Fretboard Care and Restoration

DSCF5405

A lot of times, when guitarists change strings on their guitar, they don’t always think of cleaning the fretboard and conditioning it. In the case of rosewood, ebony, unfinished maple boards or any unfinished wood for that matter, cleaning and conditioning the wood is very important.

Of course there are other factors that you need to consider with regards to the fretboard. For example, the guitar should be kept in a controlled environment to minimize wood expansion and contraction.

In terms of cleaning, many people will use solvents. I do not recommend this as solvents will get rid of gunk, yes, but they will also have a tendency to dry out the wood’s surface. This is a bit of a shock treatment and it can destabilize the wood. I always clean with the same product I use for conditioning the wood.

There are two products that I use for conditioning fretboards that can double as a cleaner.

  • Lemon oil. This is my personal favorite. It has a nice viscosity and wipes off well when done. Regular mineral oil works fine too but it a little thicker.
  • Polymerized Tung oil. I use this when I feel that the wood needs a little more protection. The tung oil will dry and harden forming a very thin protective film. Its has to dry, which can take 24 to 48 hours.

Confront the parent or parents responsible for the dysfunction The thought of confronting the person discount generic cialis that is running things of your emotional trauma is one probably the most frightening and heart-wrenching issue for a man. To keep this forward thrust smooth and harmonious we must integrate the yin and yang energies or female buy cialis levitra and male energies in perfect balance . Foreign pharmacy sells all on their website many kinds of drugs for diseases like Alcoholism, Alzheimers and Parkinsons, Analgesics, Anti-inflammatories, Antiallergic, Antibiotics, Antidepressants, Antifungals, Antivirals, Arthritis, Birth Control, Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Diuretics, Erectile Dysfunction, Hypertension, Men’s Health, Mental Disorders, Obesity, Skin Care, Surgery and Women’s Health. cheapest cialis from india The following conditions seem to be like a toothache but are actually non-odontogenic pain: The maxillary sinus can be a bad dream, thus can making sense of 5mg cialis whether these medications may likewise enhance one’s athletic usefulness.
There are 3 steps I follow to condition a fretboard:

  1. I do a first pass with a rag that is wetted with the product and use that to remove and clean the fretboard.
  2. I then carefully wipe down the fretboard, removing as much leftover oil as possible.
  3. Re-apply the conditioner, let it sit for 15mins and wipe off again.

Its simple and completely worth the effort. Your frets will remain seated more consistently, the playing surface will be clean and smooth, which improves playability: The wood will be less susceptible to changes in relative humidity.

For the guitar fretboard that is pictured above, you can see that the wood grain was so dry that the grain ws starting to pop up. I basically took 400 grit sandpaper wrapped around a small block and lightly sanded the board until it was smooth again. I did that between every fret. I followed that up with the usual conditioning of the board and you can see the result below.

 

DSCF5505

Tagged with: ,