Best gunk for reconditioning rosewood fretboards?

RichardT

My acoustics, Gretsch & Peavey fretboards seem to be self-maintaining courtesy of greasy mitts & cleaning & the odd lemon oil dab but I've just acquired a Guild Blues 90 (really nice guitar, as it happens), which has obviously sat unloved, unplayed, cased and centrally heated for years. Has responded well to TLC but the fretboard is pale and obviously fairly dry, so I'm thinking it could use something more to penetrate the grain. Fret Doctor gets lots of upticks but it's fairly pricey over here, any other bright ideas?

Jalapeno

boiled linseed oil.  Slop it on and leave it soak in, then clear away residue. 0000 Wire wool & lemon oil to finish.

PonchoGreg

Music nomad F-One oil is good

Skipped

 Fret Doctor does darken so I concluded that maybe it was worth the money. 

The small bottle goes a long way, but I seem to recall I had to use the "email when back in stock" option.

https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/accessories-c14/fretboard-conditioners-c92/fretdoctor-fretboard-conditioner-p584

mark123

Skipped said:

 Fret Doctor does darken so I concluded that maybe it was worth the money. 

The small bottle goes a long way, but I seem to recall I had to use the "email when back in stock" option.

https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/accessories-c14/fretboard-conditioners-c92/fretdoctor-fretboard-conditioner-p584

£35.95p !!!!!

HAL9000

PonchoGreg said:

Music nomad F-One oil is good

^ This. Music Nomad products do seem to be consistently good.

RichardT

"   £35.95p !!!!!   "

Heh, yes, that was my reaction. But daft I know given the £ all the gear owes me but the F-One is looking a bit less extravagant!

Always a bit leery of linseed oil,as I understand it it effectively seals the wood surface. Plus there's the spontaneous combustion thing, I'm accident prone.

Zoolooter

Jalapeno said:

boiled linseed oil.  Slop it on and leave it soak in, then clear away residue. 0000 Wire wool & lemon oil to finish.

It thought linseed formed a film on top rather than sinking in. 

Corvus

Lemon oil here, I've a couple of guitars that've been getting it since the late 80s, ignore internet fake news about softening wood and such. I get Mansons when poss, Hugh makes his own brew, about a fiver. Or used to, he's retired now I think.
Since being in the habit of wiping strings with an XLR8 pad I don't get any gack building up on the board. When the pads dry I squirt Kyser Stringfellow on, same difference. Strings last better too.

Linseed does dry to a film but I also use a super thin wipe of it to seal in a newly-dyed board. Bit of lemon oil when dried and it gets a lovely sleek smooth feel. AFAIK it can ignite organic fabric rags but I've never felt them even get warm.

ESBlonde

Boiled linseed will harden so wipe off the excess thouroughly. It leaves a lovely finish imho.

A great product for the fingerboards is bore oil. It is the basic ingredient in all the proprietery fingerboard conditioners. Buy it from a woodwind shop where it's used to condition woodwind instruments or from a chemists. You can even use it on your bagpipes! Or if someone else does you can clean your shotgun stock with it afterwards....

Finally a non to messy option. Get a wet walnut and rub the inner nut on the fingerboard. It has a mild but soft rubbing/cleaning action and leaves a light layer of nut oil as a conditioner.

Mark1960

Almond Oil is the best thing I've found for Rosewood Fretboards.

Sassafras

Walnut or a brazil nut rubbed over the board works quite well.

Kittyfrisk

Sassafras said:

Walnut or a brazil nut rubbed over the board works quite well.

Does this work for non Brazilian boards?

rze99

Bore oil is inexpensive and perfect for this. If it is still too light for tour tastes you could use leather dye to ebonise it or dye a darker shade of brown.

Skipped

RichardT said:

"   £35.95p !!!!!   "

Heh, yes, that was my reaction. But daft I know given the £ all the gear owes me but the F-One is looking a bit less extravagant!

Always a bit leery of linseed oil,as I understand it it effectively seals the wood surface. Plus there's the spontaneous combustion thing, I'm accident prone.

Yes, that is too much.

I suspect that they are permanently re-ordering  the 30ml size (£19.95)  and you would not have to wait long.

stickyfiddle

Gerlitz Guitar Honey. 

Don't use lemon oil - it's basically just lemon-flavoured naphtha, which strips and cleans but doesn't "condition" the wood at all.

CloudNine

This stuff has been really good imo, and not crazy expensive. https://crimsonguitars.com/store/fretboard-cleaner-restorative/

RichardT

rze99 said:

Bore oil is inexpensive and perfect for this. If it is still too light for tour tastes you could use leather dye to ebonise it or dye a darker shade of brown.

The aesthetics don't bother me, pale but healthy is fine - it ain't ebony -  the cowboy chord footprint is distinctly darker so I think the rest will darken a little with any appropriate treatment, which is fine. The body is a gorgeous British Racing Green trans over a subtle maple flame so she's a looker in any case. Will take a look at generic bore oil, that appears to be the basis for Fret Doctor.

Good to get a range of views on this, thanks all.

HAL9000

Kittyfrisk said:

Sassafras said:

Walnut or a brazil nut rubbed over the board works quite well.

Does this work for non Brazilian boards?

Yes, but it tends to leave a thin strip down the middle!

poopot

Baby oil... Tis all you need!...

HerrMetal

Another vote for Music Nomad F1.