NGD D-55 New Hartford 2009

[chazmo]

Next time, clean the fretboard with 0000 steel wool and then oil it, richt54.

 

[kostask]

I don't agree with your statement that it has been played alot simply from the absence of associated fret wear. The person or people that owned played it and put it away without wiping it. It's a 13 year old guitar and probably has never had the fretboard oiled once.

I never said there was fret wire wear. or wear on the fingerboard wood. I was pointing to the gunk built up on the wood of the 4th fret, and you can see the scalloped pattern on the wood surface. The wood surface, oiled or not, doesn't develop that on its own; it is skin oils, dead skin cells, and perhaps some sort of fretboard conditioner (I will not pretend to know what conditioner it is), suffice it to say that the conditioner is binding all of the skin oils and dead skin cells to the fingerboard wood. As part of that, the other part is that those skin oils and dead skin cells got there some way, and the most logical way is because the guitar was played, and judging from the amount of gunk, was played a lot, by a human being. Skin oils and dead skin cells do not magically appear out of thin air, it takes a human being to get them on there, and playing the guitar is normally the way that the gunk gets on there. This is why my emphasis on non-silicone (besides the difficulty that it presents to any repairs at some point in the future) and non-petroleum distillates in guitar care products. Neither one of them ever completely dry, and from body heat alone while playing, can softern, and hold skin oils and dead skin cells, which results in what you are seeing on the 4th fret of your fingerboard, in the picture you yourself posted.

As to whether you agree or not, doesn't change what is in the picture, and doesn't change the mechanism by which that gunk appears on the fingerboard. It happens on all guitars that have been conditioned and have been played, your guitar is no exception.

 

[beecee]

I think honest feedback from knowledgeable people is one of the greatest feature of these forums.

 

[richt54]

Next time, clean the fretboard with 0000 steel wool and then oil it, richt54.

Is there a compound or substance applied when the steel wool is used or just the steel wool dry? I already bought the bore oil. And that is best applied with a cloth or paper towel?

 

[chazmo]

Dry. Rub gently with the grain, and I also gently rub the frets (that's against the wood grain, but I don't push down to the wood).

I apply the bore oil with my finger and rub it in that way, and then wipe off with either cloth or paper towel, rich.

 

[twocorgis]

I never said there was fret wire wear. or wear on the fingerboard wood. I was pointing to the gunk built up on the wood of the 4th fret, and you can see the scalloped pattern on the wood surface. The wood surface, oiled or not, doesn't develop that on its own; it is skin oils, dead skin cells, and perhaps some sort of fretboard conditioner (I will not pretend to know what conditioner it is), suffice it to say that the conditioner is binding all of the skin oils and dead skin cells to the fingerboard wood. As part of that, the other part is that those skin oils and dead skin cells got there some way, and the most logical way is because the guitar was played, and judging from the amount of gunk, was played a lot, by a human being. Skin oils and dead skin cells do not magically appear out of thin air, it takes a human being to get them on there, and playing the guitar is normally the way that the gunk gets on there. This is why my emphasis on non-silicone (besides the difficulty that it presents to any repairs at some point in the future) and non-petroleum distillates in guitar care products. Neither one of them ever completely dry, and from body heat alone while playing, can soften, and hold skin oils and dead skin cells, which results in what you are seeing on the 4th fret of your fingerboard, in the picture you yourself posted.

As to whether you agree or not, doesn't change what is in the picture, and doesn't change the mechanism by which that gunk appears on the fingerboard. It happens on all guitars that have been conditioned and have been played, your guitar is no exception.

Good advice here. I have really dry hands, so it's not as much of an issue, but I have bought guitars that were downright gross from all that nasty stuff in the past. I think @Walter Broes has a good story about that. And all the removal advice you're getting is good too.

 

[kostask]

Dry. Rub gently with the grain, and I also gently rub the frets (that's against the wood grain, but I don't push down to the wood).

I apply the bore oil with my finger and rub it in that way, and then wipe off with either cloth or paper towel, rich.

