How to Clean a Guitar Fretboard
Procedure for REALLY Funky Fretboards
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Note:
The procedure I demonstrate here should not be used on glossy (shiny) fretboards. It is for natural, satin, or “unfinished” fretboards only. If your fretboard is glossy, please skip to the end of this post and read the section titled “If You Have a Glossy Fretboard.”
Today I’m going to show you how I clean a really filthy fretboard.
I’ve talked in previous articles about how straightforward it is to clean a fretboard that isn’t very dirty–by simply wiping it with a soft, dry (or slightly damp) cotton towel between string changes, while all the strings are off. Heck, even just giving your guitar strings a quick wipe after playing helps keep the fretboard clean. If you haven’t read that one yet, check out: “How to Clean Guitar Strings.”
That’s great, but what do you do about a really filthy fretboard, where there’s actually standing dirt, sweat, and other unmentionables sitting on top of (and stuck to) the wood? Well, to demonstrate that type of fretboard rehab I need a really dirty fretboard, which I don’t see very often.
Until today. This axe just came in today for a cleaning and setup:
This isn’t the dirtiest fretboard I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely going to need more work than just a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It’s a perfect candidate for an article on how to clean a really dirty fretboard. So, today you get to look over my shoulder as I get this fretboard looking healthy and new again.
The Tools & Supplies Used in This Demo
Here are all the supplies that I used for the procedure I’ll be demonstrating in this article. You don’t necessarily need all of these things nor even the exact brands I used, but for your convenience I’ve linked directly to everything on Amazon. Don’t worry, I’ll also link to these later on as they appear throughout the demo:
The Procedure
Two precautions before we dive in:
- Because you’re going to be using #0000 steel wool, it’s best to do this procedure outside, if possible. As you’ll discover, steel wool is messy as hell and leaves little steel filings everywhere. To show that you don’t need a fancy workbench or shop, I purposely did this fretboard cleaning inside on our kitchen table, but definitely do it outside if you can.
- You’ll notice that I listed a disposable dust mask. I began this without a mask and then halfway through found myself coughing, which reminded me of how much microscopic crap gets airborne during this type of procedure. Buy yourself a cheap dust mask–it doesn’t need to be fancy.
Okay, let’s do this!
1. Prepare and organize your workspace
It really helps to have some room to move and neatly organize your tools and cleaning supplies. Do this, and you don’t have to worry about the guitar sliding, falling, or banging into anything. We have a sturdy kitchen table that also just happens to be higher than normal–about stomach height–which makes it perfect for this sort of thing. On it, I’ve put my guitar work mat and neck support to create a safe, cushioned, non-slip surface to work on.
If using your kitchen table, like me, watch out for any lights hanging overhead. You don’t want to accidentally bash the headstock into it when you lift the guitar.
2. Remove all the guitar’s strings.
Loosen and remove all your guitar’s strings. Despite how it looks in this photo, I’m not clipping the strings under full tension. I loosened them all first and I recommend you do the same.
I’m using my CruzTools string cutter here, but any decent string cutter (side cutter) will work fine.
For guitars with floating tremolos, I like to block the tremolo first by putting something soft underneath it–to prevent it from tilting all the way backward into the cavity and/or resting against the guitar’s body. Here, I’ve blocked this tremolo with a large block eraser (my favorite thing to use), but even a folded-up washcloth stuffed under the tremolo works just fine. If you look closely in the photo, you can just see the eraser peeking out under the tremolo.
3. Protect critical guitar parts with low-tack masking tape.
When we start using steel wool, little steel particles are going to go everywhere. On electric guitars, you especially want to prevent the steel particles from sticking to the pickups (which are magnetic). Once they’re on there, it’s difficult to get them all off. On an acoustic, completely cover the soundhole so no steel wool bits get inside. Be sure to also protect any metal hardware that the steel wool might touch. If possible, use low tack masking tape for this so it doesn’t damage the guitar’s finish.
You don’t need to cover the fretwire. In fact, a nice byproduct of this procedure is that the steel wool will shine the frets nicely, without you having to exert any extra effort. So, you get shiny frets out of this procedure too… for free!
Tip: If you don’t have low tack masking tape, one trick is to first stick-and-unstick the tape on your clothing 2-3 times. This will naturally make it less sticky.
