What do y'all use to condition your fret boards?

[jimmyohio75]

Lin seed oil?
Lemon oil?
Other product?

[tdarian]

This is the stuff: http://www.beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm

[BrokenSky]

clean with lemon oil, condition with dr. ducks

[guitarman_nebr]

i use Dunlop's guitar cleaning system.....fretboard cleaner/conditioner then the deep conditioner.

[smolder]

Lemon oil

[aiq]

+1 on the Dunlop's

getting good results as well.

[Flyin' Brian]

I just play a lot. It seems that there's enough oil in my hands/fingers to keep the boards in pretty good shape. I've never had any issues for many years.

[Tone-Control]

http://elderly.com/accessories/items/GRP16.htm

Good stuff. I use it on my ebony boards.

[twinrider1]

Happy Fret Doctor user here.

[ventilator]

I've only used Gerlitz Guitar Honey, it seems to work okay.

[79stratman]

Linseed oil will darken to a black/brown as it oxidizes. This may be desireable for those who want a darker, more uniform looking fretboard. Otherwise use with caution.

[dspellman]

Linseed oil should only be used once, then not again for about 2 years. Then use it again, and then don't use it again for 10 years, according to Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars. It's not an oil, but a varnish that polymerizes inside the wood.

I use plain old mineral oil or furniture polish grade lemon oil, whichever is cheaper and handier. Nothing actually works better than this, no matter what you pay for it. Wipe it on, wait a few minutes, wipe it off. You do NOT want the oil to penetrate beyond that (Fret Doctor's website is junk science) and you do not want to leave it on for a long period of time. It'll penetrate, all right, and then it'll leech out again, ruining a nice new set of strings.

Just remember that you're NOT "replenishing vital oils" on a fretboard; the wood has enough "vital oils" in it to last several centuries. You're not moisturizing it, either (that requires humidification, not a topical oil) -- in fact, the oil is used to block excess moisture and acids and dirt from your fingers. It's mostly a cosmetic application, and a two-dollar large bottle of mineral oil is all you need. Feel free to toss your money at tiny bottles of other stuff if you wish, however.

[Darkburst]

Fret Doctor is the best I've found. A little bottle lasts a long time if you only have a couple of guitars.

[larimar]

Kyser.

[gag halfrunt]

Linseed oil should only be used once, then not again for about 2 years. Then use it again, and then don't use it again for 10 years, according to Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars. It's not an oil, but a varnish that polymerizes inside the wood.

I use plain old mineral oil or furniture polish grade lemon oil, whichever is cheaper and handier. Nothing actually works better than this, no matter what you pay for it. Wipe it on, wait a few minutes, wipe it off. You do NOT want the oil to penetrate beyond that (Fret Doctor's website is junk science) and you do not want to leave it on for a long period of time. It'll penetrate, all right, and then it'll leech out again, ruining a nice new set of strings.

Just remember that you're NOT "replenishing vital oils" on a fretboard; the wood has enough "vital oils" in it to last several centuries. You're not moisturizing it, either (that requires humidification, not a topical oil) -- in fact, the oil is used to block excess moisture and acids and dirt from your fingers. It's mostly a cosmetic application, and a two-dollar large bottle of mineral oil is all you need. Feel free to toss your money at tiny bottles of other stuff if you wish, however.
Yea, right. I guess wood never cracks due to drying out, does it?

Your assertion falls apart under the light of experience. Cracked or twisted wood can and does return to its pre-dryed out state when properly re-moisturized. I have restored lots of wood products this way, from small wooden instruments to large pieces of furniture. It works.

The CORRECT conditioner is not a topical oil. A product that actually penetrates deep into the wood fibers DOES moisturize the wood. That is the product that is needed. The problem is that most products that get recommended are only topical (like mineral oil and furniture polish)

You really need to check your facts before posting in such an (assumed) authoritative way.

[dspellman]

Yea, right. I guess wood never cracks due to drying out, does it?

Your assertion falls apart under the light of experience. Cracked or twisted wood can and does return to its pre-dryed out state when properly re-moisturized. I have restored lots of wood products this way, from small wooden instruments to large pieces of furniture. It works.

