Carnauba wax on a rosewood fretboard?

  • Thread starter Gnobuddy
  • Start date
  • This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.

sjtalon

Doctor of Teleocity
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Posts
11,894
Location
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The best thing out there for fretboards is your fingers while you play it, vs. wasting time gunking it up with unnecessary crap.

Only other thing if a person needs to spruce it up a TAD is just a WHISP of mineral oil on a cloth to shine it up if that floats ur boat.

Clean with Naptha every now and again is all that's needed really.
 

DrBGood

Tele-Afflicted
Joined
Jan 30, 2015
Posts
1,181
Location
Sutton QC, CANADA
I avoid like the plague any supposedly miracle cure. Lemon this, amazing that. I've always used tung oil. I even use it on hardwood floors all over my house.

Clean the fretboard of DNA with tooth brush and soapy lukewarm water. Wipe soap/gunk remains with soft damp rag. Apply tung oil with soft rag, first to last fret. Go back to first fret and buff it out while still damp. I might do this once or twice a year when I change strings.

Tung oil is oil obtained by pressing the seed from the nut of the tung tree (Vernicia fordii)
 

Sea Devil

Friend of Leo's
Joined
Sep 23, 2006
Posts
4,866
Age
62
Location
Brooklyn, NY
Tung oil is lovely stuff, but boy oh boy do you want to avoid having any excess on the surface. It can remain sticky for decades if overapplied. I foolishly used it as a medium in a painting in 1981, and it's still not dry. Technically, no oil finish ever completely dries/cures unless it's at least partially catalyzed, which Tru-Oil and almost all finishes marketed as tung oil are. That matters, for practical purposes, about as much as the fact that glass is technically a liquid.

Genuine tung oil followed by a delicate rub with partially evaporated naphtha would probably be optimal.
 
Last edited:

moosie

Telefied
Ad Free Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2010
Posts
20,621
Age
68
Location
Western Connecticut
A rosewood board needs nothing, unless it's natural oils have gone, perhaps because you used a solvent to clean it. Or in very arid conditions.

In that case, there is absolutely nothing wrong with an application of mineral oil. So what if it's a petrochemical? Wood doesn't have the same sensibilities as people. But mineral oil is actually edible in case you think that's relevant.

Yes, if you use too much, soaking the board; and if you use it often, then you'll ruin the fret slots, because the oil will swell and soften the end grain. That's very easy to avoid.

I oil my boards as needed, no more than once a year, and then just a single drop per fret, approximately. Rub it in.


Carnauba and other waxes will do nothing helpful for a rosewood fingerboard.
 

DrBGood

Tele-Afflicted
Joined
Jan 30, 2015
Posts
1,181
Location
Sutton QC, CANADA
Tung oil is lovely stuff, but boy oh boy do you want to avoid having any excess on the surface. It can remain sticky for decades if overapplied. I foolishly used it as a medium in a painting in 1981, and it's still not dry. Technically, no oil finish ever completely dries/cures unless it's at least partially catalyzed, which Tru-Oil and almost all finishes marketed as tung oil are. That matters, for practical purposes, about as much as the fact that glass is technically a liquid.

Genuine tung oil followed by a delicate rub with partially evaporated naphtha would probably be optimal.
LOL ... I feel you. I did my hemlock floor with it at the oceanside cottage. It stayed gummy and gathered dust like crazy. Sanded it an varnished it.

On the fretboard, as I said, I wipe it immediatly. One good thing, what remains in the rosewood grain fills it and after a while there's almost no need to do it again, that wood is sealed. But NO, never let a thick coat dry !
 
Top