If you need to renew your fretboard treatment more often than every two years, you are wasting money and mistreating your wood.
No other wood surface needs treating more often than 24 months, including floors, so why your fretboard?

 

Fretboard treatment is The Number One misunderstood subject and one where you can end up purchasing exotic sounding lotions and potions which actually are bad for the wood and bad for your fingers.

Bad?

That sounds a bit extreme but when I explain, it will be crystal clear.

The quickest explanation is that the top selling treatments and 'hydration' products consist mostly of white spirit and paraffin.
How do I know?

All mainstream products must publish a Safety Data Sheet, SDS, that list the ingredients but the manufacturers hardly ever show them to you - why would they? They only have to supply them if you ask.

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White spirit

The real baddie is white spirit. A harsh solvent, it is a cheap petro-chemical by-product used as a brush-cleaner. 

Of course, where ingredients are listed by the manufacturer, they come up with cool names for white spirit, such as white mineral oil.
White sounds pure.
Mineral sounds better than fossil-fuel.

Oil sounds smoother than solvent.

They could call it Colourless Petro-chemical Solvent.
It is a harsh solvent that dries out your wood and your skin.

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Heater oil

Paraffin is a waxy petro-chemical derivative. It is the ingredient that leaves a temporary shine on the fretboard. It is commonly used as heater oil and under the name 'kerosene' is used as jet fuel. Purified fractions are used in cosmetics.
They also call it nice sounding things like white oil etc.
A small amount of paraffin, dissolved in white spirit, spreads well and is incredibly cheap to produce.​

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According to their own data sheets, paraffin dissolved in brush cleaner is the bulk ingredient of the best loved and revered fretboard products.

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Lemon Oil

So, we have our fretboard treatment ready to sell but the white spirit and paraffin mixture smells like a mechanic's armpit so a tiny amount of aroma is added - usually less than 0.01%. 
Lemon oil has become the most popular aroma. Why? Nobody knows but over time, marketing has led you, the consumer, to accept that lemon oil has a wonderful effect on wood; that it somehow 'nourishes' and 'feeds' the wood: It doesn't, it just smells nicer than brush cleaner and heater oil.

What if you managed to purchase enough neat lemon oil to treat your fretboard?

• If you can track down 100% neat oil it would be very, expensive.

• Your entire house would smell like a sherbet factory.

• Your fretboard would become sticky.

Lemon oil is a perfume and flavour enhancer; it is not a timber treatment.

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When you apply your favourite lemon oil hydration

The white spirit spreads the paraffin over the wood. It will dissolve whatever grease or finish is already on there and leave a deposit of paraffin. So, it appears to clean and leave a lustrous protective finish.
Except, the shiny paraffin is not protective. It'll mix with sweat and grime and clog your strings. Which is why you need to re-apply your favourite lemon oil treatment regularly. 

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They cannot lie to us.

Manufacturers have to try to avoid absolute un-truths so they employ a Marketing Dept. to conjure up descriptions that the customer will feel all hot and excited about.

They use phrases such as:

"unique formula of oils and cleaners leaves a clean, fast, and glowing surface"

"remove grime and return your fingerboard to its original lustre quickly and easily"

"providing a sealant against stains and moisture"

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They avoid mentioning white spirit and heater oil and put the tiniest ingredient - lemon oil - first. It's not lying and the SDS is in the public domain . . . . just not very prominent.
 

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The real deal

Fretboard and other timber has been dried under controlled conditions to achieve a specific moisture content so it can be used commercially.

Its structure is like hard sponge and its strength comes from the way it grows in layers. That's very simplified but hold that image. A hard sponge that is bendy along its length but rock solid in compression and stretch.

The surface layer of the sponge (cells) can indeed soak up moisture but unlike a soft sponge, it only soaks into the thin top layer of cells. If you place a piece of hardwood such as mahogany, maple or rosewood in a tank of water it will take forever for it to soak up enough to go soft. Wood is more resilient to moisture than you have been led to believe but yes, of course it needs some kind of protection when used in hard-wearing situations, like a fretboard or a kitchen floor.

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The two traditional treatments used are tar and linseed oil. Tar protects timber from outdoor weather and linseed oil protects timber for interior use.
Why linseed? For thousands of years, the flax plant has provided thread to make yarn and clothes and seed (linseed = flax seed) to make meal and provide oil for lighting and food. The oil also protects wooden eating utensils and tools.

 

It is a special oil called a 'drying oil'. Paraffin and lemon oil never dry; they stay gummy, but linseed penetrates the surface cells and dries to form a cell-deep protective layer.

 

When linseed oil is heated to a certain temperature and air is passed through it, the drying time is reduced, making it more convenient to use when producing eating utensils and tool handles. We call it 'boiled' linseed oil although it isn't boiled at all.
Once applied, it lasts for ages and in fact, the finish improves with use. It is kind to skin, it is food- safe and can even be used medicinally.

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​What about Tung oil?
It is more expensive that linseed oil because it is derived from nuts on a smaller scale. Flax (linseed) is grown widely and its fibres, seed and oil all have a wide variety of commercial uses. Tung nuts are grown on a smaller scale and the product has fewer uses than Flax = Flax is cheaper than Tung.
Tung oil is OK as it is a 'drying oil', same as linseed. That is the important criteria; the oil must dry to a durable finish or it will only leave a temporary protective layer.
BUT BEWARE: Check the SDS of any Tung oil product to ensure that it is not diluted with white spirit.

How about Teak Oil and Deck Oil?
Many of these products are petro-chemical based varnishes. Check the SDS.

Yes you can put it on your fretboard but it will  be similar to painting it with gloss paint: protective but hard to remove once it stars to wear and degrade. 

 

Linseed is a no-brainer
Once your fretboard has been cleaned and de-greased using pure turpentine, a wipe of linseed oil will protect the exposed cell layer.

It is so hard-wearing that it is even used on stone floors and is ideal for metal strings grinding against the fretboard in a way that lemon scented paraffin can never be. The finish will improve with use and a quick wipe with any kind of cloth after use will keep it clean. After a couple of years it is instantly revived with a wipe of turpentine followed by a wipe of linseed.

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I'll quickly mention pure turpentine. It is distilled from tree sap and mixes well with linseed oil. Many traditional oil paints are linseed based and turpentine is used as the thinner and cleaner.
NOT to be confused with turpentine substitute . . . . that is our old adversary, white spirit under another flattering name.

Put it this way: a bottle of pure turpentine = £17. A bottle of white spirit = £1.

 

My Pro Setup Turpentine and Linseed finish is guaranteed for two years of professional use and a simple wipe with any old cloth after use will clean the board and improve the finish over time.
 

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