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Fretboard oil


KingBollock
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i bought some lemon oil and some gm cricket bat linseed and on an old aria sb i bought i while back with crusty frets and dried out rosewood i used some fine wire wool to sort out the frets and the linseed oil and it came up like new
was very impressed, i tried the lemon oil on another bass i own but i wasnt as taken so i linseeded all my rosewood basses very happy with the results :)

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There was a biggie thread on talkbass about this.

in a nutshell, lthe concensus was:

lemon oil - scented mineral oil that cleans well but will dry your rosewood out after time. I found this to be true (Dunlop)

BOILED linseed oil - Roger Sadowsky himself chimed in and said this is what he uses on all his basses, he's never found better. I also found this to be true.

Linseed oil - leave well alone, only good for cricket bats!

Hope this helps.

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[quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1351004611' post='1846088']
There was a biggie thread on talkbass about this.

in a nutshell, lthe concensus was:

lemon oil - scented mineral oil that cleans well but will dry your rosewood out after time. I found this to be true (Dunlop)

[b]BOILED linseed oil - Roger Sadowsky himself chimed in and said this is what he uses on all his basses, he's never found better. I also found this to be true.[/b]

Linseed oil - leave well alone, only good for cricket bats!

Hope this helps.
[/quote]
Looking on Wikipedia, Boiled Linseed Oil is also called Stand Oil, which is what I have and what prompted me to start the thread. Are you saying that it will work then?

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Lemon oil shouldn't be a scented mineral oil, if it is then its no good for a guitar! it should be oil taken from lemon rinds, cold pressed, naturally scented by the lemon, and used by luthiers for many many years!! it has cleaning properties due to the fact it has a acidic based solvent in it as well as penetrating nourishing oil ones. it work great, if its the real thing!
In my view linseed oils are finishing oils, boiled is part of the family of drying oils, ok to use on fresh fretboards, but will seal the dirt in if you don't clean your board first with something like meths, or you can apply it with 0000 wire wool, thus cleaning as you go, and wipe off after a 5 mins or so, un-boiled isn't normally used as it takes too long to fully dry, it should be used sparingly, otherwise it will build up to a finish.
either way, cleaning and oiling shouldn't really be done more than twice a year, depending how sweaty you are and how often you play, its really not going to do any harm that infrequent!
Danish and other oils of the finishing kind are mainly tung oil with dryers such as terabine, wouldn't personally use them but again twice a year? who knows, can't see your fretboard falling off in a puff of cracked up splinters and dust, lol.
Its defiantly a fair ole subject, even in the woodworking world.

Edited by harleyheath
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[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1351006093' post='1846105']

Looking on Wikipedia, Boiled Linseed Oil is also called Stand Oil, which is what I have and what prompted me to start the thread. Are you saying that it will work then?
[/quote]
if that's true then yes.

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[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1351007473' post='1846134']
Boiled linseed oil is Danish oil.

Edit - Sometimes it's boiled tong oil.
[/quote]

Nope - Danish Oil is a blend of resins and oils (possibly tung oil, possibly linseed, more likely mineral oil).

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1351008530' post='1846158']
So,never in 22 years is ok then?
[/quote]

:D I used to just wipe my fingerboards down with a little furniture polish. Ive got a rosewood neck thats been off the instrument for about 13 years and its not showing any sign of cracking up.

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[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1351007473' post='1846134']
Boiled linseed oil is Danish oil.

Edit - Sometimes it's boiled tong oil.
[/quote]
danish oil is a boiled linseed oil, solvent based varnish and thinners mix basically.
tung oil is different again as it's oil from the nut of the tung tree which is Chinese.

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yorks5stringer'
The famed and self proclaimed "guitar improver" from the ebay section always talks about how he "waxoils the fretboard" on basses and guitars he sells. Not that I would have thought rustproofing your bass is remotely necessary......!

MB1.
Mr Tagackhi also recommends waxoil for all his cars Too!...Wax On! Wax Off!

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The thought that always springs to mind with threads like this is how people looked after (or more to the point, [b]didn't[/b] look after) their fret boards in times gone by. To my knowledge, this idea of cleaning and oiling is comparatively recent. It has all the hall marks of being a marketing ploy. There are so many manufacturers out there saying that theirs is the best and only way to clean and oil your fretboard. Yet I regularly see basses from the 60's for sale which are in immaculate condition. I'm sure their original owners did not clean or oil the FB.

Don't get me wrong, I like to look after my instrument as much as the next person. I just think we are inclined to go OTT with this.

Also, it is often the case that the people who feel the need to oil and clean regularly, are the ones who

don't have the presence of mind to wash their hands before picking up the bass.

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[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1351069966' post='1846814']
The thought that always springs to mind with threads like this is how people looked after (or more to the point, [b]didn't[/b] look after) their fret boards in times gone by. To my knowledge, this idea of cleaning and oiling is comparatively recent. It has all the hall marks of being a marketing ploy. There are so many manufacturers out there saying that theirs is the best and only way to clean and oil your fretboard. Yet I regularly see basses from the 60's for sale which are in immaculate condition. I'm sure their original owners did not clean or oil the FB.

Don't get me wrong, I like to look after my instrument as much as the next person. I just think we are inclined to go OTT with this.

Also, it is often the case that the people who feel the need to oil and clean regularly, are the ones who

don't have the presence of mind to wash their hands before picking up the bass.
[/quote]

amen to that!!
It really dont do it no harm to oil it every now an then but I do believe you can get carried away with it all.
of course putting on the wrong oil can be way worse than not oiling at all.

Edited by harleyheath
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[quote name='Phil-osopher10' timestamp='1351075328' post='1846909']
can i use fretboard oil on the tops of acoustic guitars? mine has a little strumming rash?
[/quote]

I probably wouldn't, its very unlikely its been finished in oil and theres a good chance it will go quite dark and show up more, its a softwood top softwood tends to darken heaps with oil, and soak it right up, a very thin mineral oil put on heavy could screw your top completely! deaden the sound and weaken the wood, you could try a tiny bit of light wax, the one without any heavy thinners in it as that will screw your top too!
how old is it, and what finished does it look like it has on it?

Edited by harleyheath
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