Fret Wood

[Izzy]

I went to the G shop and got Dunlop cleaner and Dunlop lemon oil.

 

I was about to go to town on the ladies, but I decided to read instructions first.

 

"Not for use on maple fretboard." What the...? Okay so I'm good with that but now I'm like, "what are my fret boards made of?" I never cared before, now I have to <_< This is what I get for caring

 

I've been looking online but it seems that guitars of all kinds come with fretboards of all kinds at all years, so there's no gold standard, "Teles always have maple FB always always" or do they?

 

Is there an easy way to tell the woods apart (color, texture)?

 

...maple is always buttery and smooth like, right? They wouldn't dye the thing dark like ebony would they?

...come to think of it my 73 SG has a DARK fretboard but its supposed to be rosewood but it is DARK?

...is the lemon just too abrasive for maple or something?

[RowdyMoon]

As far as Gibsons go Maple fretboard wasn't used till 2012......I think Fender have only 2( I could be wrong tho)..either dark rosewood or very light (natural) maple.

[Izzy]

Thanks Rowdy,

 

Also, the polish cleaner sais, "don't use on scratched or cracked surfaces." My old SG is nothing but scratches. She has some deep ones and there are areas with polish left on but not many.

 

Should I use the lemon on all of her since she has no "finish" left?

[Versatile]

A couple of points which may be relevant...(your personal mileage may vary :blink:)

 

Maple fretboards are often sealed with durable lacquer/varnish...therefore not absorbent in or out regarding oils etc...

 

Some players love the linseed oil based conditioners

 

Some furniture products (IMX) like wax or polish, if used cautiously, can nourish wood effectively

 

V

 

[pippy]

Your SG will have a Rosewood 'board. Of that there is no doubt.

Back in those days Gibson used Rosewood for all models of SG except the Custom which used Ebony.

 

Rosewood comes in different shades of brown. Usually it is dark- to very-dark brown but some are so dark as to appear almost black.

With age and playing Rosewood 'boards tend to get even darker.

 

Maple is very pale in colour and is rarely seen on Gibson guitars as a fingerboard material.

It was first introduced back in the 1976-77 period on a few models such as some LP Customs, some L6S, the RD Custom, both RD basses and a few other models.

 

Tele's (and Broadcasters/Nocasters before them) originally came with Maple 'boards' / necks* from '48 until '59 when Rosewood became standard.

Until circa '66/'67 it was only possible to get a Maple 'board on a Fender to special order. Since '67 both woods have been used by Fender in roughly equal measure.

 

Don't worry about the scratches, Izzy. Just use the oil. It'll be fine.

 

P.

 

* To be strictly accurate, the early guitars didn't, in fact, have a 'board at all - the neck-unit was simply one single lump of Maple with the frets inserted directly onto this lump.

[btoth76]

Hello Izzy!

 

Versatile made the point. Most maple fretboards are laquered, thus the wood is completely sealed against the environment. No need to condition them with oils. I use regular guitar polish on them (in my case the Virtuoso, but whatever You have is fine on the poly-laquered fretboard).

 

Torrified (or "baked") maple is a different thing. Think of it as it was a rosewood or ebony fretboard. Those aren't sealed with laquer, they might need oiling once in a while. Lemon oil (I use Dunlop on them) is fine for them.

 

It's not so difficult to make difference between the woods, even tough, one type of material can have variations as far as color and grain is concerned.

 

Ebony is black, matte colored, dense wood, it has the less grain marks compared to the rest. In most cases it looks completely uniform.

 

Rosewood is brown, redish, less dense wood, with more articulated grain marks. As it ages it tends to darken and smoothen.

 

Maple is very light colored, yellowish wood. This type of wood - when used as fingerboard material -, is always laquered (I have never seen one without - at least). The torrified maple behaves/feels like ebony and should be treathed as ebony. It almost has no grain-marks (very uniform), but similiar in color to rosewood. The best description I can come up with: it has caramel color.

 

On the picture below (form up to down) You can see the differences between the Torrified maple, aged rosewood, and the type of rosewood used nowadays on Gibsons:

 

 

Cheers... Bence

[pippy]

Just to re-inforce what Bence has already said, here's another quick comparison with (left-to-right);

 

Maple; Lighter Rosewood; Darker Rosewood; Ebony.

 

On the first Rosewood the area next to the nut shows how light the wood was when new. Through use the wood becomes darker as seen at the lower part.

 

 

P.

[AndyK]

My luthier friend told me that white spirit is best for cleaning fretboards, and I've used it ever since.

[Ryan H]

Naphtha is pretty good too for most guitar cleaning...

 

-Ryan

[AXE®]

Naptha. Yes.

 

Then bore oil or Fret doctor.

 

Maple. High grade carnuba.

[Eades]

As far as Gibsons go Maple fretboard wasn't used till 2012......I think Fender have only 2( I could be wrong tho)..either dark rosewood or very light (natural) maple.

It all kicked off and changed in 2011