Protect any metal guitar parts that might be touched by the steel wool. I didn’t want this guitar’s shiny gold locking nut to get scuffed.
Be liberal with the tape. I also covered the truss rod cavity here, since this guitar came to me without a truss rod cover. I don’t want steel wool down in there.
Remember: Electric guitar pickups are magnetic, so I thoroughly mummify them with tape to prevent steel wool filings from sticking to them. This is where “low tack” masking tape is handy-so it doesn’t pull off any of the guitar’s finish when we remove it later.
4. Scrape (gently) between each fret with a plastic scraper.
Time to get down to business! My first step is to gently scrape between all the frets with the long edge of an old plastic gift card. Scrape WITH the grain, not across. You need to be careful here, because you can scratch the wood. If you use a guitar pick or something more pointed (like the edge of a card), be sure to use lighter pressure so you don’t leave any dents in the wood.
I began this procedure without a mask, and within a few minutes found myself coughing. I don’t want to inhale someone else’s DNA, so I put on a disposable dust mask.
This photo shows you just how effective scraping is as a first step. Remember, if you use a sharp corner, or something like a guitar pick, you have to be extra careful not to scratch or dent the fretboard wood.
Particles get wedged in the crevices right next to the frets. Use the edge of your scraper to get down into these areas. Here, you can go across the grain but be gentle so you don’t scratch the fretboard. A sharp edge is better for this, but I just used what I had at the time.
5. Vacuum or blow off all the scraped gunk. Repeat scraping if necessary.
In an earlier photo you saw how much crap was coming off of just one fret. When you’re done, that stuff will be everywhere, so grab a vacuum and carefully suck it all up. Or, if you’re working outside, blow or brush it off.
Be careful with these vacuum bristles. They’re okay on the fretboard, but use care if you decide to drag them over the glossy finish on your guitar’s body.
Once you’ve vacuumed off all the scraped particles, inspect the fretboard for any spots that you might have missed and re-scrape as necessary. In the photo below, the fretboard is looking pretty dang good, but you can see little bits of dirt caught next to the frets. I’ll get in there and remove that stuff with the sharp edge of a paper business card (not shown).
Technically, this fretboard looks good enough that I could stop here. However, the customer isn’t paying me for just “good enough.” Besides, there’s actually still a bit of oil and sweat down in the wood that I can see, but you can’t (due to the extreme sunlight in this shot).
So, let’s move onto the next step where we’ll get deep down into the wood to remove what’s left.
6. Rub between all frets with #0000 steel wool.
Only use #0000 steel wool for this procedure. It’s the finest grade available and won’t noticeably scratch the wood… as long as you only rub in the direction of the wood grain. If you rub across the grain, you will most assuredly leave noticeable scuffs across the wood.
So, tear off a small to medium-sized piece of steel wool:
Tear off a small to medium-sized piece of #0000 steel wool, and get ready to go to town.
You don’t need to press really hard, but do need to apply medium pressure to remove any remaining oil, sweat, and salt that’s down in the wood. As you’re rubbing, you’ll literally see the wood coming clean under your fingers. By virtue of how well the steel wool works, this procedure also removes some of the color and surface-moisture from the wood, but don’t worry, we’ll remedy that at the end.
Once again, be sure to rub WITH the wood grain here. If you rub crosswise, you’ll leave visible marks across the fretboard.
The photo below underscores what I said earlier: steel wool is messy stuff. In fact, I actually avoid using it unless I absolutely have to for a really nasty fretboard. This is why we taped-off any sensitive areas like pickups, soundholes, etc. and also why I strongly recommend doing this outside, if possible.
Steel wool everywhere… and probably on your clothes too.
7. Vacuum or blow off all steel wool filings.
Time to vacuum again. If you’re happy with your work and feel like you’ve thoroughly stripped all the dirt, sweat, and oil from the wood, then it’s time to clean up in preparation for the next step. Steel wool will be all over the frickin’ place so be prepared to not only vacuum it off the guitar but also your surrounding work area, the table, the floor, and your clothing. Make sure you clean up every last bit of it. You don’t want that stuff lingering anywhere.
Again, be very careful vacuuming on the guitar’s body, but do be sure to suck (or blow) all steel wool off the tape that is protecting the pickups or soundhole.
