How to clean and maintain maple and rosewood fretboard?

[dric]

after playing my guitar for a really long time, im starting to see signs of wear on my maple n rosewood fretboards of my guitars. so i was just wondering, how do i go about cleaning and maintaining my fretboards so they last longer. and what solvents to buy or whatsoever. thanks guys.

 

[Vaiyen]

ultimate lemon oil by dunlop. Most guitar shops have them.

 

[subversion]

CAUTION: lemon oil not for use with maple fretboards...

lemon oil is not a restoration fluid, it doesn't repair wear & tear, it cleans & conditions porous wood types.

 

[Vaiyen]

Sub you sure? It doesn't say so at the back of the bottle.
But I do recall the warning written on the Dunlop 01 and 02 bottles.

and also, how do we identify wear and tear on the fretboard? What can repair it?

 

[hofner]

...................

 

[dric]

well.....the maple one has like a few patches getting darker. likes its really dirty or something i dunno. the rosewodd one no signs yet...i just wanna know cos i still wanna maintain it.

 

[Vaiyen]

I like the look of seasoned maple fretboards.

 

[thor666]

Lemon oil is not needed for maple necks.

<Guitar Player Repair Guide> by Dan Erlewine, page 5: "And don't use the lemon oil mentioned below on a maple neck - it doesn't need it! Tape off the lacquered (note it doesn't describe about unfinished maple necks) wood with masking tape while cleaning the fret/fingerboard edge or polishing the fret tops."

 

[Vaiyen]

So I suppose non-lacquered necks do need lemon oil?

 

[thor666]

Nope it doesn't say that. Can't do a double negative.

I haven't seen a finished rosewood fretboard so I'll be inclined to say yes, all rosewood fretboards can use lemon oils.

basically it also says you don't need lemon oil for maple necks. Now this part is a bit confusing when he goes on to talk about "conditioning the fingerboard with oil", since almost 90% of the guitars I've seen are maple necks (with or w/o the rosewood fretboard.) I'll take it he means the fretboard.

btw sorry, it's page 8, not 5. (If you have the book.)

 

[thor666]

well.....the maple one has like a few patches getting darker. likes its really dirty or something i dunno. the rosewodd one no signs yet...i just wanna know cos i still wanna maintain it.

dric - yours is an unfinished neck? i've seen the dark marks on quite a few unfinished maple fretboard guitars. Don't think there's a solution to removing it actually. (seems like all the relic Hendrix etc guitars always come with it and they're never reconditioned to remove the dark marks. I could be wrong though.)

 

[popeye]

after playing my guitar for a really long time, im starting to see signs of wear on my maple n rosewood fretboards of my guitars. so i was just wondering, how do i go about cleaning and maintaining my fretboards so they last longer. and what solvents to buy or whatsoever. thanks guys.

the more you play, the more fret wear you'll get. It's inevitable I guess. we just have to live with it :lol:

SRV don't really bother about cosmetic of his guitar, so neither should we 8) hehehe. Ooops don't shoot me... :smt098

 

[sanXp]

Here's an article from jemsite on cleaning maple fretboards:
http://www.jemsite.com/tech/t_3other.htm#fbclean

 

[spikes]

well, for me i use a maple fretboard, so a normal FENDER polish would do...

 

[Lifehouse]

edit

 

[dric]

dric - yours is an unfinished neck?

no mines a finished neck.

yea ive seen the article on jemsite b4 about cleaning maple fretboards. but im not confident it isnt damaging to the fretboard. i mean, steal wooling it seems wrong to me. so was wondering if theres a better wat to do it yea. if not, i guess the best i can do is wipe it down once in a while. btw, are there any particluarly gd brands of lemon oil for my rosewood one? its starting to look really really dry.

For rosewood fretboards, you can use abit of tung oil to clean it.

whats tung oil? where can i get it?

 

[thor666]

yea ive seen the article on jemsite b4 about cleaning maple fretboards. but im not confident it isnt damaging to the fretboard. i mean, steal wooling it seems wrong to me. so was wondering if theres a better wat to do it yea. if not, i guess the best i can do is wipe it down once in a while. btw, are there any particluarly gd brands of lemon oil for my rosewood one? its starting to look really really dry.

i think u can just scrape the dirt off ur finished maple fretboard with a pick. do NOT use steel wool as u'll wear off the finish. can also try the "masking tape" thing i posted in the prev few thread to polish the frets and stuff.

 

[subversion]

we have to be careful with the term 'finished' here. this, in strict guitar terminology, refers to a colour + lacquer coated application. a good example would be Gibson's neck, where the rear (where you rest your thumb) has a pigmentation & lacquer application.

the finish on maple necks (eg: Fender) is simply a relatively thin sealant which is buffed at the factory to make it feel flushed with the wood material. if this sealant is absent, your guitar neck would feel like the bark of a tree, absolutely bare to the touch. thusfar, i've come across one such neck- Yamaha's Mike Stern signature model.

i haven't come across a finished maple/ rosewood fretboard, if you do, please link us your discovery.

 

[Jay_Clones]

For maple neck, try using lighter fluid (naphta) to clean out dirt stuck in those fret gaps.
It works.

 

[spikes]

For maple neck, try using lighter fluid (naphta) to clean out dirt stuck in those fret gaps.
It works.

Hendrix: Damn, why does this keeps happening? i was just trying ta clean my neck only...