Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: littleredguitars2 on October 22, 2013, 01:38:10 AM

Title: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: littleredguitars2 on October 22, 2013, 01:38:10 AM

 i have 7 guitars with a rosewood board. haha. go figure. looking for a good fretboard oil to darken it a bit and overall treat them. any suggestions?

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: Philly Q on October 22, 2013, 08:53:52 AM

Fret Doctor.

http://www.beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm (http://www.beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm)


Don't be put off by the hokey looking website, it's good stuff, much better than the lemon-scented mineral oils sold as "lemon oil".

It's not a stain, so it doesn't actually colour your board, but it does make it look darker, especially if it's a dry, open-pored piece of rosewood.  On the other hand I've got one LP with a very light-coloured but close-grained board (looks almost like pau ferro), and the Fret Doctor hardly changes the colour of that at all.

If you wanted to permanently stain your boards - to look like ebony, for example - there are products available for that too.  Try the Stewart-MacDonald website.

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: littleredguitars2 on October 22, 2013, 12:37:22 PM

thanks for the tips man. i'll definitely check them out

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: Afghan Dave on October 22, 2013, 01:03:11 PM

Leather dye to darken the rosewood.

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on October 22, 2013, 02:02:15 PM

Many companies use a leather dye to stain streaky ebony boards to a darker black.

I have a bottle of Fiebings dye that is good for this

http://www.fiebing.com/catalogue/dyes/ (http://www.fiebing.com/catalogue/dyes/)

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: Philly Q on October 22, 2013, 02:14:49 PM

Do those dyes start coming off again if you subsequently oil the fretboard?

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: 5F6-A on October 22, 2013, 03:15:30 PM

Another user of fret doctor here.

Love the stuff!!!

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: Lew on October 22, 2013, 09:10:13 PM

pffft just play it

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: littleredguitars2 on October 23, 2013, 01:10:08 AM

would i have to be careful not to get the dye on the frets or fret markers?

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: AndyR on October 23, 2013, 01:03:04 PM

Sounds like you're interested in the dye possibilities... but I'm another Fret Doctor user here :D

I do have some sympathy for Lew's "pffft just play it" :lol:, but I have to say that the best looking board I have, although it got like that from playing (and lemon oil, and Fast Fret), took some 20 years and hundreds of sweaty/greasy gigs to get like that!!! :lol:

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: Afghan Dave on October 23, 2013, 01:06:30 PM

Just dye it.. the dye wont stain plastic dot markers or metal frets, just the rosewood. I wouldn't know about real clay dots though. :)

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: ericsabbath on October 24, 2013, 06:05:09 PM

the fiebings leather dye they sell on stewmac is pretty good
if you're in the UK, I remember I bought mine from some guy on ebay UK

Title: Re: i'm lookin for a good oil to darken my fretboards. suggestions?
Post by: ericsabbath on October 24, 2013, 06:08:52 PM

you only gotta be careful if your bigger inlays and neck bindings are very worn, with marks and scratches
but it won't stain a plain surface