Alternative to Lemon oil for fretboard?

Neil-Nitro

Hi guys.

So I'm curious if its an absolute must that you use lemon oil on your fretboard or is there something else?
Working with wood I have used teak oil very much on the job and it nourishes wood as well. It seems to do everything lemon oil does just without the pleasant smell! Though I want to be sure I won't be making a horrible mistake by using it on a fretboard. ?

P.S I just saw that I posted this in the wrong place.... Sorry guys.

AlanRatcliffe

Any non-drying mineral oil will work for the same purpose - cleaning a board without deep penetration. Great for cleaning a board with each string change.

Proper plant based non drying oils like walnut and teak work well to condition a board deeply, replacing lost moisture and darkening it, but you have to be careful not to overapply or it penetrates down to the neck and affects the stability. So used once (maybe twice) a year is enough.

The problem with "teak" oils, is that few of them are that, most are really wiping varnishes - similar to drying oils like tung or linseed. They don't penetrate far and seal the wood. Decent as wood finishes, but not for fingerboard treatment.

Neil-Nitro

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Any non-drying mineral oil will work for the same purpose - cleaning a board without deep penetration. Great for cleaning a board with each string change.

Proper plant based non drying oils like walnut and teak work well to condition a board deeply, replacing lost moisture and darkening it, but you have to be careful not to overapply or it penetrates down to the neck and affects the stability. So used once (maybe twice) a year is enough.

The problem with "teak" oils, is that few of them are that, most are really wiping varnishes - similar to drying oils like tung or linseed. They don't penetrate far and seal the wood. Decent as wood finishes, but not for fingerboard treatment.

Thanks Alan.

AlanRatcliffe

BTW... Dunlop have a good conditioning oil, but the best I've found is Fret Doctor directly from www beafifer.com - it's basically the high quality bore oil that woodwind players use for their instruments (which are usually ebony or grenadilla).

Big-G

Alan, would you use lemon oil on a finished maple board?

G!

AlanRatcliffe

Nope -would be messy and leave oil residue all over the place. Naptha does the trick there. Polish does OK to clean the fingerboard, but doesn't clean the frets themselves.

I once walked into a popular Cape Town store and saw a staff member oiling the maple fingerboard of a customer's Strat - with the strings still on. ??? Would have liked to see the mess that made after a few weeks when some dust and dirt had been added into the mix.

Ray

Alan once gave a bit of a rev for FretDoctor on this forum. I ordered some from beafifer and it is good. Another product that Joe Moore gave to me is called something like Dux oil but it's outside in the workshop and it's too cold to go there now to check the name. It's got a pic of a duck on it and it works well also.

Neil-Nitro

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Nope -would be messy and leave oil residue all over the place. Naptha does the trick there. Polish does OK to clean the fingerboard, but doesn't clean the frets themselves.

I once walked into a popular Cape Town store and saw a staff member oiling the maple fingerboard of a customer's Strat - with the strings still on. ??? Would have liked to see the mess that made after a few weeks when some dust and dirt had been added into the mix.

Woah that's bad service right there!