Could oiling a rosewood fretboard cause a raised fret?

Philtre

I changed the strings on my PRS SE Custom 24 today. While the strings were off I cleaned the gunk with a cloth and some lighter fluid, and then applied some F-One oil to the fingerboard.

Then, when setting the action of the strings, I noticed there was bad fret buzz on the D string on the 10th fret. Further inspection showed it to be slightly proud. So I gave it whack with a heavy brass object and that seems to have fixed it.

So, the question is - what could have caused this sudden fret raise? Either I didn't notice it before, or perhaps cleaning the fretboard with the F-One oil might have loosened it? Or maybe PRS apply superglue under the fret and the oil interfered with that?

cbakay

Some say so some over a long time & some say BS.

how long have you been oiling it? Has it had a very recent refret?

i use a tinyyyt bit of fret Doctor as my place is dry and I play a lot, never issues..

fastonebaz

I oil my rosewood fretboards every string change for years and never had this issue.  Never had a prs though. 

steveledzep

The lighter fluid is more likely to interfere with any glued parts.  Not saying this is the cause, I don't know.

ICBM

It's also possible that if you took all the strings off with the truss rod still tightened - which is the normal way to do it, and I do too - the resulting backbow could allow a fret to pop up slightly if it wasn't seated very tightly.

Philtre

ICBM said:

It's also possible that if you took all the strings off with the truss rod still tightened - which is the normal way to do it, and I do too - the resulting backbow could allow a fret to pop up slightly if it wasn't seated very tightly.

Sounds more likely.

jdgm

ICBM said:

... pop up slightly if it wasn't seated very tightly.

Philtre said:

....Sounds more likely.

I'm stealing this for a song......

IGMC..

guitars4you

Don't dismiss the option of a kink on the string

Philtre

guitars4you said:

Don't dismiss the option of a kink on the string

I actually ditched the set of strings and put another set on. It definitely is the fret.

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

Don't dismiss the option of a kink on the string

Philtre

And I've found two more problematic frets. I've whacked them with a hard plastic hammer and that's sorted it. Something must have loosened them.

guitars4you

Philtre said:

And I've found two more problematic frets. I've whacked them with a hard plastic hammer and that's sorted it. Something must have loosened them.

love these technical terms - WHACKED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Philtre

guitars4you said:

Philtre said:

And I've found two more problematic frets. I've whacked them with a hard plastic hammer and that's sorted it. Something must have loosened them.

love these technical terms - WHACKED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, it was a precision whack. ;-)

fretfinder

I’ve been using lemon oil for years, and recently F-One oil, on all my rosewood necked guitars and I’ve never noticed anything like this happening suddenly. Maybe those frets were always proud but you didn’t notice before? Sounds unlikely with a PRS though. How old is the PRS? I guess an older guitar is more prone to things like this happening.

Philtre

fretfinder said:

I’ve been using lemon oil for years, and recently F-One oil, on all my rosewood necked guitars and I’ve never noticed anything like this happening suddenly. Maybe those frets were always proud but you didn’t notice before? Sounds unlikely with a PRS though. How old is the PRS? I guess an older guitar is more prone to things like this happening.

Could be. It's only two years old. It could be caused by loosening the strings without loosening the truss, as @ICBM said in a comment above.

For example, last night I loosened the strings to give a fret a whack, tightened the strings again, checked the fret (which was OK now) and bugger me if I didn't find another raised fret buzzing at one particular point on one string. Another whack and that was fixed. Whak-a-mole!

ICBM

This is definitely not normal, and makes me wonder if either your house is unusually dry or the fingerboard wood wasn’t seasoned properly and has shrunk a bit - it’s not at all common for the frets to be that loose that even a slight back-bow is making more than one pop up, it’s rare for it to be even one.

robgilmo

I never oil my boards anymore, apart from changing the colour I dont really see the point. It doesnt ''feed'' the wood, oil doesnt ''soak in'' to the wood, its a finish and not a very good one, as for cleaning, warm soapy water does the job on a dampened cloth.

Philtre

robgilmo said:

I never oil my boards anymore, apart from changing the colour I dont really see the point. It doesnt ''feed'' the wood, oil doesnt ''soak in'' to the wood, its a finish and not a very good one, as for cleaning, warm soapy water does the job on a dampened cloth.

That's the conclusion I've come to now. The strings on the PRS I "oiled" yesterday are now oily, and it seems the oil has not soaked in but is just getting on my hands.

jonnyburgo

I use d’addario lemon oil on mine , it seems to do a good job, doesn’t make the strings oily. Weird about the frets though

crunchman

robgilmo said:

I never oil my boards anymore, apart from changing the colour I dont really see the point. It doesnt ''feed'' the wood, oil doesnt ''soak in'' to the wood, its a finish and not a very good one, as for cleaning, warm soapy water does the job on a dampened cloth.

I probably oil my rosewood boards about once every 3 to 5 years on average.  Don't need any more than that.

If you go a very long time without oiling you do notice.  I've got an acoustic I've had since I was 13.  When I was young I didn't know anything about oiling boards so it probably went 12 years or more without being oiled.  That did get really dry, and it made a big difference when I oiled it.

maltingsaudio

I don’t use lighter fluid to clean gunk off I find using duraglit those wads of polish far more effective so as you polish the frets then the bits in between job done. Once I’ve done that a little bit of whatever fret gunk is the latest thing to use but linseed and lemon oil the best and back to business.