Don’t just vacuum the guitar. You need to clean up ALL steel wool from the surrounding areas too. You’ll find it on your work mat, the table, the floor, and your clothes.
After all that steel-wooling we’re left with a very clean but very dry-looking or light-colored fretboard. That’s the thing about steel wool: it’s a fantastic wood cleaner, but the downside is that it sucks some of the rich color out of the surface of the wood. Now, this isn’t inherently bad for the wood, but it doesn’t look great.
In the picture below, it may not be obvious just how much lighter the color of this fretboard is, but believe me, in person it’s looking pretty pale compared to what it was prior to the steel-wool job. I wouldn’t want to give it back to the customer looking like this, so we have one last step to put the finishing touch on this job.
8. Carefully remove all tape from the guitar.
We’re in the home stretch now. Slowly and carefully peel off all tape. Be especially careful if you used normal masking tape instead of the low tack stuff, or if you have a much older guitar with a vintage finish. Most newer guitars have thick, durable finishes that’ll withstand you rudely ripping tape off of them, but don’t make any such assumptions. Err on the side of caution.
After you’ve removed all tape, do one last inspection for any steel wool particles. Just to be on the safe side, I’ll always vacuum the guitar’s pickups (if applicable) one last time, even if I can’t see any obvious steel wool filings.
Go slow and be careful, especially if you have an older guitar with a vintage finish.
9. Apply a fretboard-safe oil to the fretboard.
This is one of the most satisfying parts for me: seeing the rich color brought back to what looks like a dry, parched fretboard. There’s some debate about whether fretboard oil actually does anything beneficial for the fretboard or if it’s just cosmetic, but I’ll let others argue about it. I apply fretboard oil after this kind of intense cleaning because it makes the wood look great again, and owners appreciate it.
Here, I’m applying only 1-2 drops of Music Nomad F-One fretboard oil to a soft cotton cloth. My favorite general-purpose rag for this kind of stuff is a cotton cloth baby diaper. Super soft and durable as heck:
Roughly 1 drop of fretboard oil per fret is all that’s needed. DO NOT over-saturate the fretboard. We’re simply trying to bring some color back into the wood.
The direction you rub doesn’t matter when applying the oil, and you don’t need to rub hard–you’re not trying to force the oil into the wood. Just get one fret covered and then move onto the next fret. Don’t wipe the oil off yet, because we want it to sit for about a minute. So, just keep applying oil to each subsequent fret. If the rag starts to get dry, apply 1-2 more drops of oil to the rag and keep going until every single fret has a thin coat of oil on it.
I’ll say this again: don’t go nuts and try to drown the fretboard. You just want the fretboard shiny with oil, not soaked.
Completely coat the fret with oil and then move onto the next one without wiping it off.
I paused to snap this pic after applying oil to just the first 4 frets. Now you can clearly see how dry frets 5-9 look after being cleaned with the steel wool. I’ve not yet applied oil to those frets.
10. Wipe off all excess oil.
Now that you’ve applied oil to every single fret, go back to the first fret and begin rubbing off all the excess oil. Just light pressure here–more of a buffing motion than anything else. Rub in the direction of the wood grain.
Buff off any excess oil. We don’t want any left standing on the wood. When you’re done, the fretboard shouldn’t feel oily to the touch.
11. If necessary, apply and remove 1 more coat of oil. Otherwise, you’re done!
After I buffed off all the oil from my first pass, I felt like the fingerboard could use just 1 more application. So, use your best judgement here. Usually, one application is enough to last you for a year or more, but if you think the fretboard needs one more coat then go for it. Just follow the same guidelines: use a tiny amount of oil, then remove all excess. You’re not trying to marinade the wood.
You’re Done. String it Back Up!
That’s right, you’re all done. If you followed this procedure then you’ve successfully restored that nasty fretboard to its former glory. It should now look great again and feel great to bend on. Your strings will last a bit longer too, because when you’re fretboard is really cruddy your fingers naturally transfer some of that junk onto the strings as you play.
I won’t bore you with pictures of me cleaning up the rest of this guitar and stringing it back up. Besides, I’ve got my work cut out for me now, as this guitar needs new tremolo springs and a full setup too. It hasn’t had a thorough setup in years.
