Almond Oil for conditioning fretboard?

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blackba

blackba

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A friend of mine has gotten into Banjos. He was on a Banjo forum and the owner of Deering Banjos recommended using Almond oil for conditioning a Banjo Fretboard, I think she thought Fast Fret had some Almond oil in it.

I have been using Dunlop Ultimate 65 Lemon oil and been pleased. Has anyone used Almond oil? This is the first time I have heard of it mentioned....
 
Never heard of that being used for anything but conditioning cutting boards for a kitchen :lol: :LOL:
It seals the wood by filling the pours.
It can also get rancid after a while, and you'll have a stinky guitar :lol: :LOL: :lol: :LOL: :lol: :LOL:

Get a bottle of Roche-Thomas Premium Fingerboard Oil.
 
Agreed on almond oil having the potential to become rancid.

Don't use any fretboard oils that contain petrolium distillates...they can actually break down natural oils in the wood and don't penetrate very deeply. They leave a nice looking surface but ultimately don't condition like they should. This would include products by Dunlop and Gibson.

They best that I have found is theis stuff called Fret Doctor...I've never had better results with any other product. It's not cheap but its worth it IMO.

http://www.beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm
 
rupe":3ppc88f9 said:
Agreed on almond oil having the potential to become rancid.

Don't use any fretboard oils that contain petrolium distillates...they can actually break down natural oils in the wood and don't penetrate very deeply. They leave a nice looking surface but ultimately don't condition like they should. This would include products by Dunlop and Gibson.

They best that I have found is theis stuff called Fret Doctor...I've never had better results with any other product. It's not cheap but its worth it IMO.

http://www.beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm
Click to expand...

That stuff does look great. Have you tried the Roche-Thomas Premium Fingerboard Oil too?

From reading, it sounds like I should use http://formbys.com/products/buildup_remover.cfm first to clean the fretboard up and then apply the fret doctor. Not sure where to get the Formbys stuff at yet...
 
blackba":lafssad0 said:
rupe":lafssad0 said:
Agreed on almond oil having the potential to become rancid.

Don't use any fretboard oils that contain petrolium distillates...they can actually break down natural oils in the wood and don't penetrate very deeply. They leave a nice looking surface but ultimately don't condition like they should. This would include products by Dunlop and Gibson.

They best that I have found is theis stuff called Fret Doctor...I've never had better results with any other product. It's not cheap but its worth it IMO.

http://www.beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm
Click to expand...

That stuff does look great. Have you tried the Roche-Thomas Premium Fingerboard Oil too?

From reading, it sounds like I should use http://formbys.com/products/buildup_remover.cfm first to clean the fretboard up and then apply the fret doctor. Not sure where to get the Formbys stuff at yet...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've tried it but its not even in the same league as Fret Doctor IMO. I believe it has petrolium distillates as well but I can't recall for sure. I didn't find it to be much different than most of the other commercially available conditioners.
 
rupe":1chk4wjn said:
Yeah, I've tried it but its not even in the same league as Fret Doctor IMO. I believe it has petrolium distillates as well but I can't recall for sure. I didn't find it to be much different than most of the other commercially available conditioners.
Click to expand...

I think I found the Formby's remover, I am going to check at Ace, before I get it online. Have you used that too?
https://www.amazon.com/Minwax-30016-Form ... pd_sim_k_1

The fret doctor does seem like the way to go. I like that I can use it on my Clarinet too, the Clarinet probably needs some attention. I only play it a few times a year anymore....
 
blackba":1phspajf said:
rupe":1phspajf said:
Yeah, I've tried it but its not even in the same league as Fret Doctor IMO. I believe it has petrolium distillates as well but I can't recall for sure. I didn't find it to be much different than most of the other commercially available conditioners.
Click to expand...

I think I found the Formby's remover, I am going to check at Ace, before I get it online. Have you used that too?
https://www.amazon.com/Minwax-30016-Form ... pd_sim_k_1

The fret doctor does seem like the way to go. I like that I can use it on my Clarinet too, the Clarinet probably needs some attention. I only play it a few times a year anymore....
Click to expand...
I never tried that stuff...I would see what's in it before you use it. For cleaning/prepping, I use real lemon oil...it eats away any type of buildup pretty easily. You have to make sure its the real stuff...most lemon oils are simply mineral oil scented with lemon.
 
blackba":3jc7n1p1 said:
A friend of mine has gotten into Banjos. He was on a Banjo forum and the owner of Deering Banjos recommended using Almond oil for conditioning a Banjo Fretboard, I think she thought Fast Fret had some Almond oil in it.

