Olive oil on the fretboard?

Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

Oh my. I still love Fret Doctor.

The air here is so dry, a razor blade used to remove an old gasket on concrete underneath a junk car had very minor pitting on the side that contacted the concrete slab after six months! This was outside!

I would shy away from olive oil (at least the extra virgin stuff) as a lot of the content is water. <This is why extra virgin olive oil snaps and pops if it is heated on the kitchen stove. It clouds to a solid block in the fridge, because of the water content.
 
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Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

I've always used boar oil on my fretboards. It's only about $3 for a bottle that will last you a couple years. If it's good enough to use on fret boards of violins, viola's, cello's, and the like, then it's good enough to use on my meager priced(in comparison) guitars.
 
Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

Olive oil actually does work. Avoid things like canola oil though as those can get sticky. Olive oil doesn't get sticky and doesn't soak into the wood to fast so it does work in a pinch.

Boiled linseed oil would be my oil of choice though. Its basically the same thing as lemon oil minus the scent and usually half the price. You can find it at most arts supply and hardware stores and a $5 bottle will literally last a lifetime or a million guitar necks.

Oil is pretty much oil at the end of the day. It can be no name linseed or some "uber" oil (probably linseed lol) with a famous brand name on it at 5x the price and 1/5th the size. No one is really reinventing the wheel here.

Whats more important is not applying to much, letting it sit just long enough to give the wood the revitalization it needs and then wiping it off and buffing it well with a clean soft cloth, and most importantly of all, not letting it get down into the frets.

Work slowly and carefully. Qtips are my tool of choice for application. Even with the the most expensive and highly regarded of oils, you can screw up your fretboard if you use to much

I would agree with everything Jeff has stated here except...

Boiled linseed oil is not the same as lemon oil with just the scent removed. Lemon oil is 100% a petroleum product, just like motor oil, just like 3 in 1 oil. Linseed oil, boiled or raw, is pressed from flaxseed. Boiled linseed oil is an excellent product and it is a natural oil. Don't worry about it going rancid, it's the same oil used as an oil finish in furniture construction. Of the two, you'll want to use Boiled linseed oil and not raw linseed oil -- not unless you've got forever for the oil to cure. Boiled linseed oil isn't really boiled, it's just raw linseed oil with metallic driers added to speed up the curing process. Tung oil is another great option, but it takes longer to cure than boiled linseed oil, however, it won't darken the wood as much.
 
Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

I put boiled (polymerized) linseed oil on a rosewood board once and I hated it. It built up a finish on the surface of the wood. I'd be very worried about tung oil, fearing the same effect only worse.

I use olive oil and it's fine so far. It soaks into the wood, the excess wipes off, and I've had no problems with stickiness or rot, although time will tell. I haven't used bore oil before but I want to try it.
 
Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

I would only use a product specifically for the purpose of caring for a rosewood fretboard. That or pure rosewood oil extract (makes sense to me because it's from the same wood).
 
Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

Don't forget to add garlic. No really, lemon or linseed.
 
Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

I'm tellin ya man...I've been sayin it for years. It's all about the butter and the fried chicken grease.
 
Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

I'm tellin ya man...I've been sayin it for years. It's all about the butter and the fried chicken grease.

Yup. Southern Culture on the Skids. They're believers!
 
Re: Olive oil on the fretboard?

So no one is worried about linseed oil building up on the surface of the grain to form a finish?

If what you put on your fretboard built up a finish, it wasn't boiled linseed oil, or pure tung oil. Both of those finishes are strictly an "in the wood finish". Chances are, if it built up a film finish then it was a blend of oil and resin -- which is the same thing as a wiping varnish. Unfortunately, many manufacturers (such as MinWax, Watco and Formby's) call their products an oil finish (linseed or tung) when in fact they're not purely an oil finish. You have to check the label -- if it lists any type of petroleum product then it is not a pure oil but a wiping varnish. Yes, this is deceptive, and yes they can get away with it -- along as there is some oil in the formulation, they can call it tung oil, or boiled linseed oil.

Both tung oil and boiled linseed oil will cure in the wood, but neither will build up a durable surface film -- not unless you use many, many coats, which takes a long time to do.
 
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