Rosewood fretboard oil?

[Lightyear]

I've read Flexner and many others.  For a while I was brewing up my own tung oil finish - japan driers, turpentine, beeswax - you name it I tried every recipe out there.  The problem I had is to get real tung oil at the time you had to buy an entire gallon - which was three lifetimes of what I needed.  In the end it wasn't worth the hassle.  For oiled finishes I now favor Waterlox or Watco - I got lazy. 

[Pilgrim]

Hi, it is really dry in Colorado and you have to oil rosewood fret boards here or they actually start to shrink and the fret tangs start to poke out. Really a big problem on MIM Fenders, I have seen 100`s of them do it here. I wipe the neck off after every set so I only clean the board if it needs it   with lemon oil, never an abrasive. Then a very light coat of mineral oil and rub it in against the grain 1st, then with the grain for the obscene gesture part of it. I let it sit for a cigarette break and wipe it down. I repeat if it does not look shiney happy, let it set for another half hour or so after wipe down cause oil that didn`t soak in will show up. The wood only absorbs what it needs it seems to me. I`m more of a "feels right" than technical sort of guy so this is just what I have been doing for a few decades out on the prairie.

Well,  shucks.  My 1963 P bass has never had the fret board oiled... either in Eastern WA or in Colorado where it has lived since 1997. As far as I  know,  neither has the fretboard on my 1964 EB0.  Both are in fine shape.  I have never seen evidence that any rosewood fretboard needs oil of any kind. 

[Lightyear]

Well,  shucks.  My 1963 P bass has never had the fret board oiled... either in Eastern WA or in Colorado where it has lived since 1997. As far as I  know,  neither has the fretboard on my 1964 EB0.  Both are in fine shape.  I have never seen evidence that any rosewood fretboard needs oil of any kind. 

Could be old growth and/or quartersawn rosewood?  Living in subtropical Houston I've never had to worry about fret sprout myself though I occasionally give my boards a light coat of oil when I change strings and when doing a cleanup.

[Blackbird]

Being from Canada, we use back bacon fat on our fretboards!   

[Dave W]

Well,  shucks.  My 1963 P bass has never had the fret board oiled... either in Eastern WA or in Colorado where it has lived since 1997. As far as I  know,  neither has the fretboard on my 1964 EB0.  Both are in fine shape.  I have never seen evidence that any rosewood fretboard needs oil of any kind. 

Weird. You're in Ft. Collins and I can see from his IP address that pilgrim9 is from the Greeley area. Obviously a similarity in names and a big difference in climate. 

[pilgrim9]

I buy and sell allot of guitars and this is just what I have run into here over 40 years. I just sold a 63 P bass from Colorado Springs that the fretboard was starting to crack on due to being so dry. It had been sitting in a case under a bed unused for 20 years after a bad refinish on the body, I cleaned it and oiled it and it came back to life, really nice slab o rosewood. There are many variables, is the bass kept in a case or leaning up against the wall, humidifier on the heating, the KFC or Canadian Bacon fingerfactor and the relative barometric pressure in Equatorial Guiana etc.... but rosewood needs oiled when it starts turning light colored and the grain opens in my opinion. I am not trying to start a Pilgrim fight!!

[Pilgrim]

No problem, brother Pilgrim!  

We're all friends here.  I'm just reporting my personal experience.

Given the changes in the stock of wood available and wood harvesting practice since the early 1960's, who knows what the differences in the quality and characteristics of wood may be.

I have only been working on my own instruments since 1997 (before that I just played them) and so far I've only oiled one fretboard.  I de-fretted a bass with a rosewood board and applied one light layer of Formby's Tung Oil after I did the light sanding required to level the styrene inserts I used to fill the fret lines.  Aside from that but so far I personally haven't oiled any fretboards or observed any that needed to be oiled.

SO - maybe if I wait another few years I'll find a fretboard that needs to be oiled.  It could happen.

And by the way, shouldn't we be doing mutually beneficial joint research on some of the fine craft brews in this area? 

[Aussie Mark]

I have a bottle of natural orange oil that I've been using for 12 years and will outlast my time on this planet.

[Dave W]

And by the way, shouldn't we be doing mutually beneficial joint research on some of the fine craft brews in this area? 

You can both get oiled!

[pilgrim9]

Pilgrim thats a big "yep" on the brews, it is Colorado the home of micro brews and some great local distilleries also, you ever try Leopold Brothers whisky? I think I may have met you once, did you trade me a badass bridge for a vintage fender bridge cover a year or so ago?

[Pilgrim]

Pilgrim thats a big "yep" on the brews, it is Colorado the home of micro brews and some great local distilleries also, you ever try Leopold Brothers whisky? I think I may have met you once, did you trade me a badass bridge for a vintage fender bridge cover a year or so ago?

Nope, I've had one BA bridge (it came on my 1964 EB-0) and I sold it on Ebay.  But let's find a chance to meet and get acquainted.

[rahock]

I have a bottle of natural orange oil that I've been using for 12 years and will outlast my time on this planet.

The only experience I've had with orange oil was not pleasant. I never used it on an instrument, but I used it on a piece of furniture and it ate the polyurethane finish right up . I've heard a lot of good things about it but my experience was not good. It's cleaning properties were good, but a bit too good for my needs. On something unfinished it may work a lot better.
Rick

[uwe]

I use off the rack lem oil whenever I restring. I don't make a science out of it, but my wood likes it and I like the feel of a freshly oiled board.

[Lightyear]

I use off the rack lem oil whenever I restring. I don't make a science out of it, but my wood likes it and I like the feel of a freshly oiled board.

Rak lem?   

[Dave W]

Rak lem?   

His wood likes it.