Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

S

Silverburst

New member
Hi, I just got myself a 89 RG550 which has quite some cleaning work most original finish was gone on the fretboard. Read through a lot of threads about cleaning but the same question remains in the end: How to remove the deep gray grime that is stuck inside the wood?

I did a lot of passes with an electric toothbrush and grease remover (yellow brown gunk came off), 0000 steel whool, carefull 800 sanding (also to remove 'waves' in the fretboard) but can't get any further. Napta has like 0 effect (I just apply a bit on a cotton rag, I don't dare to apply it straight on the wood...)

The next step would be Tung oil, but I worry to lock in remaining dirt and have ghosting.
Or is they gray-ish color the original maple color... not sure were to go from here.

What do you think? Below some progress pictures. Thx !

How it looks now:


Start:


After first passes:









Waves
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

Take a blade and scrape the surface from fret to fret, than polish it with 000 steel wool. If you use tung oil it will darken the maple and you wont see the darker parts.

Good vid about oils

https://youtu.be/EDiN9TCZkHk
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

We are all different...I think the gray looks awesome on the board.

Light sanding would probably bring it out but I would be very careful--take it slow and just do a little bit at a time and mind the frets.

I would use Lemon Oil on the board but Tung Oil is a great choice as well--just remember a little goes a long way especially with Tung Oil.

Best of luck!
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

That grime goes away with the clorax stick you can pick up at CVS. Apply for a few seconds only at first.
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

Thanks for the swift reply! Really helpfull all of them!

hamerfan: Great vid! Glad I saw this now ;) My pref has shifted to True and Danish. About the blade scraping, I think there is not much left to scrape, when it comes to grime. I'd be removing wood, or is that what you intended ?

treyhaislip: The sanding is getting the waves out and making the surface very sleek again. After the toothbrusing, the wood feels quite course. As it is, I see myself sanding and sanding before getting the gray out. I don't mind a worn maple neck, on my maple N4 it is a perfect match, but somehow I don't like it on Ibanez's, it's like a scratched lamborgini ;), and especially someone elses grime :D About the oils, I've always heard, and it is mentioned on the Dunlop bottle I have here that it is not fit for maple necks. It does not mention anything about bare/oiled/finished maple.

darthphineas: Pleny of fret left. I already leveled and dressed them. There were some dents and local wear I had to remove from the first frets, but these are freaking bug jumbo's. on average 1.35mm left now. Radius is 17" 440mm.

uOpt: ow interesting, I came accross that name on the forum here. It is basically a bleach agent? Can I end up with a too light wood in the end? But that is less worse that gray grime.
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

After dressing. The grime looks fine here but it really depends on the light and the looking angle.
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

Silverburst said:
uOpt: ow interesting, I came accross that name on the forum here. It is basically a bleach agent? Can I end up with a too light wood in the end? But that is less worse that gray grime.
Click to expand...

Maybe. All I know that with careful short bursts of application I only got maple boards back to looking non-grimed. I then put a bit of tru oil on it and it looks good.
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

Looks good to me.

FWIW, Tru-Oil is a finish so it will lock in whatever you put it on top of. Lemon is more of a treatment/preservative so it may actually help loosen some of the dirt.
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

Silverburst said:
The sanding is getting the waves out and making the surface very sleek again. After the toothbrusing, the wood feels quite course. As it is, I see myself sanding and sanding before getting the gray out. I don't mind a worn maple neck, on my maple N4 it is a perfect match, but somehow I don't like it on Ibanez's, it's like a scratched lamborgini ;), and especially someone elses grime :D About the oils, I've always heard, and it is mentioned on the Dunlop bottle I have here that it is not fit for maple necks. It does not mention anything about bare/oiled/finished maple.
Click to expand...

devastone said:
Looks good to me.

FWIW, Tru-Oil is a finish so it will lock in whatever you put it on top of. Lemon is more of a treatment/preservative so it may actually help loosen some of the dirt.
Click to expand...

If you buy lemon oil outside of an "instrument designated" bottle it will say for use on all wood....and be a LOT cheaper ;)

And as Devastone mentioned the TruOil will lock it in...so you would want to use that after you've gotten the gray out. Linseed Oil is another good option but both Linseed and TruOil only require a little bit. Too much and you get clumps/lumps of oil on the board.

I found this article that may be helpful.
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

thx for the input devastone & treyhaislip!

Hehe Kamanda. Yeah I get that. I luv it on my maple N4, but in this case, the wear wasn't that nice. I'll wear it down myself thx ;)
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

A lot of what gets sold as "lemon oil" is actually "Mineral Oil" with Lemon scent added, so save yourself a bunch of $ and just get a quart of mineral oil at the hardware store. It'll work exactly as well as "lemon oil" but cost 1/10 the price.
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

hm hm... been trying clorox stick.... but can't seem to get any further than this. Also sanded a few times but the grim seems to stay. The clorox is tricky as well because it can bleach the color of the wood around the grim and make the grim stand out even more because of the lighter rim around it.

I have birchwood casey tru oil for the finish. I'm a bit worried it's gonna accentuate the grim. Not that I'm gonna die or something. If it's in there than so be it.

Any last advice? Will lemon oil help and is it ok to apply it and have it followed by tru oil?

20161110_002450_zps6g1zgkyt.jpg
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

It looks fine now. Just oil it and start playing. Pretty soon it will be full of your own home made gunk.
 
Re: Maple fretboard restore opinions needed

Silverburst said:
Hi, I just got myself a 89 RG550 which has quite some cleaning work most original finish was gone on the fretboard. Read through a lot of threads about cleaning but the same question remains in the end: How to remove the deep gray grime that is stuck inside the wood?

I did a lot of passes with an electric toothbrush and grease remover (yellow brown gunk came off), 0000 steel whool, carefull 800 sanding (also to remove 'waves' in the fretboard) but can't get any further. Napta has like 0 effect (I just apply a bit on a cotton rag, I don't dare to apply it straight on the wood...)

The next step would be Tung oil, but I worry to lock in remaining dirt and have ghosting.
Or is they gray-ish color the original maple color... not sure were to go from here.

What do you think? Below some progress pictures. Thx !

How it looks now:


Start:


After first passes:









Waves
Click to expand...

Why bother? It's just going to come back again if you love the guitar enough to actually play it.

Those gray marks are a sign that the guitar was played and that previous owners left their DNA in the wood.

Leave it alone. Let it be what it is: a guitar that's been enjoyed, loved and played.
 
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