Ebony board maintenance

  • Thread starter Thread starter OldGtrGuy
  • Start date Start date
griff10672 said:
You ever polish the frets ??
Fret erasers from Stew Mac are awesome....
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After looking at them 👀 idk looks scary. I'm sure it's easier than I'm thinking but it actually shaves down the frets? I like my frets and want to keep them.
 
Smashedguitaris⸸ said:
Never on purpose. I have hit fretboard with 00 steelwool. Is this something i should add?
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ugh .... steel wool ..... that shit makes such a mess ... gets into your pickups etc

when I do setups for people I always polish the frets ...... if you did it everytime you changed strings I guess I'd be a little worried about wearing away my frets .... but .... once in a great while ... not worried in the least ..... once you get use to the feel .... it's hard to go back IMO ...
 
griff10672 said:
I used those 3M cloths that Stew Mac had at first ..... they work great .... but the erasers work better .. IMO
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They do work better, and they take a little time going up through all the grit levels but if you do it’s nice and shiny and smooth, and relatively fool proof to do.
 
OldGtrGuy said:
After looking at them 👀 idk looks scary. I'm sure it's easier than I'm thinking but it actually shaves down the frets? I like my frets and want to keep them.
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No way, even the coarser grit erasers won’t do what you’re thinking. They aren’t enough to get deeper gouges out of the frets from filing mistakes. They’re just enough to smooth out that gritty feeling from a fresh filing, and then as you go up in grit they just get it shiny and glassy smooth.
 
griff10672 said:
ugh .... steel wool ..... that shit makes such a mess ... gets into your pickups etc

when I do setups for people I always polish the frets ...... if you did it everytime you changed strings I guess I'd be a little worried about wearing away my frets .... but .... once in a great while ... not worried in the least ..... once you get use to the feel .... it's hard to go back IMO ...
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Nah, you just put a cloth over the pickups, snug up to the neck for any steel wool. Not sure if it matters but I don’t case my guitars. They always stay out in a rack but I wouldn’t say I play all of them regularly. But my main squeeze is definitely looking to lose some of man extract on the board..😚
 
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A lot depends on the owner's location and the degree of temperature and moisture variability there. Ebony is a very hard, brittle and dense wood. Softer porous woods are not as strong and cannot withstand as much impact force before damage occurs but they do adapt to temp/humidity fluctuations better than harder species because of their absorption properties.
 
Speeddemon said:
I have this, but isn't it way too thick and oily to even be absorped in a fretboard?

My ebony boards don't need much cleaning either, since the wood is so dense, but on an old HCGF advise, I bought this tiny bottle of Be a Fifer Fret Doctor oil (link: https://beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm ) probably 15+ years ago and I still have half a bottle left. This stuff is especially magic on Rosewood boards and it's my go-to for my Burny Les Pauls.
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That is why I like it because you have to use so little, and honestly there is no need to frequently oil ebony boards. I find it a useful product because you can use it on the entire guitar without worry of any buildup. "Little goes a long way"
 
dave74 said:
Yeah I bet they look great.
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yep they all do .. I clean them all with wet wipes and nothing else. Your fingers have enough "oil" in them to "condition" any type of fretboard. Or maybe i'm just lucky to live in a place where it never gets too cold or too hot, humidity is never super high, dew point is pretty consistent
 
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