Fingerboard cleaning

Mine get pretty dirty.  Dust, dirt, skin etc.  But I don't generally resort to steel wool, even the finest unless I'm actually polishing up the steel frets themselves.

I use a toothbrush to brush away the gunk.  If some more is needed, I use the soft scotch pads (the green ones).  I put some oil on the fret board, then gently scrub it clean with the scotch pad or tooth brush.  The fret board oil softens any gunk and the scotch pad carries it away gently.

I've never used anything but fret board oil on my fret boards.  You can ask my guitar tech that knows me and my guitars, except for dings or scratches that you can't get rid of (nor would I even try, I like the battle scars of time) my guitar's necks are always in perfect shape, no matter how old they are.

When people start talking about the fret board itself and sanding, or scraping with blade knives, or scrubbing with steel wool, I just cringe.  lol.  I have never seen any gunk that fret board oil couldn't soften up or lubricate enough that a toothbrush or scotch pad couldn't easily wipe it all away.

Oh ya, and I have always taken all my strings off at string change time so that I can give my baby a nice clean and oil before the new strings go on. 

I will never allow linseed oil in my house any more.
1st off it is dangerous, wet rags can spontaneous combust
2ed the smell gives me extreme head aches

I made the mistake of rubbing my shower's cedar deck with linseed oil. Looked great but it vented so much i had to do partial disassembly and put it outside.  It took more than 3 weeks to vent enough to be bearable.




I clean fingerboards with a damp cloth followed by Dunlop 02

I take off all the strings at once for a string change (maybe every month or two), and I also apply lemon oil to the fret board at the same time.  I don't do the steel wool thing, but if there's gunk accumulating around the frets I'll use an old toothbrush to get rid of it. I'll use a paper towel or rag to get rid of any excess oil that the fretboard wood doesn't absorb in a few minutes -- and I'll take the opportunity to clean the soundboard area under the string from dust that's gathered there.  Then the new strings go on.

Since I use Elixir strings, I don't have to change strings very often, usually a year or more. The Seagull Coastline Folk over my bed has Elixir's that are nearly 2.5 years old! It doesn't get played much. They are a little flat, but not bad. It's waiting it's turn to get new strings, or when ever I get off my ass to do it. I haven't done anything with guitars in nearly 2 months.

I used to use the Dunlop cleaner that has some lemon oil in it. Martin's Care and Feeding guide says specifically NOT to use lemon oil because it is acidic and will cause the frets to rust. Of course, that means not to use straight lemon oil. Any fretboard cleaner has just a little lemon oil in it for fragrance, most of it is mineral oil.

For the past year or so I've been using a product recommended by a luthier in Colorado, who's originally from Australia. It's called Howard Feed-N-Wax. It's a combination of beeswax, carnauba wax and orange oil, and who knows what else. It recommends wiping it on and leave it for at least 20 minutes, and wipe off the excess. I usually reapply more when I see it's sunk into the wood. Then I scrub the frets and fretboard (not too hard) with 0000 steel wool. Then finally wipe it all off. I also tape all around the bridge, and apply the Howard wax in the same manor, but not using steel wool, only wipe it off.

The guitars haven't complained and there have been many rusted frets. Works for me!!

Did I mention the Howard wax can be bought at Lowe's? It comes in a 16 ounce plastic bottle. It should last many years. And it smells great too!!!!

OH NOOOOOOO!!!!! TYPOOOOOOOO!!!!! 1 always gets by. Or was it 2?? Or 3???

Howard's wax somewhat separates into oil and wax/wax. The fun part is trying to shake it somewhat back together so you don't get a big sploosh of oil before you get some wax/oil mixture. But it smells great!!!!

When I need to clean my fingerboard on any of my guitars for years I have sprayed WD 40 onto a cloth and give the finger board a thorough wiping over. It removes all the gunk from behind the frets and on the fingerboard itself leaving it nice and clean ready for the new set of Elixir 10 to 47's which will be with me for the next 12 months. I'm aware that many people are dead against using WD 40 on guitar f/boards, but its never done harm to mine..S

I'm prefer the smell of lemon or orange oil over WD-40. Unless you're looking for that Manly smell! I don't know what it would do to a lacquer finish if you happened to "oops".