Clean fretboard - natural products?

Caveat

Hi

Doing the old changing strings/cleaning this weekend. In the past I have used everything from water, through furniture polish to lemon juice or vinegar.

Anyone any ideas for natural products to use? I'm guessing diluted lemon juice with lint-free cloth would be a good one.

phunkymonk

would like to know the same myself,have me acoustic guitar over a year now and need to change strings and clean...whats the best for this challenge?

68 lost souls

If its a rosewood or ebony fretboard then lem-oil is the best product. Cuts the grease and conditions the wood. It can stain maple boards though.

GerryHayes

As mentioned, Lemon Oil is pretty good for cleaning although a number of manufacturers (Martin included) recommend against using it. I tend to save it for very dirty boards and use it with a very fine plastic scouring pad/plastic wire wool substitute. If you clean regularly, you shouldn't need much more than a liberal aplication of elbow grease.

For conditioning (and a manufacturer-friendly solution too), Linseed oil is great.

A little of either goes a long way and the above warnings against using lemon oil on maple boards applies to linseed too.

Rigsby

Whatever you use, I'd just like to re emphasise that a little goes a long way. Too much oils on a fretboard is worse than none IMO. Also, if you wash your hands before taking up the guitar, it can go a long way towards reducing the cleaning time and effort.

Caveat

Thanks all!

Yakult

I would get Lemon oil and another less harsh product (Cant think of the one I used, dunlop I think). Lemon oil shouldnt be used too often, personally twice a year and its very effective. I use the dunlop product after every string change for a quick clean.

Rigsby wrote: »

Also, if you wash your hands before taking up the guitar, it can go a long way towards reducing the cleaning time and effort.

Always try to do that, simple and effective.

lalee17

I use a 50/50 lemon oil + water solution, works for me.

jazzme

Thanks all noted. What are the best option for cleaning a laminated body? Will wax work? Or just use cotton cloth and avoid polishing products?

bellg124

Hi,

If your guitar has an ebony or rosewood fretboard I would recommend using 'Big Bends Fretboard Juice'. It's 100% natural white mineral oil and won't strip the binding from any inlays on your frets like lemoil can do after prolonged use.

http://www.bigbends.com/nutsauce/agora.cgi?product=Fret%20Board%20Juice

It's great. I use it on my Les Paul and 335. I bought my bottle about two years ago and it's still three quarters full. It's great value as it doesn't take much of the oil to really give your frets a good conditioning and cleaning.

Sergio

Ernieball wonder wipes are fantastic.use them on all my guitars.