up until losing the bottle 15 or so years ago...

Fast-Fret caused that discoloration?

 

[Fingul]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Maple fretboard painted with black laquer (japanned) as part of goth phase, then rubbed with the tears of innocents to achieve the above look.

Seen it all before...

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I just realized that's a guitar:

 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Fingul said:

Maple fretboard painted with black laquer (japanned) as part of goth phase, then rubbed with the tears of innocents to achieve the above look.

Seen it all before...

I think it's mahogany, painted black to look like ebony. Mid-70s Epiphone acoustic.

[Lozz196]

Yes, No, No

I clean/lemon-oil my maple fretboards every time I change strings and haven’t seen any damage yet. 

[Mokl]

I use lemon oil sparingly on rosewood and ebony boards, never on maple. One of my basses has a pale moon ebony board that, if I don't give it a light oil now and then, seems to contract to the point you can feel the edges of the frets - almost like fret sprout. A little lemon oil (or whatever we're calling it, the stuff packaged as such for use on guitar fingerboards), fixes it.

 

As an aside, the point about silicone - you really shouldn't be applying this to the lacquer finish on your guitars! But honestly, how many of us get minor dings etc touched up by luthiers? Also, unless the bass is brand new to you, straight out of the case, how can you be sure it's never seen silicone polish? I'd be willing to bet that there's many a music shop gets the Saturday staff to give the guitars a once over with a can of silicone based furniture polish! My experience is that a switched-on refinisher (all the ones I've ever dealt with) will always assume the finish has had exposure to silicone at some point and proceed with any refinish work accordingly. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Mokl

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

4 hours ago, Mokl said:

One of my basses has a pale moon ebony board that, if I don't give it a light oil now and then, seems to contract to the point you can feel the edges of the frets - almost like fret sprout.

I had a similar experience with my JMJ mustang in the last week. I have been able to feel the sharp fret edges for the last few months but after applying Dunlop 65 fingerboard oil a few days ago the fret sprout completly went away.