Fretboard cleaning

[doctrane]

I've noticed, since my last string change, that in my estimation, I'd like to rub my fretboard, clean, clean, clean. When I bend strings, or vibrato bend, my finger(s) rub, kind of squeak the fretboard. I took a rag and rubbed real hard, in between the strings, to SMOOTH, to absorb any gunk??, oil that's accumulated on the board. I've used lemon oil, between string changes, but I think that this has been a mistake. Is there a way of smoothing the fretboard, so it's like glass or silk, so as not to get this rubbing affect between my finger(s) and the surface. Gunk gunk gunk!

Funny what I get fixed on!

doctrane

peace to richard wright - my prayers to you - peace

APPENDED:
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Just trying to revive this post abit because in giving my guitar a great setup, which included a slight saddle raise (my WAfrican Ivory - Colosi bridge is coming a few days - yeah!), tighten the truss, .12 series - PB - elixirs with a bump of the .12>>.13,.16>>.17, and per this thread:
complete fretboard / with oil and then rubdown with sock and microfiber, totally cleaning the fretboard / All resulting in a fantastic change of sound. More forward and solid high end, shining sound envelope resulting, yet

My style, as I stretch out, I use quite a bit of vibrato, and bends. The bends are vibrato in nature and I get this rubbing on the fretboard, kind of a friction point. If I lean over the instrument, it's a looser hand, but if I'm sittin back and doin my thing, vibratoing a bluesy, django note, well, I'd love to have a smoother, less friction aspect where the skin of my finger seems to rub on the fretboard...ernk ernk ernk ernk / that's the sound of the rubbing.

It's not so bad, but I'd love to get a smoother, less friction contact going on.

Any thoughts? The fretboard is clean, it's smooth. Do I need silicon on my fingers? , or maybe if with greasy fingers, that will help. Or maybe there's a final treatment I can offer my loving fretboard. I wipe it down, between the strings, after and before a play, which helps. Maybe I should move to polywebs which are a bit more soapy and might slide better when in vibrato shake.

-doctrane

Maybe I should put Armorall on my fretboard? come on, there's gotta be someone out there with this same issue? Can't believe that clean is it? Don't want to put silicon spray on it? unless that's the answer?? HELP
Also part of the rubbing is happening ON the frets. There smooth, 0000'd >> but finger to board, finger to fret >> just not smooth enough? Would like a solution

-dtrane

[electramone]

It will smooth out again but next time use 0000 steel wool for the frets and board. Then use the oil. I find that lemon oil does the squeak thing. I use any brand of fingerboard oil (from Stew Mac etc.). Dr. Ducks Axe Wax is great for not only a smooth fingerboard but cleaning the whole guitar. Buff the board real good after oil.

[fitness1]

0000 steel wool, very lightly in the direction of the grain. Then I always take an old athletic sock and turn it inside out and rub it out. If you've been putting lemon oil on it, chances are it may be too much, and not rubbed out enough. Do the steel wool, then rub it out and let it go for a while. See if the buildup doesn't build up right away again. If it doesn't you may have just been doing too much and not rubbing it out enough. Might want to try Lizard Spit....fingerboard cleaner and conditioner. That's all I'll use anymore.

[davidyan]

Is it ok to use the 0000 steel wool over areas where there are inlays?

[doctrane]

Just trying to revive this post abit because in giving my guitar a great setup, which included a slight saddle raise (my WAfrican Ivory - Colosi bridge is coming a few days - yeah!), tighten the truss, .12 series - PB - elixirs with a bump of the .12>>.13,.16>>.17, and per this thread:
complete fretboard / with oil and then rubdown with sock and microfiber, totally cleaning the fretboard / All resulting in a fantastic change of sound. More forward and solid high end, shining sound envelope resulting, yet

My style, as I stretch out, I use quite a bit of vibrato, and bends. The bends are vibrato in nature and I get this rubbing on the fretboard, kind of a friction point. If I lean over the instrument, it's a looser hand, but if I'm sittin back and doin my thing, vibratoing a bluesy, django note, well, I'd love to have a smoother, less friction aspect where the skin of my finger seems to rub on the fretboard...ernk ernk ernk ernk / that's the sound of the rubbing.

It's not so bad, but I'd love to get a smoother, less friction contact going on.

Any thoughts? The fretboard is clean, it's smooth. Do I need silicon on my fingers? , or maybe if with greasy fingers, that will help. Or maybe there's a final treatment I can offer my loving fretboard. I wipe it down, between the strings, after and before a play, which helps. Maybe I should move to polywebs which are a bit more soapy and might slide better when in vibrato shake.

