Boiled linseed oil for rosewood?

Isis · 2011-03-02T11:59:16+00:00

I'm going to put new strings on my guitar tonight, so I'd like to oil my fretboard seeing as it's last proper setup happened almost two years ago. I found a...

Boiled linseed oil for rosewood?

Tonedef

Reinhard wrote: I read one uses raw linseed oil or even lemon oil. I bought some fret doctors years ago, good stuff.

Don't you want the oil to be "drying" (i.e coagulate?). That's why it needs to be boiled instead of raw.

Isis

See this is what confuses me. Some people proclaim you should only use boiled linseed oil while other reckon lemon oil is the way to go. I'll be mucho upset if my guitar starts leaking oil from its fretboard.

Tonedef

AFAIK luthiers' lemon oil is just mineral oil with some lemon-oil terpenes dissolved in it as a scent. Which means you can use plain baby oil as well.

Somebody stop me if I'm talking BS.

Isis

Hell No!!! There is no way I'm running baby oil into my shredding machine.

AlanRatcliffe

Boiled linseed oil is a drying oil so is a finish rather than a treatment and thus not suitable for rosewood or ebony fingerboards. most modern "boiled linseed oils are not even boiled - they add a polymerising agent to make it harden on contact with air. Raw linseed oil is a different thing and could be used in a pinch, but mineral oils are the way to go.

I like the Fret Doctor oil from beafifer.com for treating fingerboards (once a year or so) and plain old lemon oil for maintenance and cleaning.

PeteM

I use Dr. Duck's Axwax and String Lube as well as D'andrea Lemon Oil, which I bought about 10 year's ago. They're still half full. ?

Tonedef

Isis wrote: Hell No!!! There is no way I'm running baby oil into my shredding machine.

But... but... it will keep your hands so nice and soft!

Isis

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Boiled linseed oil is a drying oil so is a finish rather than a treatment and thus not suitable for rosewood or ebony fingerboards. most modern "boiled linseed oils are not even boiled - they add a polymerising agent to make it harden on contact with air. Raw linseed oil is a different thing and could be used in a pinch, but mineral oils are the way to go.

Oops. Too late now.

I did put a minute amount of Boiled linseed on my rosewood fretboard, although I did buff it off as soon as I put it on there. Here are a few pics (the first pics of my guitar, mind you. Hope I didn't steal her soul :0. This is exciting (yawn) stuff. So far I've done nothing but clean the frets and oiled the board. I got caught up in the cricket game between Ireland and England.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/isis112/100_2815.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/isis112/100_2817.jpg
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/isis112/100_2816.jpg

Something I am a bit concerned about are the screws that anchor my bridge to the body (aka the big screws on the side). They aren't very stable and rattle somewhat when the guitar is not strung. I can't imagine this being good for sustain. Is this normal?
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/isis112/100_2818.jpg

I'll chuck these bad boys on, tune her to drop C and give her a good clean.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/isis112/100_2819.jpg

AlanRatcliffe

Something I am a bit concerned about are the screws that anchor my bridge to the body (aka the big screws on the side). They aren't very stable and rattle somewhat when the guitar is not strung. I can't imagine this being good for sustain. Is this normal?

It's normal and not a problem. The strings pull everything tight when they are on.

Isis

>☹ I just botched my setup pretty badly lol. I seem to be out of touch. I don't know how I managed it but I completely messed up stringing my guitar. The g and high e is wound in reverse so now they turn the wrong way lol. Never watch tv while doing a setup.

I'm too embarrassed to post any pics of the finished job. On a weird note though, I've tuned my guitar to drop Db because the 54 felt a bit floppy in C.

Tonedef

Heh, my new guit is three a side with a somewhat unintuitive wind on the bottom 3, i'm gonna have to allocate a whole weekend for my first string change on it!

Reinhard

Don't feel bad. I've seen an employee at bothners explain to their fellow employee the low E goes on top.
Even stranger, people take their guitars there to be strung. It's just something I feel any guitarist needs to be able to do. Plenty of tutorials on google.