ebony fingerboard

[monk]

im planning to import a gibson custom semi-hollow with ebony fngerboard
thing is, ive heard quite a few stories that ebony fingerboard isnt so reliable and it cracks etc

esp in singapore, hgh humidity, im not sure if i wanna take this risk

just wonder if anyone of you have positive or negative experiences with ebony .. pleaseee telll~

 

[Everdying]

my '74 gibson SG w/ ebony board has no cracks at all.
i've got 2 more guitars with ebony boards, both from the late 80s.
they're also ok.

 

[monk]

cool, everdying, do you store them in special conditions???

 

[Benster]

im planning to import a gibson custom semi-hollow with ebony fngerboard
thing is, ive heard quite a few stories that ebony fingerboard isnt so reliable and it cracks etc

esp in singapore, hgh humidity, im not sure if i wanna take this risk

just wonder if anyone of you have positive or negative experiences with ebony .. pleaseee telll~

posted this reply to ur question in tgp as well..

its highly unlikely that ebony will crack here in humid singapore.

its the reverse, we get many swollen (with moisture) acoustic guitar tops here.

cracks usually occur in very dry climates.

as for oiling, ebony usually does not require as much oiling as rosewood. in singapore, maybe once a year is sufficient.

i've had many guitars with ebony, not a single problem.

i keep my guitars in my room which is air con'd at night, with door/windows closed during the day (most of the time). no problems with swollen acoustics or cracks in 14 years of playing.

hope this helps

 

[kym]

as for oiling, ebony usually does not require as much oiling as rosewood. in singapore, maybe once a year is sufficient.

since, this thread is abt fingerboard, dun mind i ask abt rosewood fingerboard.

fenderben, how often should i oil my rosewood fingerboard. the previous owner of my guitar says everytime u change ur strings, which is around once every month. but i think he is overdoing it. just wanna get more opinions on this.

and the previous owner says use lemon oil. is lemon oil = lemon juice? kinda a noobie question, yeah, but i need to know.

 

[eXtr3me]

OMG please dont use lemon oil, it will be like a sin, cos you would destroy a nice innocent guitar. haha. just go to any guitar shop and ask for lemon oil, quite cheap one.
Anyway, there is not such thing as too often. Cos it depends on how often you use your guitar. I use mine a lot, i oil like every string change which is like fornightly? just make sure you clean off the excess oil.

 

[kym]

OMG please dont use lemon oil, it will be like a sin, cos you would destroy a nice innocent guitar. haha. just go to any guitar shop and ask for lemon oil, quite cheap one.
Anyway, there is not such thing as too often. Cos it depends on how often you use your guitar. I use mine a lot, i oil like every string change which is like fornightly? just make sure you clean off the excess oil.

so is dun use lemon oil or dun use lemon juice? haha. kinda a silly qns.

 

[Benster]

since, this thread is abt fingerboard, dun mind i ask abt rosewood fingerboard.

fenderben, how often should i oil my rosewood fingerboard. the previous owner of my guitar says everytime u change ur strings, which is around once every month. but i think he is overdoing it. just wanna get more opinions on this.

and the previous owner says use lemon oil. is lemon oil = lemon juice? kinda a noobie question, yeah, but i need to know.

you should oil a rosewood fingerboard when it starts looking pale and dry. the frequency depends on the humidity of where the guitar is most often played/stored. once a month is a bit often.

here in singapore, the humidity is quite high and fingerboards dont dry out quickly.

so i would say once every 3-6 months?

lemon oil is the commercial name of a kind of mineral oil that is often used for fingerboards. there's no lemon juice in it!

one common brand is Dunlop 65 lemon oil.

 

[fgl]

oil boards max once a year

 

[kym]

fenderben says once in 3-6 mths, fgl says once a year.

hmmm... both recommendations come from seasoned softies, which one to heed?

 

[Benster]

i oil my rosewood boards about once every 6 months or when they start looking dried out. some dry out sooner than others so it varies.

for ebony, once a year max.. ebony does not need as much, if any, oiling.