Fret Board Tireness

[rich315]

Hello,

After some advice, i have a maverick bass, and the fretboard is VERY tired looking, i polished the frets up as shown in tutorial and followed all steps spot on,

i then applied lem oil ot the neck to give it a good lusture ( neck is rosewood) and in the grain it has almost white marks keep appearign when dries out, i cant think of anythign else to do, it comes back after lem oil treatment looking even duller or faded

it isnt a dark rosewood but it looks like CR*P now....

any advice or solutions please help smile.gif

Rich

[SwedishLuthier]

Generally, if the fretboard is really dried out I would not use lemon oil. Lemon oil is (IMHO) more of a cleaner than a good fret board oil. We all have our favourites but (once again my personal opinion) lemon oil just doesn’t add much at all to a dry board. I would rather use tung oil or maybe linseed oil or something a bit “heavier” than lemon. Cut the oil with the appropriate thinner for a first application or two to really get it to penetrate the wood. Then follow with uncut oil for at least two applications. You must also not forget to wipe off any excess oil after 10 to 20 minutes (depending on oil type) every time you apply the oil. Else you will get a sticky mess that will be very tough to get off. As always: Practice on scrap.

But in this particular case a picture of your tired fretboard would help a lot to determine what the problem might be.

[rich315]

The photos should be attached, yes i am aware my legs are in them ... and before the jokes come, no they arent in need of oiling , only the fret board lol

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii15/rich315/P1010105.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii15/rich315/P1010103.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii15/rich315/P1010102.jpg

hopefully that should be able to see pics if not just copy the URL.

These are best pics i can take of it, i will probably use linseed oil liek suggested but what thinner would you advise to start with?

[SwedishLuthier]

Linseed oil thinned with ligroin is the same thing as teak oil and is available ready mixed. Try that. But as always: try only at a tiny part to see how it works out before you move on to the entire board.

[zyonsdream]

I'd use boiled linseed oil as the curing time is much less than plain linseed.

Am I he only one that likes the patina look a board gets with age?

[rich315]

i like the look of tired or worn guitars but i want this to be tidy as was my first bass, if i used naptha then should i use the boil linseed then?

[syxxstring]

I don't think linseed oil is the way to go on rosewood. I would use an oil designed for fretboards or hardwoods. Linseed oil is going to give you a film finish, if it works at all with rosewood. What you want is a conditioning oil.

[Prostheta]

Lemon oil is rubbish unless you're cleaning gunk off a fretboard. Condition with linseed. Virtually all of my guitars have various types of rosewood boards and they have all benefitted from a degunk with lemon oil, ragging clean and a very very light oiling. I can't stress LIGHT enough however....unless you want a tacky board that gunks up like hell :-D

[KeithHowell]

Raw Linseed oil works wonders on cricket bats, which take a serious pounding, so on fretboards it should be more than adequate.

Keith

[SwedishLuthier]

Linseed oil is going to give you a film finish, if it works at all with rosewood.

No it won’t give you a film. Not if applied correctly. Cut the oil with some appropriate thinner, apply the oil and let it sink into the wood for 5-10 minutes (15 at most) and wipe off all excess oil. Reapply if nessesary. Work like a dream. My preferred oil is tung, but linseed works fine if used correctly. I have used cut linseed oil several times on rosewood.

[syxxstring]

Seems like this is the thing I learn today. I'm just starting to work with these types of finishes, I've spent all my time recently on Airbrush/Kustom Automotive stuff.

[guitar2005]

Hello,

After some advice, i have a maverick bass, and the fretboard is VERY tired looking, i polished the frets up as shown in tutorial and followed all steps spot on,

i then applied lem oil ot the neck to give it a good lusture ( neck is rosewood) and in the grain it has almost white marks keep appearign when dries out, i cant think of anythign else to do, it comes back after lem oil treatment looking even duller or faded

it isnt a dark rosewood but it looks like CR*P now....

any advice or solutions please help smile.gif

Rich

It looks like you have some dust in the rosewood pores. If you applied oil over that, you probably gunked it up. I always vacuum and shoot compressed air after sanding.

Maybe its not too late. Clean the thing with some naphta, let dry thoroughly, shoot compressed air to try and get as much crap out of there as you can. If the color remains, I would stain the fretboard with a color that matches the rosewood as closely as possible, then, cover with 1-2 coats of tung oil type of finish

[rich315]

just liek to say massive thanks for the advice, i had polished my frets then i used some lighter fluid (naptha) and rubbed it into the grain with tooth brush, then mixed boiled linseed oil in with white spirit to thin it 50/50 ratio, and applied for 10 mins VERY lightly and buffed up by hand then once restrung it plays soooo smooth and fast now, an ESSENTIAL thing to do on any tired neck