-doctrane

[doctrane]

Originally Posted by doctrane

Just trying to revive this post abit because in giving my guitar a great setup, which included a slight saddle raise (my WAfrican Ivory - Colosi bridge is coming a few days - yeah!), tighten the truss, .12 series - PB - elixirs with a bump of the .12>>.13,.16>>.17, and per this thread:
complete fretboard / with oil and then rubdown with sock and microfiber, totally cleaning the fretboard / All resulting in a fantastic change of sound. More forward and solid high end, shining sound envelope resulting, yet

My style, as I stretch out, I use quite a bit of vibrato, and bends. The bends are vibrato in nature and I get this rubbing on the fretboard, kind of a friction point. If I lean over the instrument, it's a looser hand, but if I'm sittin back and doin my thing, vibratoing a bluesy, django note, well, I'd love to have a smoother, less friction aspect where the skin of my finger seems to rub on the fretboard...ernk ernk ernk ernk / that's the sound of the rubbing.

It's not so bad, but I'd love to get a smoother, less friction contact going on.

Any thoughts? The fretboard is clean, it's smooth. Do I need silicon on my fingers? , or maybe if with greasy fingers, that will help. Or maybe there's a final treatment I can offer my loving fretboard. I wipe it down, between the strings, after and before a play, which helps. Maybe I should move to polywebs which are a bit more soapy and might slide better when in vibrato shake.

-doctrane

Maybe I should put Armorall on my fretboard? come on, there's gotta be someone out there with this same issue? Can't believe that clean is it? Don't want to put silicon spray on it? unless that's the answer?? HELP
Also part of the rubbing is happening ON the frets. There smooth, 0000'd >> but finger to board, finger to fret >> just not smooth enough? Would like a solution

-dtrane

[Howard Klepper]

Do NOT Armorall your fret board. That's a nonstarter.

You can clean almost any gunk off a board with lemon oil furniture polish. This is not actually the oil of lemons. It is a light petroleum distillate, somewhere around the weight of kerosene, that has been given a lemon scent. It will dissolve or loosen gunk enough to wipe it off by rubbing across the board with a cloth. Use your fingernail to get in next to the frets. The other thing to know about lemon oil polish is that it does not build up. In fact, it all evaporates within a few days. Think of it as a cleaner, not a finish. Which is good, because fretboards of ebony or rosewood do not need any finish to play well.

When you say the board is smooth, I have to wonder if you have played a really smooth, polished board. If so, my next question is whether your fingers are really clean. If so, then the problem may be that your frets are too low, so that in conjunction with your style of fretting, you have too much finger contact with the board. In this case, you can remedy the problem by refretting with a larger size of frets. From all you have said, I suspect this is where you are heading.

[doctrane]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Do NOT Armorall your fret board. That's a nonstarter.

You can clean almost any gunk off a board with lemon oil furniture polish. This is not actually the oil of lemons. It is a light petroleum distillate, somewhere around the weight of kerosene, that has been given a lemon scent. It will dissolve or loosen gunk enough to wipe it off by rubbing across the board with a cloth. Use your fingernail to get in next to the frets. The other thing to know about lemon oil polish is that it does not build up. In fact, it all evaporates within a few days. Think of it as a cleaner, not a finish. Which is good, because fretboards of ebony or rosewood do not need any finish to play well.

When you say the board is smooth, I have to wonder if you have played a really smooth, polished board. If so, my next question is whether your fingers are really clean. If so, then the problem may be that your frets are too low, so that in conjunction with your style of fretting, you have too much finger contact with the board. In this case, you can remedy the problem by refretting with a larger size of frets. From all you have said, I suspect this is where you are heading.

Relatively new instrument, frets have been checked to be right on. Point is that I can get this rubbing effect on the metal wire of the frets themselves, so maybe it is hand cleanliness... I'll try good good hand cleaning before playing to see if that smooths things out ... thanx

[Chazmo]

Doc, I'm having a little trouble understanding what you're saying... But, did you try the 0000 steel wool rub down? That has always worked well for me.

And someone asked earlier about inlays? 0000 can be rubbed over inlays. I generally don't press very hard anyway, but I've not seen any problem with abalone or MOP inlays. One of my guitars (a Taylor XXX) had some gold in one inlay -- I avoided the steel wool there.