If You Have a Glossy Fretboard
If you’re reading this section, I’ll assume you saw the warning at the top and skipped here. Here’s the deal: those of you out there with glossy lacquer finishes on your fretboards can’t use these techniques. If you do you’ll scratch and/or knock the high shine off the lacquer. The steel wool will essentially turn your glossy finish into satin (non-glossy), and not really in a good way.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a demo for the glossy folks yet, I’m sorry. However, the good news is that cleaning a glossy fretboard is fairly straightforward. Assuming the gloss is still fully intact (you haven’t worn through any areas yet), you can essentially clean a glossy fretboard with a slightly damp (with water) cotton cloth and some elbow grease. Once you’ve removed all the gunk you can finish it off with a good guitar polish. It’s lacquer after all, just like the body of your guitar.
Question:
Have you ever cleaned a really cruddy fretboard? If so, what’s your favorite method? There’s more than one way to skin a cat, so I love hearing what other’s like to do (and what products they use).
Would you still recommend using the steel wool to clean the fretboard if it has mother of pearl inlays? I play on a D’Angelico NYL-4. Thanks!
Hi John. As long as you’re using the finest #0000 wool, they’ll be fine. If you’re really concerned, you could try to avoid the inlays as much as possible… but you really don’t need to. Any scratches left by #0000 wool are so fine they’re invisible to the naked eye. That’s exactly why we use that grade and not the coarser ones.
Hi, thanks for posting this. I don’t usally leave comments on this sort of thing, but I went from a fretboard nearly entirly covered in dirt to one that looks like new. I haven’t managed to clean the fretboard this good before when using other videos/articles ect.
The scraping part really helped get the dirt off.
Thanks!
Hi Cameron. I’m so glad to hear that the article helped you clean that filthy fretboard. Feedback like yours is what keeps me posting articles like this. I’m glad I was able to help.
Hi, great article and very few normative. I have a question though – I have a bass with a rosewood fingerboard but which also has block inlays, am I likely to Dave the inlays if I follow the above procedure?
Also, I have cleaned some fretboards in the past using a 50/50 mixture of water and white distilled vinegar and a microfibre cloth, this gets good results too.
Hi Tom. Luthiers and guitar techs have been using this method on filthy rosewood fretboards for decades (including guitars with block inlays, like Les Pauls). As long as you use #0000 steel wool (the finest grade), your inlays will be fine, especially if they’re a light color–like a light-colored plastic, abalone, mother of pearl, etc.
I have a really filthy one right now, I’m using an old tooth brush and plain old dish soap to start with. I might have to do this twice it’s so bad. Rinse well and dry thoroughly. A light oil or polish is OK, but clean off all excess.
Yes, a gentle detergent and a soft toothbrush will work well too. Some people use Murphy’s Oil soap in the same manner.
Hi, best article I’ve found on cleaning a fretboard, thank you!! Danny above previously mentioned rinsing well which I take to mean with water, but isn’t water bad for the wood? I just bought a beautiful used acoustic at an auction for my daughter and want to clean up the gunky fretboard first. The pores in the grain are all clogged, ick. I’m thinking I’ll try an old toothbrush first and would love to get in there with mild soap, but… water? Would it be better to use a barely damp cloth to wipe away the soap, or even a dry cloth or paper towel, or is a wet cloth okay this once to rinse away soap? Thanks!
You can use a very soft toothbrush and something like a mild solution of Murphy’s Oil Soap + water without issue (or maybe water isn’t needed with the Murphy’s, I’m not sure).
Just keep the moisture to only what is necessary to scrub the fretboard (in other words, there should just be a very light lather on the fretboard, not gobs of water spilling everywhere). Once you’re done and have wiped off all the oil soap with a dry cloth, let the wood dry thoroughly for a couple hours (longer if you live in a really humid climate).
You can see a demonstration of this in the following video (though the tech is using steel wool here instead of a toothbrush, the principle is the same): https://youtu.be/VoTFuLYSB7c?t=320
The tech in that video is using some other oil soap that they don’t name, but I’m sure it’s similar to Murphy’s.
I don’t ever use soaps or water to clean a fretboard–except to occasionally spot-clean, if necessary. I’ve never needed to as the method I’ve outlined in this article has always worked just fine for me.
