Ebony care - 7VWH neck

[kent]

Do any of you ever treat your 7VWH ebony necks with any sort of chemicals (oil, cleaners, etc.)?

Kent

[jemsite]

I tend to treat the ebony (or rosewood) fretboards with just a no-wax polish every so often. That said you will find people using various products, "lemon oil" being perhaps the most common. Avoid stuff like Pledge which will leave a build up and residue. I think Ken is among the "bore oil" endorsers which would be the oil of choice if i felt the need. I'm sure others will comment... glen

[jeffrey]

I'm a long time Lemon Oil offciado. I use the plain-jane Old English 500 stuff from the grocery store. It's light enough that you can use it every string change, but it's heavy enough to last through sweaty hands and lots of playing.

I've been very happy with it and have used it for 12 years or so now with fine results on Rosewood, Ebony and Pau Ferro.

[ripl3y]

Kent,
I tend to clean my F'board about twice a year as that seem good for me, but if you sweat more or have oily fingers then maybe a little more often.
I just scrape any gunk off with a credit card then rub lightly with 0000 grade steel wool then apply the lemon oil, just a small amount with a cotton swab and clean off quickly and thoroughly with a rag.
Note that all my guits have rosewood f'boards so maybe the steel wool idea is not good for ebony, maybe someone can clarify this.

Steve

[jeffrey]

eep! Steel wool?! I dunno hee..

These are oily woods and thrive on being er.. oily. Hence why I re-oil/clean mine every string change. The wood will only soak up so much oil, the rest will just sit so you can wipe off the excess.

I don't think I'd steel wool any of my necks.

[ripl3y]

Jeff

I use steel wool to remove any build up and 0000 grade is extremely light, more like actual wool
I've never had a problem with it and have always used this method ( on rosewood )
I don't let the lemon oil soak in too much to avoid over treating and ending up with too oily a board.
I think oiling every string change is way too much ( as I change strings about every fortnight )

Steve

[jay ratkowski]

A cloth and some Endust. *The important thing is to use something that is NO-WAX. *Don't want any buildup. *Just clean it up when it gets dirty. *Simple as that.

[jeffrey]

ripl3y: yeah, that would be a bit too often.

I guess a better rule of thumb (depending on the climate you live in) is about once a month. Just oil it up, wipe off the excess, there's no fear in over-treating; it will only take what it can soak in.

I've never tried the steel wool thing, never had to I guess. I change my strings pretty often tho (best thing you can do to preserve your frets) and clean my fingerboard every time. So it always appears clean to me.

[ellsobrien]

I use Bore Oil and cotton swabs on all my rosewood and ebony fingerboards. Works great and it's real cheep.

[deangelo]

Yep,,, I agree bore oil works the best. *I use Leblanc bor-seal, bore oil. *This is perfect for ebony and rosewood. *It doesn't build up and you wipe away excess. *One word of caution with using 0000 steel wool. *Make sure you go with the grain,,,,if not you will see up close very light surface scratches going against the grain. *I cut of and bevel a pop sickle stick and use that to get up next to the frets with the steel wool wrapped over the stick. *It also allows you an even surface,,,it's amazing how a little quality time doing the bore oil and steel wool trick can make you axe look brand new or better.

[Macka]

Reported.