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how to Clean a real dirty rosewood fingerboard!!


Paulocon

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Hi all, I know this topic might and should have been covered already - but my newish guitar a '1997 Korean Les Paul' Goldtop has such a dirty and grimy fretboard, I really need advice on how to 'properly' clean it etc. I have been reading up on products like 'Dunlop 65 formula' and 'Guitar Honey' from Gerlitz etc. But what would you recommend (cleaners or products) to scrub the grime and dirt from the fretboard to get it ready...before I treat it and apply any of these products to it etc.

 

Please advise....

 

Cheers

 

Paulocon

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If there's a big build up of gunk, many use a credit card or similar to scrape as much of that gunk off as possible first, then I'd recommend naptha to help dissolve and remove any other greasy remnants, once the naptha has evaporated then a fretboard conditioner or the oil of your choice (there's sooo many, everyone has their own preference) to seal and protect the fretboard.

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If there's a big build up of gunk, many use a credit card or similar to scrape as much of that gunk off as possible first, then I'd recommend naptha to help dissolve and remove any other greasy remnants, once the naptha has evaporated then a fretboard conditioner or the oil of your choice (there's sooo many, everyone has their own preference) to seal and protect the fretboard.

 

Hi there, thanks for your response - but I don't know what naptha is, could you explain in more detail what it is and what I should use with it to remove the grime and dirt. Its not between the frets it more all over the actual wood of the fretboard, so it just needs a good scrub. Would a soft toothbrush be a good idea to use to clean away the dirt with this naptha thing etc.

 

Cheers

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Hi there, thanks for your response - but I don't know what naptha is, could you explain in more detail what it is and what I should use with it to remove the grime and dirt. Its not between the frets it more all over the actual wood of the fretboard, so it just needs a good scrub. Would a soft toothbrush be a good idea to use to clean away the dirt with this naptha thing etc.

 

Cheers

Naptha is probably better known as lighter fluid, it's a reasonably mild solvent and should be available at most hardware stores, normally a rag is used to rub it on, and a clean rag to wipe it off, if the grime build-up is extreme I suppose a toothbrush could be used to help do a little scrubbing, just make sure to wipe the excess off as you proceed.

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As Willy mentions, if you want to polish the frets with steel wool at the same time it's a good idea to mask off the pickups to stop the metal scraps from entering the pickup cavity and/or sticking to the pickups, they are magnetic after all.

 

But I wouldn't bother with masking off the fretboard, this is a long an tedious process, instead I would recommend making up some "auto maskers" as I explain in this post (link below), it's much, much quicker and very easy to do.

 

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/65795-ngd-xaviere-xv-560-take-2/page__view__findpost__p__913900

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For cruddy fretboards I use regular guitar polish or for really bad gunk I use Lemon oil and one of the non-metallic scouring pads such as you use on Teflon-that way there's no chance of metal dust or pieces getting fouled in your pickups.BTW an old but stiff tooth brush can do the trick too.

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This is probably the third or fourth time I've posted this. It works great. Everyone has their own methods, but I'm sticking with this. The easiest, cheapest, and most effective solution I have found.

 

DV016_Jpg_Large_425271_box_V.jpg

Hi there, Not seen this kit before - looks just the job. I take it you use the 01 solution to scrub and clean the fretboard, then apply the 02 solution to restore the fretboard back to its usual finish. Is this correct? If so, its just what I'm after etc. Should I need to apply anything or any other oils after using the 02 solution eg. guitar honey or lemon oil to the fretboard - or should the 02 solution be enough to restore it. (my fretboard is such an ugly tone of rosewood at the moment and is so grimy and dirty) I want to get it back to a nice rich dark looking wood finish etc.

 

Cheers for all the help as always!!!

 

Paulocon

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I usually start with a wash cloth or a sock to scrub as much grime off as I can. Then, I will use a little lemon oil to do it again, using it in a way to break up the grime and clean it. So, I do one space at a time so it does not evaporate on me.

 

I Don't like to use steel wool as a regular cleaning method, just because on the whole getting oils in the fretbaord from the wool is something else to clean out, but I do use it to polish frets when it is time. The scour type kitchen pads is a good alternative to steel wool in that it doesn't shed or leave oils, but it does scratch some being not as fine as 0000 steel wool, so following up with steel wool takes care of that in completeness.

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Hi there, Not seen this kit before - looks just the job. I take it you use the 01 solution to scrub and clean the fretboard, then apply the 02 solution to restore the fretboard back to its usual finish. Is this correct? If so, its just what I'm after etc. Should I need to apply anything or any other oils after using the 02 solution eg. guitar honey or lemon oil to the fretboard - or should the 02 solution be enough to restore it. (my fretboard is such an ugly tone of rosewood at the moment and is so grimy and dirty) I want to get it back to a nice rich dark looking wood finish etc.

 

Cheers for all the help as always!!!

 

Paulocon

 

You shouldn't need anything else. The fretboard on my SG was VERY dry and also a very light tint before I used this and now it looks and feels great. I used the conditioner 2 or 3 times after I cleaned mine because the fretboard seemed to almost "soak" it all up when I applied it the first time. I guess that's how dry it actually was. Now it plays much better and looks great too, very rich and darker looking as you said. That kit also comes with a "micro-fiber" thing to polish the frets with.

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For cruddy fretboards I use regular guitar polish or for really bad gunk I use Lemon oil and one of the non-metallic scouring pads such as you use on Teflon-that way there's no chance of metal dust or pieces getting fouled in your pickups.BTW an old but stiff tooth brush can do the trick too.

"Ditto", What Supersonic101 said. Lemon oil cuts it and treats it at the same time, and leaves your fretboard "Lemony Fresh" to boot! [thumbup]

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