Hi Danny, do you mean you rinsed the dish soap off with water? Isn’t water bad for the wood? When you say “rinse well” I picture you literally pouring water over the neck. I have a gunky fretboard too and want to get into the clogged pores in the wood grain with an old toothbrush and dish soap, but then… water?
Thank you very much for the tutorial. First time cleaning my fret board and went great. One small suggestion I have, when cleaning the grit next to the frets I tried a business card and that didn’t work great for me. I ended up using a folded over paper towel and ran a fingernail (Over the towel) along the fret. This really helped get the gunk out without scratching the fret board. My Alvarez acoustic is very grateful!!
Hi Mick, glad you found this useful!
The sharp edge of a plastic gift card works fine as long as you don’t press too hard with that sharp edge. In fact, that’s why I use plastic cards instead of sharp metal tools–they’re perfect for this. But, press too hard and yes, you’ll leave a line in the wood right next to the fret. I caution against this in the photo caption, but it’s hard to convey something like pressure with only words.
If your fingernail and a paper towel got all the gunk out, great! Go with that. It’s your guitar and you’ve gotta do what you feel comfortable with.
I just bought a used Epiphone Les Paul Special II, the fretboard is pretty clean but due to high temperatures in India, its really dry.
I see people recommending lots of different oils like Mineral, linseed, walnut, almond or guitar conditioners. Some people say mineral oil dries out the wood over a long time. Is this true in your experience?? Can I use any type of natural oil?? Can I use Steel wool for fret polishing after masking off the fretboard?
Hi Tarun. If the wood of your fretboard is actually dry, what it needs is moisture (water moisture), not oil. The main function of putting oil on a fretboard is to make it look nice, and to bring out the rich color of the wood. It also provides some very minimal protection against sweat and oils from your hand (but not much). There’s nothing wrong with oiling your fretboard to keep it looking nice, but if dryness is your concern you should focus instead on buying a humidifier to go into your guitar case during the very dry months. You want try to keep your guitar between 45% – 55% humidity whenever you’re not playing it. To see some of my recommendations, check out my article:
“Humidity Control Solutions for Guitars”
Regarding oil types: The reason there are so many different recommendations out there for fretboard oils is because… well… there are many different oils that all work well for guitar fretboards. There is no single right answer. I’ve used bore oil, boiled linseed oil, mineral oil, lemon oil, and a few others. However, after all these years my favorite is the Music Nomad F-One Oil that I mentioned in this article. But, before that I used plain mineral oil for many years and it worked fairly well. It didn’t leave the fretboard looking quite as rich and nourished as the F-One oil does, but it certainly won’t damage your fretboard in any way if you only use it about once a year (or less).
I’ve never tried almond, walnut, etc. but in my experience they’re overpriced and unnecessary, and I’ve not known many reputable luthiers nor guitar techs that use those oils. Doesn’t mean they don’t work. I just haven’t tried them. Avoid “food oils” (oils you can eat) like olive oil, vegetable oil, etc. While these will make your fretboard look great, they will eventually spoil and go rancid, and you don’t want that on your fretboard.
Regarding steel wool: Yes, you can use #0000 (the finest grade) steel wool to polish your frets, and it will work very well. Just be sure you use only #0000 (which I mention in this article) and not the coarser ones. Tape-off your fretboard’s wood fully (so only the metal frets are left exposed) and follow all the other steel wool precautions I mention in this article. Then, simply rub the frets lengthwise (side-to-side) with the steel wool. They’ll come to a nice, slick shine that I think you’ll be quite happy with. You can stop there, or follow the steel wool with ultra-fine grade sandpapers (Micromesh) or even buffing compound, but it’s not really necessary.
You might also want to check out my article “How to Clean and Polish Guitar Frets” if you haven’t already. There, I talk about simply using metal polish and fret guards, instead of steel wool and masking tape. This might be better for you if your frets aren’t very bad.
Thanks for the reply. Great blog by the way, you cover everything in detail perfectly without any stupid advice like I have seen on other videos and blogs.
I can’t seem to find steel wool nearby so I used Green Scotch Brite Pads for the frets and though they don’t look polished the certainly look shinier and feel smoother than before. I think I will get some polish and buff it up to a nice mirror finish.
