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How to clean a fretboard?

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6/15/2003 4:35 PM

How to clean a fretboard?

Hi guys, here is a bit of a dumb question that I'm sure you'll be able to answer...

The fretboard on my guitar is a bit grubby, just the usual grime that comes off your fingers. I always used to clean it off with wood alcohol (aka methylated spirits) but I have a nice guitar now and I'm scared of wrecking the paint job or damaging the inlays.

Are there any guitar techs out there who could recommend a less aggressive way of cleaning the fretboard?

Thanks

Steve C.

6/15/2003 4:46 PM

What kind of finish do you have on the fretboard?
(laquer or something else)
What kind of wood is the fretboard made of?
I usually use some nut oil (you simply cut in small pieces the nuts without shell,put the pices in a thin yet tight fabric,make a little bag by wrapping the ends and squeeze till you get some oil on the outside;then,you rub the fretboard with this ).This receipt is widely used by violin players who don't want to attack the precious oil laquer on their instruments with modern chemicals.

6/16/2003 9:32 AM

[QUOTE]What kind of finish do you have on the fretboard?
(laquer or something else)
What kind of wood is the fretboard made of?[/QUOTE]

It's made of rosewood and as far as I can tell it has no finish, just bare wood. The neck and sides of the fretboard are covered with some kind of lacquer, I don't know what kind. If it helps, the guitar is a PRS McCarty.

quote:
"I usually use some nut oil"

I never thought of that, what kind of nuts do you use?

Steve C.

6/16/2003 9:58 AM

It's the most average walnut,see a picture of the fruit (having the shell removed):
mdl.net/buna_ser/nuca3.jpg
The nut oil is a medium-volatile one,so you'll have to clean up your fingerboard after you applied the oil for ,say,10 min.
The other thing is the fruits have to be from recent production (last year),otherwise you'll break your hands trying to get a few drops....

The fact that your fingerboard is made from rosewood is a perfect match with the walnut oil....usually,this oil darkens a little the (light) woods when applied,but on rosewood is OK.
You may also consider the procedure mentioned by our friend in your topic,that's using the old credit (or telephone) card for removing the layer of crud/dirt around the frets.

6/16/2003 4:48 AM
Andrew	For the bulk of dirt removal I use a old credit card as a scrapper. The card will bend to the radius of the fretboard and will not mark the wood yet the edge will be hard enough to remove the dirt. After that I use face/skin cleaner that is designed to remove oil and dirt. Then oil the board with lemon oil. Simple enough. Andrew

6/16/2003 10:13 AM

Sorry,Andrew,but I cannot agree with you about using face/skin cleaners on guitar fretboards...
The only tolerable case is if you have a ebony fingerboard,because the ebony has very little pores and,usually,closed ones.
Most of the others fretboard woods used in the guitar industry are medium-to-big,semi-open pores woods (rosewood,wenge,etc),or the light-coloured woods (ash,alder,etc).The effect of such a cleaner is rather negative as the times go by,because in time you'll see that,instead to obtain a cleaned fretboard,in fact,it begins to accumulate the same mixture of residual chemicals/dirt/dust you wanted to get rid of.

6/16/2003 3:24 PM
Winnie Thomas	My 2 cents: I use very fine steel wool. Be sure to cover the pickups with a towell or othe cloth since they will pick up the little pices of steel that fall off. When It is clean I use StewMac fretboard oil. Winnie

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