I have been using Dunlop Ultimate 65 Lemon oil and been pleased. Has anyone used Almond oil? This is the first time I have heard of it mentioned....
Click to expand...


ALMOND OIL???

Isn't that kinda NUTS???

:lol: :LOL:
 
rupe":33ycjkrg said:
I never tried that stuff...I would see what's in it before you use it. For cleaning/prepping, I use real lemon oil...it eats away any type of buildup pretty easily. You have to make sure its the real stuff...most lemon oils are simply mineral oil scented with lemon.
Click to expand...

Where do you get your real lemon oil at?

Sorry for all the questions. Really appreciate the help. :)
 
blackba":2x9j8is2 said:
rupe":2x9j8is2 said:
I never tried that stuff...I would see what's in it before you use it. For cleaning/prepping, I use real lemon oil...it eats away any type of buildup pretty easily. You have to make sure its the real stuff...most lemon oils are simply mineral oil scented with lemon.
Click to expand...

Where do you get your real lemon oil at?

Sorry for all the questions. Really appreciate the help. :)
Click to expand...
No problem...glad to help.

http://www.foodservicedirect.com/product.cfm/p/218147/Holloway-House-Lemon-Oil-Pure-Wood-Cleaner.htm
 
i just got a bottle of planet waves "hydrate", and it seems to be good. it does seem to "condition" the rosewood pretty good, and darkened the wood on one of my V's slightly, like fret doctor claims to do, but it doesn't say what it's made of on the bottle anywhere, so who knows what it is lol.
all lemon oil does is clean the wood doesn't it?
 
Reak lemon oil is a cleaner, yes, but it also conditions to a degree. It doesn't penetrate as well as some other plant based oils though and is rather caustic which is why it serves better as a cleaner.

Don't let an oil that darkens and shines the fretboard fool you into thinking that its doing a goos job conditioning the wood. Plain mineral oil will look great when used, but it essentially just affects the surface.

I don't have any experience with the Planet Waves products (they make a lemon oil too...not sure if its real lemon oil though)...I would write them to ask whats in them before I used theeir products. That said, I believe they would have to warn of petrolium distillates so it may be decent stuff. Then again it may be a mineral oil blend which you don't want.
 
rupe":38l1si4g said:
blackba":38l1si4g said:
rupe":38l1si4g said:
I never tried that stuff...I would see what's in it before you use it. For cleaning/prepping, I use real lemon oil...it eats away any type of buildup pretty easily. You have to make sure its the real stuff...most lemon oils are simply mineral oil scented with lemon.
Click to expand...

Where do you get your real lemon oil at?

Sorry for all the questions. Really appreciate the help. :)
Click to expand...
No problem...glad to help.

http://www.foodservicedirect.com/product.cfm/p/218147/Holloway-House-Lemon-Oil-Pure-Wood-Cleaner.htm
Click to expand...

I just ordered both the real lemon oil and fast fret. I will post back on how it works out when I change strings next.... :thumbsup:
 
Too much of any oil on rosewood boards will destroy tone, and in time can loosen the glue.
Use sparingly!
 
As said, Fret Doctor is perfect, which is just a woodwind bore oil with a "guitar focused" name.

Like TeleBlaster said, use sparingly, as in once a year. Twice if you really play the shit out of it and/or sweat a lot on it.
 
TeleBlaster":1qkrzkwc said:
Too much of any oil on rosewood boards will destroy tone, and in time can loosen the glue.
Use sparingly!
Click to expand...
Yeah, don't over use it...once/year seems to be about right. Fret Doctor won't harm glue...just the oils with pertrolium distillates (Gibson, Dunlop, and yes, even Roche-Thomas...I found a bottle of it above my work bench).
 
I use Orange oil. It smells nice and it's really dry up here. A dude up here oiled his Custom shop Jackson almost daily until the frets started popping up. Jackson would not warrenty due to "user error". :doh: Costly mistake.
 
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