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Acoustic guitars

gavreid said:
Linseed oil. A few drops and wipe straight off. Lemon oil is most likely carcinogenic.
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I’d be very skeptical of using linseed oil as it sets hard as a rock and would effectively seal the board permanently, and I really don’t think that is what one wants. The Gibson stuff I use seems to be a very light oil/alcohol mix and it cleans and replenishes without sealing. In the past I’ve just given rosewood boards a good clean with a damp cloth and then a very light feed of kitchen olive oil without any issue. I bought the Gibson cleaning set a couple of years back when I got a Les Paul as I wanted to be absolutely sure I was using the right stuff, and they should know!
 
It's been used for generations Tony. Just a few drops, rub in, wipe off. You certainly don't want to be flooding the fingerboard with anything
 
I'm a bit worried now!

One of my guitars is a very nice Takamine steel strung acoustic and the other is an Admira Concert BM classical guitar. I'll need to do further research as what I should use, if anything, on the fretboard. I've no idea what either is made from.

I notice, on both guitars, that the fretboard is a lighter colour in the high use areas, not sure if that's my fingers wearing off the original finish or whether my fingers are cleaning off the muck that's built up over the years!

I saw a YouTube video from Taylor guitars which showed the luthier rubbing down fret board of a steel strung acoustic with fine (soft?) wire wool and then with a little linseed oil soaked into a cloth, and immediately wiped off with a dry cloth.

Interesting discussions..
 
Obvious point to make, but if you think about using wire wool on a guitar with pickups, be very careful that wire wool "bits" don't end up attracted to the magnets in the pickups....
 
Wow. I might well drop £100 or so on one of these too to go with my Tanglewood orchestra guitar.

I see you've already got something, but in case you want to augment this with a decent steel strung acoustic....

Haven't read all the pages in this thread, but I would have thought an Orchestra sized steel strung guitar would also ideal for those that don't want the bulk of a jumbo or dreadnought. I can also highly recommend looking out second hand examples of the premium offerings from the second tier makes like Tanglewood and Blueridge - RRP £700 or so, actual new selling price around £500, S/H £200-£250. I recently bought a mint Tanglewood TW40 for £200 locally, and it's superb.
 
And yeah, don't put linseed oil anywhere near your fingerboard. Very, very fine wire wool and some lemon oil is all you need to clean it up and seal it.
 
Fretboard oil wars will be hip on pfm soon, I tell you.

The United Olive Oil Army will have to keep its italian, spanish, moroccan and greek factions under control.
 
foxwelljsly said:
I see you've already got something, but in case you want to augment this with a decent steel strung acoustic....
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I’ve got the cheap 20 year old Epiphone AJ10 that really is surprisingly good. The neck is straight as an arrow, action almost like an electric and since sticking a fresh set of Martin 10s on it the thing really doesn’t play or sound like a cheap guitar. To be honest, aside from it probably being made by (surprisingly skilled) Malaysian children one would think it was a £500 guitar. It even has nice Grover machine heads! My only criticism with it is it is quite large (dreadnought shape) and therefore a bit louder and less comfortable to hold than I’d like. I’ll see how I get on with the old Yam once the strings arrive, possibly for a few months, and then decide whether to get a better acoustic of either type, or just stick where I am. The old Yam should facilitate quiet noodling in front of the TV etc quite well. I’m quietly confident it will play nicely once restung, my only doubts are what the intonation will be like up the neck as the bridge isn’t compensated at all, plus there has been a little movement over the past 48 years hence my having to work at the saddle. I’d like to be able to play jazz chords up to where the neck joins the body (12th fret) so it needs to be pretty decent in that regard.
 
foxwelljsly said:
And yeah, don't put linseed oil anywhere near your fingerboard. Very, very fine wire wool and some lemon oil is all you need to clean it up and seal it.
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Lemon oil is marketing guff. It may have a vague wiff of lemon scent but it's really petroleum distillates, yucky stuff.
 
