Rosewood fretboard care - thoughts?

vincechu89

Hi all,

Many thanks for the informative and useful insights. I have decided to stop using lemon oil and to continue to to use the F-One fretboard conditioner that I have.

I did email Suhr to ask what they recommend and they said ‘We use Big Bends Fretboard Juice here at the factory.’ A quick google for the product description gives:

’Big Bends Fret Board Juice 1 oz., Fretboard conditioner, many fretboard conditioners contain either lemon or citric oill, many guitar players prefer a fretboard conditoner without solvents, so Fret Board Juice only contains 100% highly refined ultra pure white mineral oil’

As I love the look and feel of my new Suhr’s fretboard, I may give this a try.

Does anyone know how to undarken or remove excess lemon oil from a fretboard? Or if this is possible or a case of waiting for the fretboard to dry out a little? From memory, my older Suhr’s RW board did used to look like my newer Suhr’s when it was new, and would be nice to get the older one looking less dark and feeling less oily and more natural.

SteveF

Just give it a clean without oiling it for a few string changes, play it regularly and it will soon lose the oiliness. 

tralfamadan

I read in a manual that came with a guitar that the oil in your hands should be enough to keep the fretboard from drying out. Maybe you would need something on the higher frets if you don't play up there often. This was for ebony but Rosewood is similar enough.
That said, i've been cleaning an ebony board with some Lemon Oil I pinched from my gf's Uke case lately and it is not doing it any favours. Definitely starting to dry out, albeit slightly.

I once put Tung oil on the Rosewood board of an old Fender DG and that came out beautifully. A cursory google seems to recommend against it though. Oops.

DLM

Corvus said:

It doesn't need to penetrate far, there's very little going on there anyway.

This has always been my experience.

mudslide73

Handsome_Chris said:8

@vincechu89 , I use , and now have had the pleasure of demo-ing, MusicNomad F-One Oil that you mentioned.  My understanding is that it is the only oil that is safe for all fretboards, not just rosewood.  This means that it can be used on the back of unfinished necks too.  I believe that lemon oil is ok for rosewood .

Thanks for this @Handsome_Chris . I've just done my unfinished maple Musikraft Franky neck with F-One and it's turned out a treat. It was too manky even for me and is now very beautiful again. 

Handsome_Chris

@mudslide73 , I'm glad that you like the results. Now let's some pics of that sexy Franky of yours.  

vincechu89

Just to close the loop on this, I have bought and tried the Big Bends Fretboard juice and it works well. It doesn’t make the fretboard feel oily, which i prefer, and makes the wood feel natural. Downsides are the rosewood doesnt go as dark (but still darkens) as lemon oil and may need treating more frequently as the rosewood lightens up after 4-6 weeks (but this could just be the recent hot weather!).

Simon_M

I put Dunlop lemon oil on my fretboard after each string change pretty much only because I like the smell. My technique sucks; no amount of oil will ever fix that.