Cleaning a fretboard?

nero120

nero120

nero120

Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2004
Posts
6,824
Location
Londinium
What do you guys use to clean the scummy finger marks off your fretboard? I usually use an old tooth brush and some water, but this usually doesnt clean all the sweat marks of completely :eek:

Is there any decent product to use to clean it before applying some oil to the wood?
 
get some "Fast Fret"...there's instructions on there, but that cleans the fret board and makes it all shiny so you get a brighter sound and you can move your fingers faster too :cool:
 
Not a fan of Fast Fret myself. I always found that it only took a few days for the "as new" look and feel to wear off. My preference is lemon oil and a good cloth. Old white t-shirts do the job pretty well.

I'm sure the fretboard material has some bearing on which cleaning method works best, I've only ever had rosewood though so haven't needed to find out.
 
DO NOT USE FAST FRET

seriously, that stuff is the worst stuff ever! gunks up your neck a treat. and when that stuff gets mixed with sweat from your fingers and dries its more of a pain in the arse than ever!

if your guitar is bad, take all of the strings off (block the trem if its a trem guitar) and use the edge of a pick to scrape (with the grain) the majority of the crust away. then the best thing to use is spit and some good old fashioned elbow grease!

then after that use some naptha (lighter fluid) and more elbow grease.

then after that rub some lemon oil (lemongrass oil, not lemon lemon oil) into the frets really well. and bam good as new!

that is the technique if you have a rosewood board, if its maple then just use spit dont do the lemon oil part.
 
SidewinderINC said:
DO NOT USE FAST FRET

seriously, that stuff is the worst stuff ever! gunks up your neck a treat. and when that stuff gets mixed with sweat from your fingers and dries its more of a pain in the arse than ever!

if your guitar is bad, take all of the strings off (block the trem if its a trem guitar) and use the edge of a pick to scrape (with the grain) the majority of the crust away. then the best thing to use is spit and some good old fashioned elbow grease!

then after that use some naptha (lighter fluid) and more elbow grease.

then after that rub some lemon oil (lemongrass oil, not lemon lemon oil) into the frets really well. and bam good as new!

that is the technique if you have a rosewood board, if its maple then just use spit dont do the lemon oil part.
Click to expand...

Nice advice, I wouldnt touch fast fret with a barge pole anyway! ;)

What about if I have an ebony fretboard?
 
for ebony the spit will still be good as a cleaner, i know the grain is much tighter on ebony and its a denser soft-wood so have no idea whether the naptha is a good idea.

and as for which oil again i dont know for ebony, sorreh.

what guitar do you actually have?
 
Last edited:
First i thoroughly clean each fret with a cloth and some instrument cleaner/general dirt remover stuff. Then i apply lemon oil. Never had any problems
 
SidewinderINC said:
DO NOT USE FAST FRET

seriously, that stuff is the worst stuff ever! gunks up your neck a treat. and when that stuff gets mixed with sweat from your fingers and dries its more of a pain in the arse than ever!
Click to expand...

well, i've been using it for knocking on 6 years and i've never had any problems with it. you do know that you're supposed to buff it off after you've put it on, right?

diffr'nt strokes for diffr'nt folks i guess
 
i know how you're meant to use it, but the number of times ive seen people wipe the stuff on liberally! and i'm talking bucketloads of the stuff. and then just wave a cloth at it and start playing and then complain when their strings get knackered and the board looks like tripe.

ive been using my method for about 6 years too, neck looks as clean as it does the day i bought it.

also having a big pack of 0000 wire wool helps cause i rub it down once a year or so....
 
when i restring the guitar i rub lemon oil in and leave it for a while then buff it up...

looks well nice with shiny new strings on...

then i play for 5mins and its all a waste of time
 
Wipe any heavy crud off with a pick.

To get into the side of the frets and tight areas, wrap the pick in a clean cloth, this also prevents any damage to the neck.

Rub the neck down with a seperate cloth, you can dampen it slightly with spit (spit is one of the best natural cleansers you can use on a guitar..).

If the neck is REALLY bad (such as a guitar that hasn't been touched in years) then the next step would be to mask off the frets with masking tape and rub the fretboard down with some fine wire wool (go with the grain).

Following this then apply some lemon oil, a little goes a long way, cover the entire fret area, when you get to the top of the neck, go back down to where you started and buff with a different cloth, let it dry for 20mins or so when you've finished. You can repeat the lemon oil process as much as you want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom