BTW.....What do you mean when you say "frets have come up a little bit"? We do not want to apply products containing water to the natural finish of a guitar neck and fretboard. You do not want to apply a waxy residue to the fretboard, you merely want to clean it and leave a very thin oil protectant. Very fine steel fibers will cause a pickup to corrode and can actually alter your tone if they come in contact with your guitar strings! i do it a bit more than 1-2x a year, but that's just preference. How to Safely Clean and Protect a Rosewood or Ebony Fretboard Rosewood and ebony fingerboards are not finished with lacquer like the rest of the wood parts in your guitar. Just because you’re not working with a vintage instrument doesn’t mean that you’re completely out of the park yet, either. You should know that the finger board for your guitar needs to be cleaned as soon as you see a small amount of discoloration or dirt on the frets that you use most often. Any gurus here know how to cure it? works well. ... All of these things combined will dry wood and can cause cracks and some serious damage to the instrument. You use water. Make sure to keep your Guitar clean after each use with this genuine Fender Factory Microfiber Cloth, lint-free and nitrocellulose safe. Matter of fact, you can neglect your instrument so badly that your guitar can become unplayable! I use lemon oil to clean and olive oil to condition rosewood and ebony only if necessary. So...what are your go-tos for a dry rosewood fretboard? Regarding the beafifer product, the guys on the SD and Gear Page forums swear by it. A work mat is an easy way to upgrade your guitar's cleanup and repair process. The Dunlop Ultimate Lemon Oil is an amazing choice. but do like their lemon oil. If an oil with a high percentage of d-limonene were applied to a fretboard, it might even begin to loosen the bindings, fret markers or other trim. Since rosewood is a bit porous compared to ebony, it can offer warm, rich and softer sound. Some woods, like rosewood, are oily themselves. Rosewood and ebony are left untreated and the natural oils in the wood protect them. Even rosewood and PF can vary quite a lot in color, and both can be dry when you get them, but a little linseed or lemon oil will fix that on any fingerboard in no time, and will make them look darker. Some recent rosewood fretboards I've seen appear to be of lower grade/quality (dry appearance, lighter color and rough finish). The best way to take care of a rosewood fretboard is to apply oil to it (preferably mineral or almond oil) and spread it all over it. A fretboard that is dried out and cracked can lead to your binding coming loose or lead to fret wire. These are dense woods with different characteristics. But straight oil of some type, not for me. Aerosol furniture polishes contain waxes, petroleum distillates, emulsifiers (detergents), and lots and lots of water. They wipe it down with a clean damp cloth with water if played. It has oily pores and tight grains. Buy a good quality furniture oil. We may receive compensation from the companies whose products we review. You will be able to tell that your fretboard needs to be cleaned or conditioned if you notice that the darkness of your fingerboard is starting to fade and become lighter. I realize that rosewood is getting harder to come by and perhaps with that, compromise for grade and quality suffer. Anyone use it on their fretboard yet? Restore a like-new appearance and smooth feel to sanded wood. yup. The cleaning products that can be safely used on maple are unsuited to these woods. it keeps the fretboard nice and soft and it gets the 'gunk' out from that little embedded spot right next to the frets. Been using the same bottle for years now. Since d-limonene is the majority of lemon oil (or orange oil), we can look at its properties to determine why it is not suited for fretboard care. There are several different manufacturers who produce lemon oil, but you should never use furniture lemon oil on your fretboard because it contains unwanted additives that will damage your instrument. Playing on dry rosewood fretboard feels gritty and uncomfortable, so you’ll likely have to spend some time cleaning and maintaining it. Pour some wood oil soap on a piece of 0000 steel wool and then rub the soap onto the fretboard following the grain. Kind'a like orange paint doesn't have any oranges in it. If you happen to be working on an electric acoustic guitar or an electric guitar, cover the pickups of the guitar with the painters tape to prevent any of the steel fibers from collecting around these pieces. Remove neck, if bolted on. It's quite popular around these parts for numerous woodworking finishes. Are they "bowed" up at the ends or something? Safely clean up and preserve your Guitar's hardware, body and strings without using any cleaning solutions. A furniture oil may be placed on a clean rag and wiped around the hard to clean spots to assist the pad in removing the dirt. If that's the case, the stain goes into the damaged area, which makes me believe it was done after the botched fret job, perhaps to cover up other damage. A guitar needs to be kept in 40% to 70% relative humidity. Since I have 2 guitars with a rosewood fretboard, I don’t have to think about potential damage to the finish of my fretboard. The nut also fell off when I took the strings off. ), Ultraglide 65 String Cleaner and Conditioner (2 oz. This is good up to a point, but over time they dry out and get dirty and need to be cleaned, sealed, and reconditioned. Oiling once or maybe twice a year is usually more than enough.   Pasted as rich text. The maple neck bass just gets a polish.   Your previous content has been restored. Also the vapors of d-limonene are flammable with a flash point of about 124 degrees F. What are petroleum distillates? If you keep your instrument in a humid room or in a guitar case with a guitar humidifier with the correct humidity levels, your fret board isn’t going to need nearly as much attention and care. Delmar wrote:Buck, sometimes your dry humor slays me ... Just keep in mind that Martin seems to have chosen very dark rosewood for fretboards and bridges through most of the BRW era. Maple It feels terrible and looks terrible. Use enough oil so that you can cover the fretboard, then using a dry rag (or the dry corner of your oil rag), rub the oil into the wood.