You're absolutely correct. And if you'd read my "assertion" you'd have seen that I said that "moisturization requires humidification." In short, exactly what you said and we agree line for line.

The CORRECT conditioner is not a topical oil. A product that actually penetrates deep into the wood fibers DOES moisturize the wood. That is the product that is needed. The problem is that most products that get recommended are only topical (like mineral oil and furniture polish)No oil-based product moisturizes the wood. That (once again) can only be done with humidification, as you've stated as well. For anyone who doesn't understand this, talk to Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars. Or read their .pdf files regarding maintaining and renewing guitars (here's one: www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/greatest_hits.pdf (http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/) ) Or check their Youtube videos (start here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43sbE9n7zv4 ). If you truly have dry wood, that's the only thing that's going to fix it -- as you well know.

The whole business of "conditioning" your fretboard is, as you've noted, topical and cosmetic (as I stated). Gibson and Epiphone (when it was a separate company producing great guitars) have long suggested three products for maintenance of your guitars: mineral oil, naptha and johnson's paste wax (or an equivalent carnauba paste wax). I have an Epiphone Emperor from 1939 and an old 1949 ES-175, both with ancient hang tags that suggest using naptha for cleaning where necessary, followed by mineral oil (and later lemon oil, meaning the furniture polish stuff which is mostly mineral oil with a bit of naptha or other thinners in it) wiped on and wiped off again for the fretboard, and paste wax on the finish and metal parts. Contrary to some folks' fears, there's no "waxy buildup" or loss of "tone" with waxing the finish, and this also helps to prevent metal corrosion. I have approximately fifty guitars that I maintain this way, and some have been in my care for over 40 years. It works beautifully.

You really need to check your facts before posting in such an (assumed) authoritative way.I'd suggest reading carefully before posting.

[mullytron]

Fret Doctor user here on nicer instruments and repairs. It also seems safe on or near finishes, unlike some oils.

For mass-market guitars, I use the Planet Waves HYDRATE because it's in the shop. It seems to work fine. Anyone know what's actually in it?

[CRAIG4FSU]

EB wonder wipes

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Ernie-Ball-Wonder-Wipes-Fretboard-Conditioner?sku=421149

[Polynitro]

I use boiled linseed oil, is there a difference?

[Tone_Terrific]

"Gibson™ Luthier's Choice Professional Quality Fretboard Conditioner"

Can it get better than that?:D

[bluesjuke]

This is the stuff: http://www.beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm


Nothing but Fret Doctor will ever touch my boards.

[fritferret]

dr. ducks

[AaeCee]

Nothing but Fret Doctor will ever touch my boards.Same here.

[stratman89]

Fret Doctor for sure!

This product has amazed me as much as when I first tried Virtuoso Polish and Cleaner.

[soundbee]

Extra Virgin Olive oil!

Not kidding... Works great, I use it mostly for cleaning - just a couple dabs on a paper towel. Been doing this for 25+ years on an ol acoustic and a couple other guitars w/ rosewood and ebony boards. Got this tip from an old carpenter / luthier.

Ok bring on the salad jokes.

[FlyingDutchman]

Gerlitz guitar honey..I love that stuff for all my rosewood fretboards.

[dspellman]

I use boiled linseed oil, is there a difference?

Boiled linseed oil isn't actually boiled (at one time it was heated, but not boiled, to shorten drying time) these days. Today most products labeled as "boiled linseed oil" are a combination of raw linseed oil, petroleum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum)-based solvent and metallic dryers. The point is to shorten drying time, which can be very long with raw linseed oil.

[dspellman]

Extra Virgin Olive oil!

Not kidding... Works great, I use it mostly for cleaning - just a couple dabs on a paper towel. Been doing this for 25+ years on an ol acoustic and a couple other guitars w/ rosewood and ebony boards. Got this tip from an old carpenter / luthier.

Ok bring on the salad jokes.

Both Olive Oyl...er...oil and linseed oil are edible oils and both can go rancid, in theory. But EVOO works as well as anything for fretboard conditioning.

[gag halfrunt]

You're absolutely correct. And if you'd read my "assertion" you'd have seen that I said that "moisturization requires humidification." In short, exactly what you said and we agree line for line.

