How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

[maup]

[SUP](Excuse me for my not very good english)[/SUP]

Hi all,
I have a Fender Stratocaster Blacktop HH that I bought a few years ago and that I have modified to noiseless SSH as shown in this post (click here), I really like very much the guitar sound and tone, but I am having a problem with the fretboard that feels rough and dry, expecially when I do bendings I feel a very uncomfortable friction and sometimes the skin of my fingers gets "pinched" between the string and the fretboard.

In comparison, I have another gorgeous guitar (Blade RH4 from 1991, in my opinion a greatly underrated brand) with jumbo frets and ebony freboard, that feels wonderful, it is really great pleasure to play that guitar, fingers feels sliding with no effort and bendings are smooth and easy to play with great precision. (I have to say that for the Blade RH4 I payd 4 times the price of the Strat Blacktop HH)

The Strat feels very different as said before, it has medium jumbo frets and while playing I can feel friction and bending almost gets "stuck" at some point because the freboard feels dry and sort of rough.

I also have another acousting guitar, a $250 Washburn from the '90 too, that also has a rosewood freboard but actually it doesen't feel that dry and rough as the Strat.

Honestly, I didn't notice that problem since a few weeks ago, mainly because I was more concentrated on the tone and mods, maybe also because I started to play that guitar more than before after I changed pickups to something that I like a lot now. I don't know if the fretboard got dry after a very hot summer that we had or some similar problem.

I have been searching a lot how to solve that problem and I am very confused because I found any sorf of answer and the opposite of it: sanding, using oils, using "conditioners", using professional products, etc, and also many others posts that deny the same practices: sanding is useless, don't use oils on the wood, that professional product is going to damage the wood, etc...

I would like to know, in your experience, if you had a similar problem and how did you fix it, or what is possible to do to make the fretboard feels less friction and less dry.

Thanks in advance for any suggesion.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

Are you pressing the strings down very hard?
Maybe on your guitar with jumbo frets the string is not actually touching the fretboard but with the Strat it is?

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

If you have rosewood fingerboards, oil them. They'll look and feel much better. Polishing your frets will help, as well.

 

[maup]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

Are you pressing the strings down very hard?
Maybe on your guitar with jumbo frets the string is not actually touching the fretboard but with the Strat it is?

I don't think that I press very hard on the string because with the Strat as I said sometimes my finger gets "pinched" between fretboard and string while bending. So the string should not be in contact with the fretboard, while the finger is and it gets to friction with the fretboard.

 

[maup]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

If you have rosewood fingerboards, oil them. They'll look and feel much better. Polishing your frets will help, as well.

I have read that many people use many kind of products and techniques but I am totally confused on what is safe and secure to use on the rosewood fretboard. What do you use?

 

[nexion218]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

If your fingers are touching the the board, then I'd say your frets are too small. So if you feel uncomfortable touching the board while playing, when the time comes for a refret ask for a bigger fretwire. I personally wouldn't do a refret for this reason unless it is necessary. I have an older Jackson which I got used and its frets were visibly recrowned and leveled over the years making the frets rather small. My fingers touch the board all the time, I don't like the feel of it, but it is plays perfectly fine, I just need to clean the board more often as it gets grimey in no time. As for the dryness - like JB said - oil it! There are many products out there and opinions may differ, but I was perfectly satisfied with Dunlop's cheap version. Has an applicator, has instructions and actually makes a noticeable difference. If the friction that bothers you comes from bending the string and you don't mind your fingers touching the board, than it's definitely a case of the frets being rough and unpolished. Easy to do, you can find many good tutorials of it online and don't really need overpriced special stuff: many things from steel wool to car polishing creams can do the job just fine. Just make sure you tape up the board between the frets with painter's tape that has a very light adhesive layer (I use Tesa Sensitive and even with that, before putting it on the guitar, I cut a piece and stick it on my t-shirt then peel it off). Also, if you use the steel wool, cover your pickup tightly with tape as well! You dont want fine metal dusting in your PUPs!

 

[orpheo]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

As a luthier, I get a lot of people complaining about the same, but the weird thing is, a supersmooth fretboard, like highly polished ebony, will be less smooth and fast to play on because the slickness introduces another source of friction. That's why a satin neck feels faster than a gloss neck.

That out of the way: a lot of people also overestimate the fretboard's importance in the feel versus the fretwork itself. I'd suggest you polish the frets to a high gloss, or have it done and reevaluate.

