guitar care

[JDC]

what do you guys do/use to look after your guitars, as mine is 1 year and 7 months old and I think it needs a good seeing to because:

the fretboard (rosewood) is looking a bit dry, lemon oil will sort that out right?

the neck has got quite a bit darker in places, I'm guessing that's dirt that's built up (no idea what to do about it)

every screw and the pickups have rust (I don't know if that's really problem)

I think I should get a new rag to wipe down the strings with

[ToneMonkey]

What sort of finish is it on the neck?

Personally for the body of the guitar, I use Auto Glym Super Resin Polish that is left over from when I had my bike.  I put this on after giving it a go over with a slightly damp cloth.

To get some masking tape poo off my fretboard, I originally used some of the wifes nail varnish removing gel.  It was gel so easy to use, cheap and smelled of strawberries.  Waited for a day and lemon oiled it.  Came up lovely.

New screws and pup covers if they're rusty and you can be bothered.

[WezV]

if screws and stuff are rusty you can probably get a few cleans out of them before replacing them or just save yourself the bother and upgrade them all to stainless.  The rust can be removed with fine steel wool or finishing paper.

When you say the neck has got darker do you mean the back? - thats quite common on maple necks and is usually where its worn through to the wood and discoloured it if it was a thin finish on the neck.  Although you also sometimes see layers of gunk build up on the back of some necks and if this is really stubborn some lighter fluid normally helps clean it up (just rubbed in, no fire needed)

Lemon oil is a good choice for fretboards but dont bother buying any prepared stuff aimed at guitarists - you would be better off rubbing a lemon on your fretboard (please dont do this).  What you really need is pure lemon oil that can sometimes be found places that sell essential oils.

The other stuff makes your fretboard shiny for a day or two but it quickly becomes dull again.  I read somewhere some sciencey jargon about the proper lemon oils molecules being a similar size to the molecules of oil in ebony so it is able to replace them quite well when the beony dries out - - -  although that strikes me as complete guitar shop BS more suited to shampoo adverts

[dave_mc]

The other stuff makes your fretboard shiny for a day or two but it quickly becomes dull again.  I read somewhere some sciencey jargon about the proper lemon oils molecules being a similar size to the molecules of oil in ebony so it is able to replace them quite well when the beony dries out - - -  although that strikes me as complete guitar shop BS more suited to shampoo adverts

that would make sense, though obviously it could still be BS...

How about that raw linseed oil? i know dan erlewine says it's good, but i haven't seen it anywhere (not that i've been looking too hard...).

I know from my experience with "guitar shop" lemon oil, it's good for cleaning the fretboard, but doesn't really seem to add much to the wood... (that's what dan erlewine says, and i agree, basically)

[WezV]

not tried the linseed oil but you can find it at most diy shops or even wilkinsons stores so worth a try

[noodleplugerine]

Ok - When I change strings I do a few things (rhymes...).

Firstly, I clean frets with Planet Waves Fret Polishing System which I get free with packs of strings - Works great, I then clean, remove gunk from fretboard and oil it with Clarinet Bore Oil (Particularly the Leblanc one, my dad's a clarinetist) - Which works superbly, especially if you have harder woods for fretboards, ie Ebony etc.

I then polish the body and back of neck with Dunlop 65 Polish.

[38thBeatle]

I just thought that I would point out that Mrs 38th sell essential  oils in her shop and I have pinched some in the past for the old planks.

[WezV]

tbh i very rarely feel fretboards need re-oiling.

when i buy a slab of rosewood or ebony it is dull and grey - it gets shiny just by sanding it with very high grit paper and rubbing it down with 0000 wire wool. sometimes a dull peice will need a bt of oil to bring it to life but thats not always the case... by that logic the first thing i do is clean up fretboards with 0000 wire wool (pickups masked off) and quite often that is enough to return the shine to the board and the frets.  If it still looks a bit dry thats when the oils come out!!  And contraversially i rub a little danish oil into the board and then thoroughly buff it off - but thats usually only needed for particularly dry boards!!!!

[Kilby]

Wez

I was actually wondering the other day wether Ebony requires similar care to rosewood

I only ever had one reosewood fretboard that seemed to 'need' oiling, but it was on a real cheap LP copy, and no matter what was done it always looked as if it was really dry and was going to do something unpleasent.

then again it probably wasn't rosewood in the 1st place

[WezV]

nah probably just a lower grade rosewood.  You do get some bits that are drier than others - thats fairly normal variation.

It may have kept drying out because it needed an oil that set into the wood a bit more - most of the raw ones slowly evaporate over time.  With a repeatedly dry board like that i would have broken out the danish oil and it should stay shiny a bit longer.

also - its some people skin/sweat will dry out fretboards.  If somebody has more acidic sweat it will dry out quicker and definately need oiling.

i am not saying people shouldnt be oiling fretboards - it certainly doesnt do any harm.  But really its just another way to get the wood clean and buffed up .  the wood rarely actually "dries out" - or it takes a hell of a long time anyway

another issue is how much care goes inot the fretboard when the guitar is being built.  On a lot of factory guitars they sand to a certain grit, maybe wipe a bit of oil on to enhance the shine  and put it all togther.

what a lot of builders do is slightly wet (but certainly not saturate) the fretboard after it has been sanded which will cause all the loose fibres to swell.  then when its dry it gets fine sanded again.  This prevents moisture in the atmosphere from causing the same effect to happen which will cause a fretboard to feel drier because it will be slightly rougher.

since the factories dont tend to do this there fretboards can become rough with humidity, giving a rough feeling fretboard a good rub  with 0000 wire wool will essentially solve this wheras oiling wont for long

ebony does tend to stay smoother and slinkier than rosewood and generally i dont feel it needs more than a buff with the extra fine wire wool but oil wont hurt.

basically fretboard care comes down to a number of factors and solutions and its best to use a combination of them

[HTH AMPS]

thread resurection alert!!!

would this work? ....

[Philly Q]

thread resurection alert!!!

would this work? ....

NO!!

[Afghan Dave]

thread resurection alert!!!

would this work? ....

NO!!

[HTH AMPS]

was just kidding about the Jif, really.

I've got some Danish oil from Wilkos, should do the trick.

[Philly Q]

was just kidding about the Jif, really.

I thought you probably were!