No oil-based product moisturizes the wood. That (once again) can only be done with humidification, as you've stated as well. For anyone who doesn't understand this, talk to Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars. Or read their .pdf files regarding maintaining and renewing guitars (here's one: www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/greatest_hits.pdf (http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/) ) Or check their Youtube videos (start here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43sbE9n7zv4 ). If you truly have dry wood, that's the only thing that's going to fix it -- as you well know.

The whole business of "conditioning" your fretboard is, as you've noted, topical and cosmetic (as I stated). Gibson and Epiphone (when it was a separate company producing great guitars) have long suggested three products for maintenance of your guitars: mineral oil, naptha and johnson's paste wax (or an equivalent carnauba paste wax). I have an Epiphone Emperor from 1939 and an old 1949 ES-175, both with ancient hang tags that suggest using naptha for cleaning where necessary, followed by mineral oil (and later lemon oil, meaning the furniture polish stuff which is mostly mineral oil with a bit of naptha or other thinners in it) wiped on and wiped off again for the fretboard, and paste wax on the finish and metal parts. Contrary to some folks' fears, there's no "waxy buildup" or loss of "tone" with waxing the finish, and this also helps to prevent metal corrosion. I have approximately fifty guitars that I maintain this way, and some have been in my care for over 40 years. It works beautifully.

I'd suggest reading carefully before posting.
I read your post carefully, and we do not agree. You say the only thing that can re-moisturize wood is water. That is not true.

Water is definitely the easiest, but it's only possible to use it on the enclosed sound box on acoustic or classical guitars, and that's not what the OP was asking about. You assert that wood has enough oil (and the presumed moisture in general) to last it for centuries. Also untrue. If it was, dehydration due to environmental conditions wouldn't wreak the havoc that it does.

As I said, the procedure of restoring a cracked top or back of an acoustic is much easier than an exposed fretboard, due to fact that the unfinished sections are on the inside, where you can use Damp-its or other similar water-retaining items inside the sound box to rehydrate the guitar. Back in the day, some guitarists just threw apple cores into their guitars to add moisture. You can't do these things to a fretboard, because the water vapor isn't able to be absorbed in the same way. Inside the acoustic, the water evaporates into the air as vapor, and because it's in an enclosed space with wood that is much dryer than the air, the water is able to be absorbed into the wood.

This is a critical distinction to understand. The inside of an acoustic guitar CAN be repaired via allowing water vapor to be absorbed SLOWLY. A fretboard cannot be repaired this way. If it is cracked, you must add moisture, but you can't use water. It would be great if you could, but you can't.

For this reason, you have to use a product applied to the surface on a fretboard, and it has to penetrate as deep as possible. Mineral oil doesn't. Linseed oil will, to a certain degree, but it also seals up the wood and prevents any additional absorption. As you correctly stated, linseed oil is actually a varnish, and is designed to create a permanent or semi-permanent seal. It also has the unfortunate effect (unfortunate, unless you have an ebony fretboard), of blackening the wood. That is obviously a problem, if you are trying to restore wood back to its original, pre-cracked status. If you are trying to add more moisture to something, you don't want a varnish to close it off to additional absorption.

I have restored many exposed cracked wood projects. I have tried mineral oil, and it is ineffective. And most other products recommended by guitarists are just expensive versions of mineral oil (whether we're talking furniture polish, or what is often referred to as 'lemon oil'). Naptha is even worse, as it is a natural dehydrant (it's ok as a cleaner, but only if you are going to condition your board properly right afterwards). They just don't work. Some of them make the guitar smell good, but as a preventative measure, they are useless.

[gag halfrunt]

Both Olive Oyl...er...oil and linseed oil are edible oils and both can go rancid, in theory. But EVOO works as well as anything for fretboard conditioning.

Woohoo, something we can agree on ;)

[dspellman]

"Gibson™ Luthier's Choice Professional Quality Fretboard Conditioner"

Can it get better than that?:D

I think you'll find that's mostly mineral oil, too, with a few solvents tossed in. It's put up in tiny bottles and sold at higher prices that way. I think it's about $3 when included in the three pack of conditioner, string cleaner and polish for $10. You get about an ounce and a half.

