LWAG Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 I have 11 but 1 everyday player, and I bought my everyday player (retiring another everyday player) 6 months ago from a shop in London. The strings haven't broke, but today, I had new strings put on and the fret board (my Gibson R7) oiled... Playing it just now, wow. My Gibson R7 is amazing. If I could, I'd hire a guitar tech to service my guitars 24/7, but I just had my 2005 Gibson R7 I bought last November serviced, and when I got home and played it just now; wow. Love it. It's an amazing guitar. I heard it's something you should have done every 6 months (or every 3 months)? How often do you oil your fret board/leave the strings on your every day players on for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Id say you don't need to do it more than once every six months... I just do it when I notice the board is looking a bit dry and then do it on the next string change.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LWAG Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 Id say you don't need to do it more than once every six months... I just do it when I notice the board is looking a bit dry and then do it on the next string change.. What about some of my non everyday players? Would not playing them matter or would I have to have them serviced too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 What about some of my non everyday players? Would not playing them matter or would I have to have them serviced too? As I say.. Just do it when they look dry... Its not really a big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 In 48 years I have never oiled a fretboard. I clean them with a cloth moist with warm water (& a little soap). I am sure my body chemistry is responsible. I have an oily skin. My strings and fretboards always feel slick. Its also the reason I have to clean them! If ever I neglected playing a guitar for an extended period, I would consider oiling it. More likely I would sell it though. Those guitars dont play themselves. Its a players duty to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 well.. on my 96 strat, about an hour ago! over due for a string change, and some other various forms of TLC. I think it's coming w/me tonight.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LWAG Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 In 48 years I have never oiled a fretboard. I clean them with a cloth moist with warm water (& a little soap). I am sure my body chemistry is responsible. I have an oily skin. My strings and fretboards always feel slick. Its also the reason I have to clean them! If ever I neglected playing a guitar for an extended period, I would consider oiling it. More likely I would sell it though. Those guitars dont play themselves. Its a players duty to them. What our bodies excrete through our pores contains salts, which aid gunk accumulation and leads to fret ware, string corrosion and maybe even rust. Any good guitar shop should provide you this service if you don't want to do it yourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LWAG Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 well.. on my 96 strat, about an hour ago! over due for a string change, and some other various forms of TLC. I think it's coming w/me tonight.. I had phoned around, and took it to the best chance of on the bench service, my trusted guitar guy; I am so glad, I got there on time and left at closing.£25.00 and they even polished it for me and provided me strings. It was the most out of 3 quotes (by about £3.00), but, same day service/check my guitar in with the people I use anyway - good people, smart people, the person who identified my after market capacitors and today rested my head on the matter when they showed me something they rigged up (a guitar luthier) to test the difference concluded no matter what brand you use, it doesn't really matter tonally/audibly, and you've got like 600 watts and you're only using 1 watt/or something - they're amazing! - but... The proof is in the pudding, playing it just now, omg, nicer than when I bought it, and it was pretty nice back then/6 months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 What our bodies excrete through our pores contains salts, which aid gunk accumulation and leads to fret ware, string corrosion and maybe even rust. Any good guitar shop should provide you this service if you don't want to do it yourselves. I've been playing the guitar since 1971. I've never oiled any fretboard on any guitar, not because I don't want to, but because they don't need it. Clean it when you string it, that's about it. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 I've been playing the guitar since 1971. I've never oiled any fretboard on any guitar, not because I don't want to, but because they don't need it. Clean it when you string it, that's about it. rct Oh my... you are goin ta hell man.. (I'll save a chair..) just to add while def it's not a problem NOT to condition them, you can definitely see the luster return to the rosewood when you do condition them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 I've been playing the guitar since 1971. I've never oiled any fretboard on any guitar, not because I don't want to, but because they don't need it. Clean it when you string it, that's about it. rct Id never oiled a fretboard in my life UNTIL I started making guitars.. And now I only do it cos I have the oil so why not :) On a build its 100% necessary to oil the boards after all that sanding... I do like the look of a freshly oiled board but im not going to pretend it either here or there in terms of necessity. I got a long quite well without doing it for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LWAG Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 I've been playing the guitar since 1971. I've never oiled any fretboard on any guitar, not because I don't want to, but because they don't need it. Clean it when you string it, that's about it. rct Guitars don't age with this oil, it's their fountain of youth, good as new, will make your guitar age well/play its best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LWAG Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 Wood dries. The fret board oil is (lemon wax)? - IDK what it is exactly, but it helps out the fret board and the gunk ruins the strings which damages the frets (while the wood dries up losing tone and things begin to rattle). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Guitars don't age with this oil, it's their fountain of youth, good as new, will make your guitar age well/play its best. Taking them out of the house and using them will not become good as new by a few drops of oil. Playing your guitar will make it age well/play it's best. I'm not trying to argue with you, this sort of thing comes up all the time and I don't want new players to believe and repeat that oiling the fretboard will save your guitar and make it this and make it that. It doesn't. It makes the board a little darker and it makes you happy, but it serves no purpose. