Sealing a rosewood fingerboard?

lungimsam

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Anyone done this successfully?
I notice some artists have sealed rosewood boards that don't come that way stock and I was wondering how this is done.
Although oiling boards is fun it would be cool to not have to.

I would guess wiping the nitro or poly on the wood over and over til you get it as thick as you like?
Pros?
Cons?
 

dreadnut

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There are few things I enjoy more than a well-conditioned fretboard. Seems to me its gotta breathe.
 

Neal

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Rosewood fretboards need nothing other than to be played. Every guitar I own has one. I just play them and wipe them down. Some are pushing 100 years old and the fretboards are just fine.
 

Guildedagain

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From an old Guild owner's manual;

"Occasionally a light coat of raw linseed oil should be applied to the fingerboard. This feeds the fingerboard so it remains strong and resilient. The strings should be removed first, of course, and replaced only after all of the excess oil has been wiped off."
 

Rebosbro

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I commandeered my sister 1976 D-50 about 20 years ago. She did not play it much. I oiled the fret board, and it was thirsty, and it dramatically changed the tone, for the better I might add. I, too, don’t understand why you would seal it
Paul
 

Yoko Oh No

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I commandeered my sister 1976 D-50 about 20 years ago. She did not play it much. I oiled the fret board, and it was thirsty, and it dramatically changed the tone, for the better I might add. I, too, don’t understand why you would seal it
Paul
How’d it change the tone, can you elaborate Please? I’ve owned my d50 for 18years and have never touched the ebony fretboard.
 

GAD

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Rosewood has natural oils that can disappear over time and is much more porous than ebony. Ebony can dry out and crack, too. I've seen it on vintage chess pieces.
 

adorshki

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From an old Guild owner's manual;

"Occasionally a light coat of raw linseed oil should be applied to the fingerboard. This feeds the fingerboard so it remains strong and resilient. The strings should be removed first, of course, and replaced only after all of the excess oil has been wiped off."
Are you sure it didn't say "boiled" as in my owner's manuals? Point being, boiling the oil polymerizes it, which allows it to dry more thoroughly and stably and not become gummy and rancid with age. That's what Wileypickett was explaining:

If you use boiled linseed oil on your fretboard, after the second application it catalyzes which effectively seals the pores.
 

bobouz

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Rosewood has natural oils that can disappear over time and is much more porous than ebony. Ebony can dry out and crack, too. I've seen it on vintage chess pieces.
I've seen cracked ebony and rosewood on both fingerboards & bridges. I always apply Fret Doctor to the bridge along with the fingerboard on acoustics.
 

walrus

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Rosewood fretboards need nothing other than to be played. Every guitar I own has one. I just play them and wipe them down. Some are pushing 100 years old and the fretboards are just fine.

This.

Oiled the fretboard and bridge when I got my F-30 - made the bridge much darker since Guild did not treat the bridges in NH if remember correctly. Now I'm just going to play it until one of us falls apart.

"Every guitar I own has one." LMAO!

walrus
 

Aarfy

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@adorshki - the guild website definitely states raw linseed. I’ve seen so much conflicting information (or difference of opinion here and elsewhere). I’ve a friends father who swears to not use raw, guild say raw, others lemon oil (not actual lemon oil) or other fretboard specific blends.

makes me not want to touch them. But I know I should.
 

chazmo

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lungimsam,

I think some/many of us are a little confused by your terminology. You don't generally see rosewood or ebony fingerboards getting "sealed," if by that you mean lacquered or finished some other way. That's not to say they don't exist, but if they do, that's pretty rare; and I don't think Guild did that. Rosewood and ebony fingerboards are left unfinished, with the possible exception of the edges in an unbound fingerboard.

You do, however, see finished maple fingerboards on any number of electrics out there and even quite a few acoustics (not Guilds, that I know of).

Anyway, just to be clear, the linseed oil / furniture polish (lemon oil) discussions above are what most people would call "treating" or "oiling" the fretboard.

It wasn't clear to me re-reading your original post what you were actually referring to. As far as treating the fretboard is concerned, it's really a matter of taste. Rosewood will darken considerably when you oil it. Oil gets drawn into the rosewood very quickly and you can see the oil dry out. Ebony is much denser and, in my experience, barely needs any oil at all. Regardless, you use it sparingly. I use bore oil (a product for woodwinds) on my fretboards and bridges. I've had a small bottle of this stuff for over 10 years, and I've barely used a third of it. Boiled linseed is good too. I've heard people swear by Fret Doctor. Anyway, the key, as with guitar polish in general, is to avoid anything with silicone in it. I would not use a furniture polish (lemon oil) unless you're certain it has no silicone.
 

SFIV1967

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I think some/many of us are a little confused by your terminology. You don't generally see rosewood or ebony fingerboards getting "sealed," if by that you mean lacquered or finished some other way.
I think he was EXACTLY asking that, why are rosewood or ebony fingerboards not lacquered like maple fingerboards! He wasn't asking about "oiling" a fingerboard.

Rickenbacker does it for instance and they seem to be the only company that puts a conversion varnish finish on their fretboards.
And it seems to create more issues than it helps:

1616876127910.png


Ralf
 

adorshki

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@adorshki - the guild website definitely states raw linseed. I’ve seen so much conflicting information (or difference of opinion here and elsewhere). I’ve a friends father who swears to not use raw, guild say raw, others lemon oil (not actual lemon oil) or other fretboard specific blends.

makes me not want to touch them. But I know I should.
Raw baby, rawr ;]

P1220918.JPG
Yeah, saw Aarfy's post late Friday but am only just now catching up. And in fact my owners' manuals say raw linseed oil, too.

I am so mortified, can't trust my own memory anymore.

However, in my defense, I offer, from here :
"Boiled linseed oil has driers added to make it dry much faster than raw linseed oil, which can take weeks or months to dry. The drying is adequate only when the excess is wiped off after each application. Tung oil doesn’t contain driers. It takes two or three days to dry adequately in a warm room when all the excess is wiped off."

I was, however misinformed abut the difference between boiled linseed oil and polymerized linseed oil, explained here:
"Polymerized Linseed Oil is created by heating raw linseed oil in the absence of oxygen to about 300°C (572°F) over the course of several days. During this process, a polymerization reaction occurs, which increases the oil’s viscosity and decreases the drying time. Both polymerized linseed oil and raw linseed oil contain zero VOCs (volatile organic compounds)."
 
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