 

[Mincer]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

Have you ever tried a scalloped board? This might be a good idea here- there is no way you will touch the fretboard on one of those. If you push too hard, the notes go sharp, so you quickly learn not to push so hard.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

I have read that many people use many kind of products and techniques but I am totally confused on what is safe and secure to use on the rosewood fretboard. What do you use?

I use D’Addario branded fretboard oil, but any of them are fine. Get something with a guitar company’s name on the label, and it’ll be safe.

For polishing, I use extremely fine steel wool. There is some controversy about the dust from the steel wool getting into the guitar’s inner workings and causing problems, but I’ve never had an issue. I do tape off the pickups beforehand, and use a little metal guard I got on amazon to cover the fretboard on either side of the fret when polishing.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

Do you keep your strings very low? It might sound counterintuitive, but higher strings will reduce finger slippage under the string when bending IME. It allows you to "grab" the string more solidly at the start of the bend, so your finger is less likely to roll the string and slip under it.

I would also pull the neck and steel wool the entire fretboard and frets, and then give the wood a light conditioning with some sort of oil designed for fretboards.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

I oil rosewood fretboards when they start to look dry (usually just give 'em a swipe with some lemon oil when I change strings). Don' t believe that this actually makes the fretboard faster. Honestly, my fingers don't make too much contact with the fretboard when I play, but I prefer big frets on my guitar. 6100s will keep your fingers off the board most of the time.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

Do you keep your strings very low? It might sound counterintuitive, but higher strings will reduce finger slippage under the string when bending IME. It allows you to "grab" the string more solidly at the start of the bend, so your finger is less likely to roll the string and slip under it.

This is an excellent point. Strings that are too light and action that is too low are hard for me to play. 10s or 11s with action that's just high enough to be able to play slide works out much better for me.

 

[LesPaulPlayer001]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

I wouldn't use lemon oil personally but I got some guitar honey and it works great. However, if the wood is particularly porous and rough you could use steel wool to smooth it out, it will also polish your frets. Use 000 steel wool only since that is the finest and won't scratch it. Remember to cover the pickups when you use the steel wool.

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

NEVER use steel wool. Steel wool is evil. It's magnetic, it rusts, it breaks down into little crumbles that find their way into everything (and short out your electronics), and the little pieces will hurt your fingers. For god's sake, use Scotchbrite and avoid all the problems.

 

[LesPaulPlayer001]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

NEVER use steel wool. Steel wool is evil. It's magnetic, it rusts, it breaks down into little crumbles that find their way into everything (and short out your electronics), and the little pieces will hurt your fingers. For god's sake, use Scotchbrite and avoid all the problems.

Yeah thats a good point. Hence why I said tape of the electronics. Also, afterwards you could blow the metal out of the fret board with compressed air. They will both work though. And scotch brite is proabably better, I just forgot about it.

 

[maup]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

Really thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and knowledge.

About string height or pressure on them, I think it is not the problem because as I wrote I have no similar problems with other guitars, it's with this rosewook fretboard Strat that I feel this friction, expecially in the area from the 9th to 15th fret. Maybe it is getting a bit dry in this area.

Anyway, from your posts I see that there are divergent opinions, yes/no lemon oil, yes/no steel wool... So my doubts are not 100% clear yet

But I would like to do first the easy steps then maybe go further if I don't see any improvement.

I found on line these products:

- D'Addario Lemon Oil - Cleaner and Conditioner
- D'Addario Hydrate - Fingerboard Conditioner
- Dunlop Ultimate Lemon Oil

I think I'll go with the Lemon Oil, but did you ever use the other "Hydrate" product?
In your opinion is better the Dunlop or the D'Addario Lemon Oil?

 

[Mincer]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

I don't think one lemon oil product is better than another, other than they probably are just some sort of oil with lemon scent and not actually 'oil from a lemon'.

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

Most lemon oil is really mineral oil with a lemon scent added. Perfectly fine stuff for cleaning your guitar.

 

[LesPaulPlayer001]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

That is true, I have heard that true lemon oil wasn't the best because it could hurt the wood, but I have used it before with no bad side affects. If it is made by D'Addario or Dunlop I couldn't imagine it would hurt your guitar though. Those are both good brands and I would trust their products.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: How to fix uncomfortable rosewood freboard friction

NEVER use steel wool. Steel wool is evil. It's magnetic, it rusts, it breaks down into little crumbles that find their way into everything (and short out your electronics), and the little pieces will hurt your fingers. For god's sake, use Scotchbrite and avoid all the problems.

Which color Scotchbrite are you using for fret polishing? Been using steel wool because I have it, but would like to switch.