kidblast Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 23 minutes ago, rct said: Cleaning them and maintaining them is enough. This idea that rubbing exotic oils all over them is somehow making them better, or last longer, or more valuable, is to me, just laughable and isn't a direction new people should be heading. rct I think that's pretty much it. There is a difference in the appearance of a rosewood fret-board after it's been hydrated tho. Kind of has a luster, and glow that it didn't before. IF you're into that stuff, then good news, there's some good stuff out there to scratch that itch, if you aint into that stuff, then you aint. Does it "matter" for the health and life of the fret-board, probably not. Hell there's 500 year old violins that have probably never seen any more than a cotton cloth to wipe sweat off. They don't seem to be loosing value. I use the conditioner, cuz that's the kind of guy I am, I use dental floss and those little in between tooth cleaner things too! I get little gold stars on my forehead when I see my hygienist,. and have ya seen my hygienist??? prolly not... she be a cutie.. but I digress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 (edited) Doesn't matter how much you wash your hands they naturally have oil. Oil accumulates on Guitars wherever your hands or arms rest on them. If you don't want to clean them more power to you. Oil build up on fret boards attracts dirt.. Oil & dirt ruin Strings. If you keep your fret board clean Strings last longer. A little lemon oil on your Guitar neck works excellently to keep them clean. Oil from your fore arm will build up on the Body of your Guitars. That can ruin the Finish on Guitars over time. If you don't want to clean that more power to you.. I choose to take better care of my Guitars.. Whether you have 8 or 40. Whether you're a Pro making big Money or a weekend warrior doin the Bar Gigs for peanuts your Guitars are Tools.. I was taught, if you take care of your Tools, your Tools will take care of you.... To each his own.... Edited February 27, 2020 by Larsongs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 8 hours ago, Larsongs said: Doesn't matter how much you wash your hands they naturally have oil. Oil accumulates on Guitars wherever your hands or arms rest on them. If you don't want to clean them more power to you. Oil build up on fret boards attracts dirt.. Oil & dirt ruin Strings. If you keep your fret board clean Strings last longer. A little lemon oil on your Guitar neck works excellently to keep them clean. Oil from your fore arm will build up on the Body of your Guitars. That can ruin the Finish on Guitars over time. If you don't want to clean that more power to you.. I choose to take better care of my Guitars.. Whether you have 8 or 40. Whether you're a Pro making big Money or a weekend warrior doin the Bar Gigs for peanuts your Guitars are Tools.. I was taught, if you take care of your Tools, your Tools will take care of you.... To each his own.... So again, I'll gently say again, who is talking about NOT CLEANING THEIR GUITARS? Only you are. You are conflating fretboard conditioning with cleaning guitars. It isn't the same thing at all. Fretboard conditioning is put out there as something you have to do, should do, need to do in order to...followed by some stuff. Guitars have lived and gigged decades with normal cleaning and no fretboard conditioning with no detrimental results. Simple. New guitar players come to places like this for advice, free words of experience and wisdom. They should not, in my opinion and experience, leave here with the impression that they need to spend time and effort rubbing stuff on the fingerboard beyond whatever decent guitar cleaner/polish you can get just about anywhere that most of us use when we change strings. There is no magic to any of the oils to put on your fingerboards beyond what they look like when "wet", just like concrete looks better, cars look better, all kinds of things look better "wet". If that was the case there would be obvious fails all over the place as rosewood and ebony fingerboards deteriorated due to lack of conditioning, and unless I'm missing something really obvious, that hasn't been my experience at all. rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 (edited) 28 minutes ago, rct said: So again, I'll gently say again, who is talking about NOT CLEANING THEIR GUITARS? Only you are. You are conflating fretboard conditioning with cleaning guitars. It isn't the same thing at all. Fretboard conditioning is put out there as something you have to do, should do, need to do in order to...followed by some stuff. Guitars have lived and gigged decades with normal cleaning and no fretboard conditioning with no detrimental results. Simple. New guitar players come to places like this for advice, free words of experience and wisdom. They should not, in my opinion and experience, leave here with the impression that they need to spend time and effort rubbing stuff on the fingerboard beyond whatever decent guitar cleaner/polish you can get just about anywhere that most of us use when we change strings. There is no magic to any of the oils to put on your fingerboards beyond what they look like when "wet", just like concrete looks better, cars look better, all kinds of things look better "wet". If that was the case there would be obvious fails all over the place as rosewood and ebony fingerboards deteriorated due to lack of conditioning, and unless I'm missing something really obvious, that hasn't been my experience at all. rct Gently, my choice of words could've been better. Even though most probably understood what I meant. If you read my next Post I clarified my use of the word "condition". Meaning, to clean. You say "Conditioning" isn't this or that... Are you an expert? Do you have any Scientific proof of your claim? Can you prove that a Conditioning Product isn't the best thing you can do to care