Al Heeley

This from a post on the EBMM forum: [b]Fretboard Care[/b] To oil, or not to oil... One of the questions most often asked in the newsgroups is 'How do I take care of my guitar's wood?' It is also a discussion that is plagued with misinformation and half-truths. This article should clarify many of the misconceptions about fretboard care. The vast majority of guitar fretboards are made of rosewood, ebony or maple. These are dense woods with different characteristics. Maple fretboards are almost always sealed with a varnish or lacquer coating and require very little care other than cleaning. The sealant coat prevents dirt and grime from getting into the pores of the wood and accumulating. Rosewood and ebony are left untreated and the natural oils in the wood protect them. The cleaning products that can be safely used on maple are unsuited to these woods. The same care that is used for these would apply to other dense natural finish fretboards (unvarnished). General rule number one about fretboard care is to avoid any products that contain silicone. While silicone oils are inert substances, problems over the long term will be avoided by not using them. General rule number two is to avoid products that contain waxes. This includes carnauba, paraffin and silicone waxes. You do not want to apply a waxy residue to the fretboard, you merely want to clean it and leave a very thin oil protectant. What about furniture care products like "Lemon Pledge"? Aerosol furniture polishes contain waxes, petroleum distillates, emulsifiers (detergents), and lots and lots of water. A very light spray on maple to clean it is fine, but aerosol polishes should not be used on unvarnished fretbaords. We do not want to apply products containing water to the natural finish of a guitar neck and fretboard. A statement that is seen many times in the newsgroups is "use only 100% lemon oil". First, there are NO furniture care products that actually contain nothing but lemon oil, and even if there were, you would not want to use it on a wood finish. Pure cold-pressed lemon oil is very expensive and could not be marketed for $3 or $4 per bottle like the furniture oils you see in stores. "But Product XYZ says that it contains 100% lemon oil." Yes, I've seen products with that on the label, and I assure you it is a false and misleading statement. It is used in the context that the product contains 100% lemon oil conditioner as opposed to a cheaper steam-distilled citrus oil or synthetic duplicate made from pine tree wood. Typically 99% or more of the product is a mineral oil with less than 1% lemon oil. Pure lemon oil (or other citrus oils) is composed of d-limonene at an amount of 90% or more. There are other minor components that give each of the citrus oils its own unique flavors and fragrances. These ingredients include citral, linalool, geraniol, nerol, citronella, pinenes and other terpenes. Since d-limonene is the majority of lemon oil (or orange oil), we can look at its properties to determine why it is not suited for fretboard care. First, and most importantly, d-limonene is a very strong solvent. It is used to remove glue, paint, grease, oil and other substances. If an oil with a high percentage of d-limonene were applied to a fretboard, it might even begin to loosen the bindings, fret markers or other trim. Additionally, it could soften some varnishes or lacquers used on necks and bodies. Also the vapors of d-limonene are flammable with a flash point of about 124 degrees F. What are petroleum distillates? The type of petroleum distillates used in furniture cleaners is a very thin, purified and deodorized mineral oil. Normal paraffin and iso-paraffin oils are generally used since they are less agressive to finishes and have lower odors. They are also flammable but the flash points are usually above 200 degrees F. [b]What to Use[/b] To clean a natural finish fretboard or neck, little is required in the way of chemical treatment. Basically you use a clean rag to remove as much of the dirt build-up as possible. Around the frets, grime often gets packed in and is very hard to remove. A plastic scrubbing pad is recommended since it will be softer and less likely to scratch, although very fine grades of steel wool (000 grade) may be used with care. Either type of scrubber should be plain; NO SOAP as is often in SOS pads or similar. Watch the steel wool because any fine bits of metal that are shed by the pad will be attracted by the magnets of guitar pickups. A furniture oil may be placed on a clean rag and wiped around the hard to clean spots to assist the pad in removing the dirt. Once the fretboard is clean, wipe the entire surface with the oil dampened cloth to seal it. The furniture oil that is left behind will replenish the oil lost from the surface of the wood and help retard further losses. Use as little as possible; you just want to put a slight gloss on the surface. Select a furniture oil that contains petroleum distillates. It is required by Federal law to have a child resistant cap and to state on the label: "Contains petroleum distillates. Harmful or fatal if swallowed". Lemon oil makes the product smell better and might add a little cleaning action due to its solvency, but is not required. Avoid silicones and waxes. Buy a good quality furniture oil. Since you use it sparingly and only clean once or twice per year, a typical bottle will last a lifetime.

nope - I use lemon oil on my mm stingray maple fretboard no problem - the solvent content cuts thru the grease well, use very sparingly but I don't believe it will do any damage. This is from the Ernie Ball website: [quote]For cleaning, try using the same high grade of lemon oil to clean the entire neck, both maple and rosewood fretboards. Keep in mind that if the dirt or grease has been worked into the wood, it cannot be removed except by sanding it down, which we do not recommend unless exercised with extremely fine sandpaper (1200-1600 grit), and even then very sparingly. It is better to keep it clean in the first place. Washing your hands first helps! Some discoloration after many hours of playing is normal on unfinished necks.[/quote] Solvent content is said to drive off natural oils found in woods such as rosewood, but maple is very hard and dry, the lem-oil i have is basically naphtha-based, (lighter fluid!)very volatile so it cuts thru the grease and evaporates off really fast. I feel happier using that than water-based products which are much less volatile and may sink in more which can cause swelling.