A gallon of mineral oil can be had at around $13, maybe less. That's 128 ounces at around a dime an ounce.

[crzyfngers]

it's a very precise combination of sweat, drool and beer. trade secret, don't ask.

[Polynitro]

Boiled linseed oil isn't actually boiled (at one time it was heated, but not boiled, to shorten drying time) these days. Today most products labeled as "boiled linseed oil" are a combination of raw linseed oil, petroleum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum)-based solvent and metallic dryers. The point is to shorten drying time, which can be very long with raw linseed oil.

ok so its good to go then? I know when things are boiled or heated the molecules can isometerize (sp-chemically change via heat) I only treat my 1 rosewood neck guitar maybe 2 times a year. I believe it stays oiled enough from the natural oils in my hands. One of these days Im gonna get some Fret DR, that stuff has pretty avid fans.

[VaughnC]

Blood, sweat, & tears...and a drop or two of rosewood oil if I run out of the previously mentioned body fluids ;).

[kirs]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WdJU0oh8L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[Demioblue]

http://www.firstqualitymusic.com/images/product/2652/P_2652_L00.jpg

This. The most convenient product on the market to date.

[dspellman]

ok so its good to go then? I know when things are boiled or heated the molecules can isometerize (sp-chemically change via heat) I only treat my 1 rosewood neck guitar maybe 2 times a year. I believe it stays oiled enough from the natural oils in my hands. One of these days Im gonna get some Fret DR, that stuff has pretty avid fans.

You want to use linseed oil (boiled or raw) *very* sparingly. Bob Taylor (Taylor Guitars), in their publication Wood&Steel, recommended that if you use linseed oil at all, you use it once. Then not again for two years. Then not again after that for ten years.

It's a finish, not an oil. If you use it as you would mineral oil, you can get to a point where you open your case and find a sticky mess. If you have a gun stock finished in boiled linseed oil (Tru-Oil, etc.) you do NOT condition it with more linseed oil.

Fret Doctor claims to penetrate deeper than mineral oil. The real question is whether that's really any benefit at all. I bought a bottle of it several years ago, and have used it on just one of my guitars (the rest get standard mineral or lemon oil, depending on what I have sitting around). In the end, that fretboard is no better off than any of the others. And at six bucks for a teeny bottle, that, to me, simply means that I'm lining that guy's pocket for no good reason.

[Polynitro]

yeah I noticed a few days my tele was a tad greasey after using the linseed. I applied just enough to darken the wood, let it sit for 10 minutes then blotted out the excess. Im just gonna not do anything for a year. The only reason I did anything was because my Squier CVC tele the board looked dry when I bought it, probably from being on a boat from China for 3 months.

[eyeball987]

I use Dr. Ducks on my LP's. Works great for me.

[Dev...in]

i use olive-oil (evoo) because its handy and it works, ive used it in instrument finihsing with lacquer too. ive only ever needed one or two treatments for my rosewood to darken up and look happy, just a penny size drop on a paper towel. i wait about 15 mins than wipe off as much as possible. I have heard the "rancid" theory before and after two years since my last board's treatment it smells great. I understand theirs alot of money to be made in the snake-oil buisness.

[fatb0y]

Fret Doctor

[440gtx6pak]

I use Bore oil ... http://www.wwbw.com/Selmer-Bore-Oil-468250-i1431145.wwbw?source=TWFRWXX&CAWELAID=455165771

Scott Lentz, who builds custom guitars uses it, so I decided to give it shot. Works great and its dirt cheap.

[buddyrama]

Dr. Duck's

[Big B]

Unicorn tears...with my playing, I need all the mojo I can get!

[Big B]

...and Fret Doctor when I can't find a unicorn.

[Shiny_Beast]

time... lol

[Rickenbacker53]

I use nothing for the most part. What for?? If I clean the dirt off I use something called lizard spit..Works great and doesn't leave any residue..Alot of guys use nothing..Don't clean them at all..

[Trebor Renkluaf]

http://www.peacocknine.com/pages/Discussion_files/skippy.jpg
After all I want to "fuel the fun"!
:D