for & preserve Guitar Necks? I didn't think so... I don't think Newbies should misinformed either... I doubt seriously my use of the word Condition would ruin any Newbies Guitar or their life..... My apologies to all for misusing a word... Edited February 27, 2020 by Larsongs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Keeping your guitars in their optimumal* performance condition is indeed not a bad thing. We each do it our own way, cleaning them is really important. Like cars, using them wears them out, it's the way it is. Might as well keep them in as good condition as possible, no matter how. rct *I had a supervisor for a couple years that actually used that word and thought it made him sound smart. Used it all the time, made me giggle every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 22 minutes ago, rct said: Keeping your guitars in their optimumal* performance condition is indeed not a bad thing. We each do it our own way, cleaning them is really important. Like cars, using them wears them out, it's the way it is. Might as well keep them in as good condition as possible, no matter how. rct *I had a supervisor for a couple years that actually used that word and thought it made him sound smart. Used it all the time, made me giggle every time. being wicked shhmart is optimumal for a happy and carefree life irregardless of what else is going on. (see what I did there...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 I did! disnonirregardless is how we said it at work. Even wrote it a few times! lolz rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhwildbill Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 22 hours ago, rct said: ...I've never used any oils or emolients or super secret sexy wax or anything of the sort ever on a fingerboard ever, and I've never suffered for it or seen a guitar that was clearly suffering from an unconditioned fretboard. ...This idea that rubbing exotic oils all over them is somehow making them better, or last longer, or more valuable, is to me, just laughable and isn't a direction new people should be heading. 1 hour ago, rct said: ...There is no magic to any of the oils to put on your fingerboards beyond what they look like when "wet", just like concrete looks better, cars look better, all kinds of things look better "wet"... If nothing else I love the images I've been getting from this thread...😈 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeiij Posted February 29, 2020 Author Share Posted February 29, 2020 Well folks. After all, i feel there is not much change in before and after hydrating the fretboard, i does seems like the ebony it always look a bit dry. I don't have a better picture with the before, but they look similar, now is just a bit darker, and cleaner. Here is the original size pictures, can't upload them full because the forum restriction. Pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted February 29, 2020 Share Posted February 29, 2020 12 hours ago, Yeiij said: Well folks. After all, i feel there is not much change in before and after hydrating the fretboard, i does seems like the ebony it always look a bit dry. I don't have a better picture with the before, but they look similar, now is just a bit darker, and cleaner. Here is the original size pictures, can't upload them full because the forum restriction. Pictures Wait 20 years....... I think you'll be glad you took the extra effort.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted February 29, 2020 Share Posted February 29, 2020 On 2/27/2020 at 9:58 AM, rct said: Keeping your guitars in their optimumal* performance condition is indeed not a bad thing. We each do it our own way, cleaning them is really important. Like cars, using them wears them out, it's the way it is. Might as well keep them in as good condition as possible, no matter how. rct *I had a supervisor for a couple years that actually used that word and thought it made him sound smart. Used it all the time, made me giggle every time. I play mine. Polish yes,, and I use bore oil on the fretboards, but they get played cause there instruments that are made to make sounds. The sounds that come out of mine are not like Page's or Howe's or Thompson's , but sound comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 i'm flatterred! rc----->t<----- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labomba Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 On 2/27/2020 at 12:27 AM, Larsongs said: I was taught, if you take care of your Tools, your Tools will take care of you... I was taught the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 And old Scottish guy that worked in my Dad's factory told me "Tools are meant to be used, not abused". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny 6 String Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 On 2/24/2020 at 8:42 PM, Sgt. Pepper said: Is tool smelling really a thing? I never go to work and go ya know what I should smell my channel locks. How has Big Bill missed this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 31 minutes ago, Johnny 6 String said: How has Big Bill missed this? It's coming. He's probably squeegeeing the computer screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunking101 Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 On 2/21/2020 at 9:19 PM, nhwildbill said: I've also never sniffed the maintenance tool but now I'm curious. ☺️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinch Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 On 2/24/2020 at 1:53 PM, kidblast said: Ebony is a very hard wood and really isn't porous as rosewood is. I would think that you are probably ok not treating it at all. I've heard from multiple sources that ebony is more prone to cracking than rosewood. It's drier, harder and, like you said, less porous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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