Tis very frustrating when you're excited about new gear and something goes wrong beyond your influence. I think I was pretty lucky with my deliveries over the last snowy week - new ipod, Peavey head and Hartke cab all turned up just one day later than expected. Hang on in there! Get the details of the courier company and a tracking number if you can, just to make sure it's left the shop and on its way

OK, I'll start saving for the XL 1 x 15 :/ Very happy with the sound of the cab by the way, nice punchy tight but I need a roadie to cart it about

Is that the Big Al? Sorry but I think they've managed to make a bass even uglier than the Bongo, and that's quite an achievement. Not a fan of the deliberately forced retro lines, looks like something out of an american 1960's kids cartoon. Loadsa buttons though!

warp! sorry.

Been gigging a Marshall B150 over the past couple of years, it's now a backup amp. Been a good workhorse for small to medium gigs. Awkward to cart round so I fitted castors to it, but reasonably versatile with the ss->tube preamp blend and a 7 band eq, plus bass boost and bright switch. Good warm fat tone, be better (for my ears) with a horn to accentuate the highs, but I'm always very over-conservative on the graphic eq settings. its never let me down.

Thx Dood, 'tis as i suspected, but always worth asking here!

Good, straight 6 inch rule. place on frets over low E position, try it in all positions up the neck, you are looking for where it rocks up and down a little bit, the pivot point will be a high spot. Wherever you find a high spot, mark it with a black marker pen. Repeat for the A-string position on all frets, then the other 2 strings. You will be left with a view across all your frets of where the high spots are, then you can gently start to file them down.

Can you tell me how the Hartke 4 x 10 cabs are normally wired? (eg: 400W Hartke 410XL cab) Is it 4 x 8ohm speakers wired in S+P to give 8 Ohm total resistance? Is it possible to rewire them to give a total 4 Ohm impedance thus get more power from the amp?

How are 4 x 10 cabs normally wired? (eg: 400W Hartke 410 cab) Is it 4 x 8ohm speakers wired in S+P to give 8 Ohm total resistance? Is it possible to rewire them to give a total 4 Ohm impedance thus get more power from the amp?

One of eMr. Eggle's neat tips is to wrap an old bit of t-shirt round a cork sanding block really tight, then put a little bit of buffing / cutting wax compound on - you know those hard wax candles you get for machine buffing? Similar to jewellers rouge- half of one will last 2 or 3 lifetimes. You then just go up and down the fretboard with the block for 30 secs and the frets are left smooth and shiny. It allows you to really easily and quickly do a great final polish on the frets when you're finished with the files and the fine grit, brings them up really nice.

New toys finally arrived today - this replaces the Marshall 4210 combo and 115 cab I had all the trouble with. The Peavey head seems pretty under-rated on the forum but the combination with the Hartke 410 gives a really nice clean punch. the amp seems very versatile, a touch of octaver can be used to really fill in the lows, theres a bright switch, a 9- band graphic eq and the more conventional treble and bass knobs with a semi-parametric mid contour knob as well. A lot of versatility for a reasonable price. Looking forward to trying it out at gig volume next week.

+1 for Erhlewine books. I went on one of Patrick Eggle's set up courses a couple of years ago in Oswestry, very useful day spent learning about nuts and setups and fret dressing as well as action, relief, intonation, etc. Such a nice chap. Got a basic rounded fret dressing file off ebay which helps recrown them after they have been levelled. Just need a steady hand and some patience.

Is it green cos its new and high water content? If so, working it now would be a disaster once it matures and dries out as it would change its dimensions, warp, twist, etc. Best get a hygrometer and check water content. Some of the home luthier guys don't touch wood till its allowed to equilibriate for 6 - 9 months in a dry room-temperature environment.

Hoiw is the Ashdown head & Ampeg cab combo working out for you?

Another stunning selection of gorgeous woods and top class craftsmanship. Very very nice indeed. Be really interested to try out a no-radius fretboard - my mind tells me it can't be as comfortable over a 5-string's width

Having got my troublesome Marshall gear returned I've ended up going for a Peavey Tour 450 head with a hartke 4x10 (XL) cab. I need to get up and running again with some gigs next week and I hunted for a hartke LH500 head but they seem to be in short supply everywhere with Korg not being able to ship any units out to the retailers till after the end of Jan. Some places have them on back order since November. The LH500 seems to get a lot of respect on this forum, but I can't wait till Feb to replace my gear. The peavey has a lot more tonal flexibility (I do like to have a full eq section to play with, plus low and hi boost as well as the octaver button, also the pre-and post-gain sections that the LH500 lacks). It's also a little bit cheaper. And it's available now.

It's in such good condition (after being shoved under a bed for 30 years...) wonder how much the punters would pay if someone relic'd it a bit? made it look properly old. Lovely but I'd rather pay a lot less and have a new one.

we got involved in a couple of charity gigs this last summer, one of which was pulled entirely at the last minute cos the main organiser spat his dummy out. I can safely say the entire approach to attempting to run a professional event by the organisers was excruciatingly poor, people on the committee have other agendas, they are not getting paid for their efforts and they have little experience in the various issues that we are more familiar with. I steer away from these events which is a pity as the whole charity thing is basically sound - giving time to help raise money but you have to ask about how much of the money eventually actually arrives in the pockets of those who it is supposed to be aimed at helping.