Also, please heed lofapco's warning. You don't want the steel dust getting in the sound hole if you've got electronics. Well, you don't want it in there regardless.

[doctrane]

Originally Posted by Chazmo

Doc, I'm having a little trouble understanding what you're saying... But, did you try the 0000 steel wool rub down? That has always worked well for me.

And someone asked earlier about inlays? 0000 can be rubbed over inlays. I generally don't press very hard anyway, but I've not seen any problem with abalone or MOP inlays. One of my guitars (a Taylor XXX) had some gold in one inlay -- I avoided the steel wool there.

Also, please heed lofapco's warning. You don't want the steel dust getting in the sound hole if you've got electronics. Well, you don't want it in there regardless.

Yes, it worked well...
It's all most like I'd like to wipe down the frets with 0000 after every play. But that's impossible. Part of what's going on here is just the surface contact of finger skin, on a fret and the friction that exists between that contact. It's just that with my sliding style, into and away from a fret, and vibrato, like I've stated, sometimes I get rub, rub, rub as I vibrate the string side to side. I find that with fresh strings, they feel quite slippery, which I like, but the effect does not last long.

I have found that by using a microfiber towel, wiping my strings, that in a way helps, but this microfiber towel, literally takes the copper of the strings (the lower ones), and I suspect the steel(??)

Sometimes I find that temperature of the room, my hands, the instrument has bearing on how slippery the neck(strings) responds within my hand.

It's all good!

[gary palmer]

Try Fastfret

[Chazmo]

AH, I see, so it gets bad after each time you play. Yeah, Gary has a good suggestion -- try that. I've never used it, but there are some cleaners like that which can be used after each playing.

I just wipe down the strings with a towel, but I see that doesn't work for you.

Also, are you using coated strings? If you like the slick feel, try the Elixir Polyweb strings. These feel very slippery, and they last a while until the coating starts to shed.

The chemistry of some peoples' sweat can kill a set of strings very quickly. Maybe that's what is happening to you.

Good luck!

[doctrane]

Originally Posted by gary palmer

Try Fastfret

I have....i makes it worse.... is that crazy...
the strings squeek >> as many strings cleaners cause, but then they get very resistant to sliding

I've used ernie ball string cleaner, which is a wipe, which gets quite expensive, to wipe each time...

I've found that CLEAN hands, and wiping the strings and frets (literally shining them with a microfiber towel, seems for the moment to work best

The nano webs work well for me.. A bit resistant to a heavier coated string, plus don't if if polywebs come in PB's ??? yes/no??

-thanx but open to any suggestions, anytime

[Jeff M]

Originally Posted by doctrane

Maybe I should put Armorall on my fretboard? come on, there's gotta be someone out there with this same issue?...

-dtrane

AAAACCKKK!!!
NO NO NO NO NO!!!
Stay away from any product that has silicone in it!!
It NEVER comes off. Infiltrates the wood. Makes any future potential repair/finish work impossible.

From Frets.com about cleaning your guitar;
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musi...leaning01.html
Run by Frank Ford, owner of Gryphon Stringed Instruments, one of the best guitar shops in the US.
Luthier, repair expert, moderator over at the AG Magazine FOrums "Luthiers COrner"

And also from James Cumpiano's site, an article titled "don't love your guitar to death";
http://www.cumpiano.com/Home/Article...brd%20oil.html
Cumpiano is a luthier and wrote what many folks use as "the book" on guitar building.

Bottom line....just wipe it down with a clean towel.
High grade steel wool if you need to remove built up debris.

NO need for polishes/etc. They do more harm than good.

[doctrane]

Originally Posted by Jeff M

AAAACCKKK!!!
NO NO NO NO NO!!!
Stay away from any product that has silicone in it!!
It NEVER comes off. Infiltrates the wood. Makes any future potential repair/finish work impossible.

From Frets.com about cleaning your guitar;
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musi...leaning01.html
Run by Frank Ford, owner of Gryphon Stringed Instruments, one of the best guitar shops in the US.
Luthier, repair expert, moderator over at the AG Magazine FOrums "Luthiers COrner"

And also from James Cumpiano's site, an article titled "don't love your guitar to death";
http://www.cumpiano.com/Home/Article...brd%20oil.html
Cumpiano is a luthier and wrote what many folks use as "the book" on guitar building.

Bottom line....just wipe it down with a clean towel.
High grade steel wool if you need to remove built up debris.

NO need for polishes/etc. They do more harm than good.

thanx- i will read

-doctrane