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Every time I change the strings or once every 6 months if they're not getting used a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Every time I change the strings or once every 6 months if they're not getting used a lot. Exactly. Only I don't oil them, I just clean 'em up and use either Gibson Guitar Polish, Martin Guitar Polish, or Turtle Wax Carnauba Spray Shine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Here you go: http://www.gibson.com/Support/Tech-Tips/Smooth-Frettin.aspx Gibson uses lemon oil, Martin uses Dr. Duck's Axe Wax. I need to give that a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LWAG Posted May 23, 2018 Author Share Posted May 23, 2018 Tonight playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 All of my fretboards are either ebony or rosewood, and all my electrics (7) have T-I flat wounds. I change strings once a year, now, around New Years. I'll clean out the crud from frets (and occasionally use a very fine steel wool to remove oxidation), condition the fretboard, and polish the guitar (and polish out scratches), change strings, and do a setup/set intonation if needed. Whether the fretboard needs oiling or not, I like the the clean look of silvery strings and frets on the deep, rich look of conditioned ebony or rosewood fretboards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LWAG Posted May 23, 2018 Author Share Posted May 23, 2018 Taking them out of the house and using them will not become good as new by a few drops of oil. Playing your guitar will make it age well/play it's best. I'm not trying to argue with you, this sort of thing comes up all the time and I don't want new players to believe and repeat that oiling the fretboard will save your guitar and make it this and make it that. It doesn't. It makes the board a little darker and it makes you happy, but it serves no purpose. rct Well, I believe anything built provided with TLC and parts will last forever (in theory), but my understanding of wood is; It's no longer alive/a tree; Time'll cause it to warp - oiling your fret board treats the wood, protecting it from the sun/damp/the dry/the this, the that/everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 As I say.. Just do it when they look dry... Its not really a big deal. I have so much gas right now that BP America is looking at me as a possible investment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 In the 30+ years of playing before I joined this forum I had never even heard of anyone oiling their fingerboard and I never once experienced any problems with any of my guitars. OTOH when I bought my '91 1960 Classic as NOS (20 year-old NOS!) around 6 years ago the 'board was VERY dry and also slightly rough to the touch. Having read about it here I thought Dunlop Lemon Oil might be a good idea so bought a bottle of the stuff and the work I did subsequently on the 'board worked a treat both in smoothing-out and conditioning the 'board. Other than that? Nah. I did give a few of the others a wipe-down with the lemon oil at the same time simply because I had the stuff to hand but they didn't NEED to be so treated. I do give the 'boards a clean with a soft cloth every six months or so and might even use a spot of furniture polish if there is any build-up of gunk in the fret-wood interface but that's about the limit of care they get from me. I haven't needed to treat the 'board of the '91 after that first application and I don't even know where the bottle of lemon oil is anymore. Pip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 What our bodies excrete through our pores contains salts, which aid gunk accumulation and leads to fret ware, string corrosion and maybe even rust. Any good guitar shop should provide you this service if you don't want to do it yourselves. Nevertheless, body chemistry varies widely from person to person. Eg: 'Rusty Fingers': Early in my working career I was a M/C shop miller. Some workmates had what we termed 'rusty fingers'. Mild steels, tool steels, would all quickly show signs of corrosion when handled by these fellows. It was about 1 in 30 bods had this condition. Also, Rory Gallagher's strat. According to him, his sweat was responsible for all that surface wear to his guitar. He bought it new and it didnt take long for this to show up. So like RCT, I dont need to oil my fingerboards. Its not a question of 'want' at all. I clean them as described and thats good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Well, I believe anything built provided with TLC and parts will last forever (in theory), but my understanding of wood is; It's no longer alive/a tree; Time'll cause it to warp - oiling your fret board treats the wood, protecting it from the sun/damp/the dry/the this, the that/everything. In the absence of anything ever happening to any of my guitars, some of them pretty worn and old, I can't agree. If nothing happens, there was nothing to prevent, which means oiling them all along would have been for...nothing. The sun, the damp, and the dry are probably the last three things on the list of dangers to your guitar. Every danger above them will not be helped by oil on the fretboard. I personally have never seen or heard of a fretboard warped because the owner didn't oil it. That doesn't mean it hasn't happened, it means it has happened so little that there is no reason whatsoever to include it in a list of dangers to your guitar. A guitar will last forever, of this there is no doubt. Needs frets eventually, but it will last longer than any of us without ever having a drop of oil put on the fingerboard. You like it, it looks good, some people like that so much so they are willing to oil their guitars up every month or something, and that is fine. But it serves no purpose. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 I'm pretty sure that oiling fretboards is mostly for cosmetic reasons, however Gretsch recommends oiling their ebony fretboards as a general maintenance program. From the Gretsch web site: "Natural oils in rosewood and ebony fingerboards may dry out and shrink over time, evidenced by exposed fret edges (fret “sprout”). To preserve the fingerboard, hydrate it periodically by rubbing raw linseed oil into it with a clean lint-free cloth (remove the strings first). Let the oil soak in, then wipe to dry excess oil." 'Hydration' generally implies adding water,. The usage here means refreshing the wood with oils. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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