Electric Guitar Trends

Here’s another murky topic - fretboard cleaning and maintenance.  I suspect most guitarists never touch their guitars’  fretboards, except to play them.

Nowadays, there are several products on the market that claim to clean and condition the fretboard of your guitar.  They mostly use lemon oil, plus some added ingredients aimed at making the job as easy as possible. Are they worthwhile? I don’t think so.

Fretboards are usually made of rosewood, and sometimes ebony. For about 35 years years now, I have been using raw linseed oil, and ‘0000′ steel wool for the care and grooming of my guitar’s fretboards (maple fretboards do not require any oil, because they typically have a lacquered surface).

Start by removing the guitar strings.  Then, tear off a fist sized pad of steel wool, and pour some raw linseed oil onto the pad.  Apply the damp area of the steel wool to the fret board, lightly rubbing in the direction of the frets.  I concentrate on 3 frets at a time, making sure I *gently* get out any crud that has accumulated along the frets themselves.  Once I have cleaned and oiled the entire fretboard, I use a dry cloth to wipe off excess oil.

It’s amazing to see the difference in the fretboard after this operation.  The woodgrain really comes out after a cleaning like this, and you can see the indentations that years of playing have caused.  Stuff you couldn’t see before.

I really believe in this part of guitar maintenance.  Once, I bought a new guitar and discovered that it had some jagged fret ends.  After one treatment of raw linseed oil, the fretboard no longer had jagged fret ends - the fretboard was dry, had needed that oil and had expanded slightly.

I have a Fender Malibu acoustic guitar that was made around 1966.  This puppy still has a Brazilian rosewood fretboard, and to this day shows no ill effects from using raw linseed oil on the fretboard.

How often should you clean your fretboard?  About every 3 months, which is usually 3 string changes for me.

I have tried lemon oil.  Lemon oil has a very fine consistency, and even a few drops will want to run all over your guitar, pants, and floor.

I have also tried other products specifically formulated for guitar fretboards.  I find that they do not do much of anything at all.

So, try the products that are out there, because I think some fretboard cleaning and maintence is a good idea. Or, you could just play Fenders with Maple fretboards