Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2014 7:16:25 GMT -6
Yesterday i had to rework a bass fretboard that was in very bad shape.
It hadn't seen any oil for years, dried out, and was very dirty. Frets went black and green already.
Strings were already black oxidyzed. Allover, this bass looked very bad and in need for some emergency treatment.
I had to use what i had in my first aid tool case, which was not much...
Tools used:
- old credit card
- a piece of wrapping cardboard
- a two sided abrasive polishing sponge
- an old small bottle of "Viol" (german oil for stringed instruments, fingerboards/guitars/violins etc.)
- Q-Tip
For the first time i used a credit card in a small angle forward on the fingerboard to gently scrape off dirt. This one turns out to be very nice on the fretboard, it not only scraped off dirt, but also densed and flattened the dried up pores of the rosewood without damaging the fingerboard even if applied with more power. Never thought of this before, but worked greatly.
Next, i went on to give the frets an emergency treatment. I used the polishing sponge with the rougher side first with very little pressure up and down the fretboard to not scratch it too much. These hard sponges are made to polish metal like brass doorsigns etc. and come frome the local hardware store.
I was a bit afraid of scratching the frets too deep, but well, they looked pretty worn out anyway. Did this a few time with equal light pressure up and down and the oxid tarnish disappeared.
Second run with the finer side of the sponge. Then a short run alongside each fret.
Good thing - since the sponge is flexible, it didn't flatten the fret too much, no recrowning needed.
Next, i wanted to give the whole board a bit more cleaning and kind of real polish.
I used a piece of ordinary cardboard, folded. It was quite older and seemed to have absorbed some moisture already, so it felt softer. Perfect. I worked it between the frets up and down alongside the wood grain, with some heavy pressure and it took up more dirt and the fretboard started to look much better. Then i also used it alongside the frets with high pressure for a slight polish effect.
Last step was the Viol. A nice instrument oil, from the smell i would say it is based on linseed oil. It has a longer tradition here in germany, some use it on very expensive string instruments like quality violins also.
I applied it with a q-tip between the frets, it removed the rest of the stain from the previous procedures. I applied only a few drops, but enough for a shiny film.
Whole procedure took around 45 min..
Fretboard looks and feels great. Better than many new instruments from the shelf. Today, the oil film is nearly completly soaked into the wood. I just wiped the rest away with the finger while checking the fretboard.
Huuuge difference from what it looked like yesterday....
Do you also have Kamikaze / "secret weapon" tools for your instruments?
Comments are very welcome...
It hadn't seen any oil for years, dried out, and was very dirty. Frets went black and green already.
Strings were already black oxidyzed. Allover, this bass looked very bad and in need for some emergency treatment.
I had to use what i had in my first aid tool case, which was not much...
Tools used:
- old credit card
- a piece of wrapping cardboard
- a two sided abrasive polishing sponge
- an old small bottle of "Viol" (german oil for stringed instruments, fingerboards/guitars/violins etc.)
- Q-Tip
For the first time i used a credit card in a small angle forward on the fingerboard to gently scrape off dirt. This one turns out to be very nice on the fretboard, it not only scraped off dirt, but also densed and flattened the dried up pores of the rosewood without damaging the fingerboard even if applied with more power. Never thought of this before, but worked greatly.
Next, i went on to give the frets an emergency treatment. I used the polishing sponge with the rougher side first with very little pressure up and down the fretboard to not scratch it too much. These hard sponges are made to polish metal like brass doorsigns etc. and come frome the local hardware store.
I was a bit afraid of scratching the frets too deep, but well, they looked pretty worn out anyway. Did this a few time with equal light pressure up and down and the oxid tarnish disappeared.
Second run with the finer side of the sponge. Then a short run alongside each fret.
Good thing - since the sponge is flexible, it didn't flatten the fret too much, no recrowning needed.
Next, i wanted to give the whole board a bit more cleaning and kind of real polish.
I used a piece of ordinary cardboard, folded. It was quite older and seemed to have absorbed some moisture already, so it felt softer. Perfect. I worked it between the frets up and down alongside the wood grain, with some heavy pressure and it took up more dirt and the fretboard started to look much better. Then i also used it alongside the frets with high pressure for a slight polish effect.
Last step was the Viol. A nice instrument oil, from the smell i would say it is based on linseed oil. It has a longer tradition here in germany, some use it on very expensive string instruments like quality violins also.
I applied it with a q-tip between the frets, it removed the rest of the stain from the previous procedures. I applied only a few drops, but enough for a shiny film.
Whole procedure took around 45 min..
Fretboard looks and feels great. Better than many new instruments from the shelf. Today, the oil film is nearly completly soaked into the wood. I just wiped the rest away with the finger while checking the fretboard.
Huuuge difference from what it looked like yesterday....
Do you also have Kamikaze / "secret weapon" tools for your instruments?
Comments are very welcome...