Ebony fretboard and lemon oil?

[Myopic Squirrel]

Reading conflicting information re: ebony fretboards - that they do/don't need oiled. Supposedly years ago Larrivee posted that they do not, yet see D'Addario lemon oil in the L store. Saw posts of guitars played for 50 years that never had a drop of oil, yet watched current YT videos of luthiers doing set-ups dripping oil the length of the neck.

Supposedly the oil on one's fingers is sufficient, yet we cowboy chordists rarely travel above the 5th fret.

This '02 OM-05 is beautiful- THE nicest guitar I've ever owned and don't want to mess it up. Wondering if it's the "newer" fretboards that require this? Very confusing!  Thank you in advance!

[Queequeg]

If you keep your guitar(s) properly humidified, you shouldn't need to oil the fretboard.
I've read that the acid in lemon oil can corrode the frets but in all my years I've never seen one damaged from lemon oil.
My thinking is that you're not going to hurt your guitar if you do/do not oil the fretboard.
In my opinion, this is unnecessary, and note that oil will attract dirt which then needs to be cleaned more often.
But you won't break your guitar if you do it.

[Silence Dogood]

Every time my Larrivee goes to the guitar doctor, it comes back with an oiled fretboard.  I don't think the tech would do it if it wasn't ok or served no purpose.

[StringPicker6]

I think it's harmless, and also I think it's for cosmetic reasons to give it an even shine.  I've used it in the past when I sold guitars to get rid of my fingerprints from regular playing.  The lemon oil might even evaporate eventually, that's why it's harmless, vs a synthetic oil.  Of course, that might be completely incorrect!

[unclrob]

Lemon oil can go rancid,for the last 55 years I've nothing but boiled linseed oil mostly for cleaning off steel wool after cleaning the fingerboard and it also slows the grey matter build up around the frets.Was taught about from custom wood workers,



keep smilin and keep dancin 

[JOYCEfromNS]

There seems to be two camps those who oil and those who don't

Personally my fingers have no oil and even if they did who would actually play over the complete board.  Silicon or wax I have often heard is not good.

I only oil after a thorough fretboard cleaning. I use Bore Oil. 

I bet we would all agree it's not the end of the world either way but certainly an opposing 180 degree viewpoint by two groups who have a lot of experience. 

[B0WIE]

 You often see products sold just because people will buy them. It's the fine art of creating a problem to sell a product. In the fishing tackle biz they say, "made to catch a fisherman, not a fish". Guitar techs use oil because it's a quick and cheap way of making your instrument look like it got special treatment. I feel it serves no useful purpose outside of looking shiny, and humans like shiny things.

 I'm really into doing everything I can to min/max my guitar experience. I used to buy every type of fret board oil until I realized they weren't needed, or even good. That oil doesn't "moisturize" the wood. It fills the pores and some of it stays there. If you like oil filling your tonewood, go for it. I don't see it as a positive. Too much can even create problems sometimes as there are glue joints under that ebony.

 The one reason to do it is to have shiny black ebony. Larrivee fret boards and bridges do often have a dry look. I have put a light bit on the bridge and parts of the fret board that I don't touch. I prefer to just polish up the ebony to a sheen with abrasives if it's looking dull. That's a permanent fix.

 But, we were likely all raised to keep the furniture looking shiny with furniture polish so I understand the intrinsic desire to oil the ebony. After all, the bottle tells us we are "protecting" our guitars so that's the responsible thing to do, right? Doing it is unlikely to cause real problems so do as you like.

[Silence Dogood]

You often see products sold just because people will buy them. It's the fine art of creating a problem to sell a product. In the fishing tackle biz they say, "made to catch a fisherman, not a fish". Guitar techs use oil because it's a quick and cheap way of making your instrument look like it got special treatment. I feel it serves no useful purpose outside of looking shiny, and humans like shiny things.

 I'm really into doing everything I can to min/max my guitar experience. I used to buy every type of fret board oil until I realized they weren't needed, or even good. That oil doesn't "moisturize" the wood. It fills the pores and some of it stays there. If you like oil filling your tonewood, go for it. I don't see it as a positive. Too much can even create problems sometimes as there are glue joints under that ebony.

 The one reason to do it is to have shiny black ebony. Larrivee fret boards and bridges do often have a dry look. I have put a light bit on the bridge and parts of the fret board that I don't touch. I prefer to just polish up the ebony to a sheen with abrasives if it's looking dull. That's a permanent fix.

 But, we were likely all raised to keep the furniture looking shiny with furniture polish so I understand the intrinsic desire to oil the ebony. After all, the bottle tells us we are "protecting" our guitars so that's the responsible thing to do, right? Doing it is unlikely to cause real problems so do as you like.

This all makes a lot of sense.  By the way, I'm going to steal the bit about catching a fisherman and not a fish.  That's great. 

[StringPicker6]

I heard an easy way to oil a fretboard is to rub a McDonald's cheeseburger up and down the length a few times.