This should work just fine. I recommended the plastic credit card (use the edge in a scraper like fashion) to allow you to get as close as possible to the fret wire edges. The credit card edge will also not (almost all of the time) leave any scratches on the fingerboard, whether going with, at an angle to, or even across the grain. Also use dry. The 0000 steel wool can be used to polish up the frets whereas the credit card edge cannot. You will often be surprised as to how much gunk will actually be scraped off, even if the fingerboard doesn't look dirty.

For extremely dirty fingerboards, you can gently use the plastic scouring pads that are sold for washing dishes/pots. Best to use one that has had some use, so that the the surface is not as aggressive as a new one.

 

[Rayk]

You guys are pros . I use WD40 to clean gunk off fretboards.

 

[davismanLV]

You have to be careful with 0000 steel wool which will leave tiny debris and metal dust and it can even get inside your guitar. Consider Gorgomyte Fret & Fingerboard cleaner. @GAD has reported on it's value and use, so if I was to encounter a seriously grungy board, I'd considering buying it to clean. Just a suggestion.

 

[richt54]

I received this guitar on Thursday via Fed Ex. I bought it off of Reverb. It was made September 8th, 2009 in New Hartford. It was the first guitar finished. The seller included some Elixir custom light strings because the strings on it were not good. I cleaned it up and restrung it. It seems to me that the guitars that I get take a day to wake up after travel. I will try to do a good comparison to my recently acquired 2005 D-55 Tacoma built Guild. The seller said he bought it and never played it so he waited to pass it on to someone who would. Logged a few hours so far. With the comparison I will try to make a video that demos the look and the sound. I wanted a D-55 now I have 2.

Post oiling fretboard after cleaning and applying mineral oil.

 

[chazmo]

Looks very good, Rich.

 

[davismanLV]

See?? Like THAT!!

 

[chazmo]

Just curious, did you use wool on it? You really did get the gunk off!

 

[richt54]

Just curious, did you use wool on it? You really did get the gunk off!

I used the rough side of the sponge with mineral oil on it for cleaning and applied mineral oil on the fret board with a paper towel and let it sit for 5 minutes and wiped the excess with a microfiber towel that can be bought in packages at Costco.

 

[chazmo]

Ooh, I wouldn't've used the scotchbrite abrasive stuff, but I'm glad it worked out for you.

 

[wileypickett]

StewMac sells Scotch-Brite pads in different grits:

3M Scotch-Brite Pads - StewMac

Long lasting, and more durable than steel wool. Use 3M Scotch-Brite Pads for cleaning and deburring metal parts or scuff-sanding a finish.

www.stewmac.com

Unlike OOO and OOOO steel wool, the pads don't shed particles. (On electric guitars, those teensy dust-like partticles adhere -- mddengly -- to magnetic pickups!)

The pads are cheap and they last forever. I use them for a number of things, including cleaning up scuzzy fretboards. Very useful.

 

[OneHourHotDog]

I just use a soft bristled toothbrush

 

[richt54]

How To Clean & Oil Your Fingerboard — Guitar Care 101

Luthier extraordinaire Garrett Lee joins us again for his third installment of Guitar Care 101. This week he walks us through the simple…

medium.com

 

[wileypickett]

How To Clean & Oil Your Fingerboard — Guitar Care 101

Luthier extraordinaire Garrett Lee joins us again for his third installment of Guitar Care 101. This week he walks us through the simple…

medium.com

Essentially what I do, but I used boiled linseed oil rather than mineral oil, which is recommended by most guitar makers, inclduding Guild, Taylor, etc.

Like "strings," the subject of how best to cean your fingerboard has been widely discussed -- possibly to the point of exhaustion!

Many diverse and dearly cherished opinions are held, so don't expect anything remotely like consensus. The only thing folks may agree on is "do no harm," but even on that score people have differing opinions on what is harmful.

Stew Mac makes their own boiled linseed variant, which adds accelerants to allow it to catalyze quicker.