gavreid said:
Lemon oil is marketing guff. It may have a vague wiff of lemon scent but it's really petroleum distillates, yucky stuff.
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Whatever. A friend of mine is a Luthier of many years experience and one of the UK's leading experts in the restoration of acoustic guitars that also used to do warranty work for Martin. She recommends the use of lemon oil for fretboard cleaning and dressing. You can have it out with her.
 
foxwelljsly said:
Whatever. A friend of mine is a Luthier of many years experience and one of the UK's leading experts in the restoration of acoustic guitars that also used to do warranty work for Martin. She recommends the use of lemon oil for fretboard cleaning and dressing. You can have it out with her.
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That's interesting but re Martin's faq on guitar care:

Can I use lemon oil on my fingerboard?
Martin Guitar does not recommend using lemon oil on the fingerboard. The acids in lemon oil break down the finish of your guitar. It may also speed the corrosion of the frets and decrease the life of your strings.
 
RichardH said:
Obvious point to make, but if you think about using wire wool on a guitar with pickups, be very careful that wire wool "bits" don't end up attracted to the magnets in the pickups....
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Masking tape over the pickups when using wire wool or doing any fret polishing/filing seems to be the one thing everyone agrees on.
 
My conclusion about the conflicting what to use to clean / condition your fretboard debates was:

1) Make sure it won't damage the finish if there is one which is almost always (?) only an issue on glossy maple boards.
2) A lot of the specialist products sold in tiny bottles at massive markup are something of a rip off. Lighter fluid (naptha) is great for cleaning really gunky fingerboards.
3) The only thing everyone is in agreement about is its better to use to little oil than too much.
 
I've spent a bit of time looking at what some of the big companies are recommending

Gibson: Gibson’s Luthier’s Choice Fretboard Conditioner. Alternately, you can rub one or two drops of oil (mineral, almond or linseed oil) into the fretboard to condition it. Make sure to wipe off excess oil with a soft, dry rag.

Taylor Own brand, free from lemon extracts, waxes, petroleum distillates, detergents and water

Martin: Not lemon oil

Collings: Fingerboards can occasionally dry out, but require only a very small amount of boiled linseed oil (thoroughly buffed) to restore. Less is always best.

Yamaha: Own brand
 
gavreid said:
That's interesting but re Martin's faq on guitar care:

Can I use lemon oil on my fingerboard?
Martin Guitar does not recommend using lemon oil on the fingerboard. The acids in lemon oil break down the finish of your guitar. It may also speed the corrosion of the frets and decrease the life of your strings.
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Then she is obviously involved in a scam to increase he refret jobs!
gavreid said:
That's interesting but re Martin's faq on guitar care:

Can I use lemon oil on my fingerboard?
Martin Guitar does not recommend using lemon oil on the fingerboard. The acids in lemon oil break down the finish of your guitar. It may also speed the corrosion of the frets and decrease the life of your strings.
Click to expand...

OK, we might have our strings crossed here - I'm talking about stuff like Dunlop 65 that is sold in guitar shops, not pure lemon oil. Pure Lemon oil is lethal. The stuff they sell in guitar shops contains little or no pure lemon oil and is perfectly good for, and designed expressly for the purpose of, cleaning and conditioning natural finish hardwood fretboards and is used by roadies and pros the world over and recommended by many guitar manufacturers.

I used it for years on the very Gibson J45 I sold to JTC of this parish.

But if you want to use something else, fill your boots.

Anyhoo, I suspect that this debate is raging elsewhere, so I'll bow out.
 
I have no idea what the Gibson stuff I linked to upthread is made from (it has no ingredients on the bottle), but, after a few applications, it has worked wonders on an absolutely bone-dry 48 year old Yamaha fretboard. It really does look as it should now. It doesn’t set rock hard like linseed oil either, which I view as an advantage, i.e. I view it as ‘feeding’ rather than ‘sealing’ the board.
 
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