I don’t know if the fretboard is very dry but it has lost a lot of its color and I think some oil should give it back that rich rosewood color and also protect it.
Also the frets stick out over the side and poke my fingers and I really want to fix that. Some videos recommended a foam sanding block. Any other alternatives or better methods in your experience??
Thanks again for all the helpful advice
Your fret-ends are sticking out because the guitar is dry and the fretboard wood has shrunk (contracted). I’d recommend re-humidifying the guitar for a few weeks first to get the wood back to where it’s supposed to be. If that doesn’t eliminate the problem, you can file any fret ends that are still sticking out. Normally, you use very small files, but you need to be careful, because it’s very easy to scratch the edges of your fretboard. If you use a sanding block, you will most certainly scratch up the edges of your fretboard. Here’s a short article on the correct procedure: Fixing fret ends that stick out in dry weather.
That article isn’t very in-depth, so I’d encourage you to seek out some videos or other articles that explain those steps in more detail.
Thanks a lot again.I just have one problem should the bridge have a specific height or does i have to be the sameheight a the nut?
Nut height and bridge height do not need to be the same, no. Once a guitar is set up properly, if they happen to have the same height, it’s just coincidence. Your nut height should be whatever is necessary to give you good action and intonation down around the first few frets, and the bridge should be whatever is necessary to give you good action and playability over the rest of the neck.
The nut height should be a bit higher but I don’t know how to raise it.Because of this I have to keep the bridge a bit too high for my liking. I have 9s on this and the action at the 12th fret is around 3mm. I don’t know if that is fine but it is a little tough o play. If I lower the bridge the 3th and 4th strings fret buzz because the fret board is curved while the bridge isn’t
Hi,Bob.Sorry to bother you. Just want to ask about Naphta. I recently bought the Ibanez new RG 550 genesis and it has a maple fretboard ( I am not sure whether it is finished or not). After I played it for a while, a small stubborn gunk sits on the fretboard. I avoided using steel wool as you had said, and so I did try to rub it with a slightly damp microfibre cloth and warm water, but it just won’t go off. I heard we can use “Zippo” ? what do you think? any suggestion is welcome. Thank you
Hi Joe. Congrats on getting one of the baddest Ibanezes out there (my very first ‘real’ guitar was an RG550 back in 1990). Your RG550 does have a finish on the maple, you just don’t notice it because it’s “satin” rather than glossy. This gives the fretboard a more natural feel–almost like the wood’s unfinished. This is my favorite finish for a maple board.
It’s odd that a brand new maple board would already be showing stains, but not if you’ve been playing the heck out of it. If you think you can capture it, can you send me a good quality closeup photo of this gunk? Send that to bobby AT guitaranswerguy dot com (I have to spell it out like that to prevent spammy robots from auto-sending me junk). Don’t worry, if you email me I won’t add you to any email lists or anything. By law, I can only respond to your emails in-kind, unless you specifically sign up to be on my regular email list.
Assuming you can’t (or don’t want to) send a photo, here’s the short answer. Yes, you can use #0000 steel wool to clean your satin maple fretboard. You can also use Naphtha (or lighter fluid), but I’d consider both of these to be pretty extreme options. I don’t usually break out the steel wool or Naphtha until a fretboard is as bad as the one shown in this tutorial.
Instead of going straight for the steel wool or naphtha at such an early stage, I’d recommend try either the Music Nomad F-One oil (which I use here at the end to condition), or plain/clear mineral oil. You can run to your local drug store and buy a bottle of it in the medicine section (it’s used to treat constipation). Since your fretboard is finished, these oils won’t soak into the wood, but they can often be enough to dislodge light finger oil and sweat–which is what I think you’re seeing. Just put a drop of oil on a soft cotton cloth and give the stains a good rub, and then remove all excess oil with a clean/dry spot on the rag. One drop of oil per fret should work well.
Hi,Bob. Sorry for the late reply. I was having a troubled internet connection in the last few days. Btw, yah, sure, I will send you the photo. 🙂 I am very happy to hear that you are willing to do that for me.Thanks.
Oh, one thing though, the F one oil says that it is not for the finished maple fingerboard? should I just use the mineral oil instead?Thank you.
You can safely use the F-one on your 550’s maple board. Just have a look at their product page: https://www.musicnomadcare.com/Products/Fretboard-F-ONE-Oil-2-oz
On that page, there are photos and a video of them using it on an Ibanez fretboard–a maple board with the identical satin finish your 550 has. Also, I use F-one on my maple Ibanez fretboards (mine are all RG’s as well).
Music Nomad needs to revise their product messaging a bit. Many people refer to boards like yours as “unfinished” when, in fact, they have a satin finish… but FEEL natural/unfinished. What they really mean when they say “unfinished” is “non-glossy” (like many Strats). You wouldn’t want to use F-one (or any oil) on one of those thick, glossy lacquered fretboards.
Hi,Joe, Thanks for showing it to me. I never went to the Nomad’s website before. I should have checked it. Btw, I just sent the picture to your email. Hopefully, the quality of the pictures is good enough to be seen clearly. I tried to clean it up again before i took the photos and it became cleaner but it is still distinguishable than its surroundings. Many thanks to you.
Many people refer to a satin maple board like yours as “natural” or “unfinished.” Music Nomad knows this and I think that’s why they refer to it as such. However, it can be confusing for those of us in-the-know 😉 It’s very seldom for a maple board to be truly raw–without any type of finish to protect it.
I’ll go check my email now for your photo(s).
Would you follow the same cleaning procedure with a fretboard made of treated New Zealand pine?
Seamus, that’s a great question… as we’re beginning to see this wood on newer Ibanez and a few other guitars. I’ll have to do some homework, as this is a new wood for me. With the scarcity of the traditional hardwoods becoming an issue, we’re going to start seeing more and more alternative woods, which means we may have to modify some of our care and cleaning methods.
Don’t run out and buy steel wool just yet, but the New Zealand pine fretbaords I’m seeing on Ibanez guitars, for example, looks to have a very similar color, grain structure, and porousness to rosewood. As long as it’s not covered in lacquer, I’m betting you can clean it in the same way (and treat it afterward with just a drop of fretboard oil).
Great advice – the steel wool did a great job of removing that thin film of finger oil. And WARNING! WARNING! If you have an acoustic guitar with a split bridge (like a Takemine), while gently vacuuming up the face of the guitar to make sure you get all the steel wool fibres, you MAY also suck up the tiny piece of the split bridge – I haven’t been that surprised in a long time – fortunately it did find its way to the central vac canister and all is well again.
After using the vacuum, perhaps passing a magnet over the work area, may help get those last missing bits of wire wool out?
I can’t see that it would hurt anything, but if it’s an electric guitar use caution around the pickups. Two powerful magnets getting stuck to each other could prove tricky.
My hands sweat when I play so when I do my monthly string change (I use elixirs) my rosewood fb’s look just like that. I havent tried using a card to scrape off the gunk, I go right to the steel wool, but I might try the using a “card scraper” next time.
Steel wool works like a charm. My only beef with it is the mess. Definitely give the scraper a try because, as you can see in my one photo, the fretboard looked pretty good after just scraping. Perhaps you could scrape between string changes, and then only use steel wool once a year. Something else that works really well, but I consider it the “nuclear option” is Naphtha… which is basically lighter fluid. I wouldn’t recommend using Naphtha at every string change, but it would make a good replacement for steel wool as long as you only use it once a year. Go buy yourself a little bottle of lighter fluid and give it a try. Just be sure to use it in a well ventilated area, and let your rag air-out thoroughly (outside) afterward.
Hi Bobby,
Always enjoy reading your articles. I, as a young man used steel wool to clean up chrome on my car and some other uses including my guitar frets. I like you found it messy, but it got the job done. Today, there are many alternatives to using that on our beloved guitars. There are pads made of a sort of plastic (like the green pads used at the kitchen sink) that come in a variety of grits, that may be safer to use. I prefer to use lighter fluid to remove the oil and grime. On a very bad one your scraping technique is great to do first. I find that you will run into fret lubes and other oils others have applied, these come off with no problem. I have gotten guitars with bits of what I think is steel wool embedded in the grain of the fret board and have not been able to safely remove them all. You don’t want to go digging into your fret board to try to get them out… I hydrate and seal the board with linseed oil. A tiny bit on, then e mediately wipe off & buff. This is not meant to bash/offend. You asked for others thoughts, so the above are mine. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to more, Dan