A quick public service announcement:

As most Fender Strats in recent years, a couple of my new-ish Strats ('09 and '12) came with rosewood fretboards that were pale and dry-looking. Probably everybody reading this knows that there is a serious issue today with sustainability of rosewood, with fewer and fewer sources of it worldwide, and increasing regulation of the wood. As a result, two things are happening: manufacturers are using lower-quality rosewood, and are also slowly moving away from it to substitute woods (apparently pao ferro has emerged as the best candidate). As someone who really loves rosewood fretboards (I have no interest in maple freboards or all-maple necks), this has been a sad development. I love both of the above-mentioned guitars, but it was irritating to see the rosewood on them looking so sickly. I found that some people claim that the rosewood can be made to look much better by application of Fret Doctor. I got some a few years ago, and have been applying it every six months or so on both guitars. I just did it again a week or so ago, and after this most recent application I have to say that the rosewood on both guitars is starting to look as good as any of my older Strats. In fact, it looks simply FANTASTIC! I can't stop admiring it!

Folks, if you have a Fender with rosewood fretboard from the past 10 years or so that is looking pale and dry, give Fret Doctor a shot - I really don't think you'll be sorry! A BIG thumbs-up to this product! I love it!

Ivan
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I actually have used Minwax Markers. I've applied over inlays and it wipes right off but adds deep stain to rosewood etc.

LINK

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Last edited: Aug 18, 2017 08:31:40

Been needing to re-ebonize the fretboard on my '59 6119. I need something like that Mixwax but for ebony...

Stratdancer, was there any residue?

JakeDobner wrote:

Been needing to re-ebonize the fretboard on my '59 6119. I need something like that Mixwax but for ebony...

Stratdancer, was there any residue?

I used the ebony marker on my Flying V's. I loaded the board up well and let it sit for a few minutes then wiped it off. I gave it a good rub after I let it dry for about a 1/2 hour and there was very little residue left of the cloth. I was worried about it staining the neck binding but it just wiped off.

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Last edited: Aug 18, 2017 05:31:25

lemon oil give you the result you want ,i think new guitar since 10 year don't have this treatement at factory ,before the rosewood were more dark and with the grease of the hand it have this cool look ,now rosewood are more pale (indian rosewood more often ,maybe now du to cites it have be abandoned to an another spécie more paler )
i have really pale rosewood on my neck
before lemon oil

after

waou! it even change the shape of the guitar !

the real before

lemon oil is to protect the wood from humidity cause as you now wood move with humidity ,with a fretboard oiled the neck is less sensible to the humidity around (moreover look more cool too)
i do the same way as up oiled it much let is penetrate the board during some time and after wipe the excess ,this way you could have to redo it very far just to clean the neck cause all dirt do not stay in the pore of wood *,i do this on ebony board too for the same *

Last edited: Aug 18, 2017 09:13:10

https://bolesblogs.com/2013/08/28/fret-doctor-bores-to-the-fingerboard-rescue/

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
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At this point, I've had my bottle of lemon scented whatever for so long the printed label is long gone.
It does the thing.

I had one similar to that back in the early 80's - stock that "reborn" Fender was using from Japan because they hadn't ramped up post-CBS production. Great guitar, lovely board. I'd bet that was Rosewood most of us think of and, after treaties & tears & decades, the modern ones are Pau Ferro. (Not a bad wood at all, just different.)

I've also seen some vintage boards that, over time (oiled with God knows what), appear as premier semi-sweet dark chocolate while the run of the mill ones look lighter like a standard Hershey bar.
......
That was an interesting article at the Boles website Ivan thanks!

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Last edited: Aug 19, 2017 18:35:10

Badger wrote:

I had one similar to that back in the early 80's - stock that "reborn" Fender was using from Japan because they hadn't ramped up post-CBS production. Great guitar, lovely board. I'd bet that was Rosewood most of us think of

Wes, I've got two Contemporary Series MIJ Strats from '85 and '86, the heavy metal models. I got them about 10 years ago for fairly cheap, mostly because back in the' 80s (when I couldn't afford them) they really made an impression on me. Heavy bodies, but otherwise very cool guitars (assuming one doesn't mind all the '80s metal accoutrements!). Both rosewood fretboards are SUPER dark, almost black! Just unbelievable. When I was putting together my pewter Strat which I played with the Space Cossacks last year I decided to look for one of those MIJ mid-'80s necks on eBay, and I ended up with something that was even better than I could have hoped for - an '87 Contemporary neck with again almost black rosewood - the entire neck is just a beauty, very thin but still VERY stable, no movement at all even with my 12-gauge strings! I got rid of the locking mechanism nonsense, replaced the tuners, and now it's just an amazingly great neck. I really didn't spare any expense on that guitar, I got exactly what I wanted - and what I wanted for the neck was exactly that mid-'80s MIJ neck. It's a thing of beauty.

and, after treaties & tears & decades, the modern ones are Pau Ferro. (Not a bad wood at all, just different.)

We've been told that on these pages before, so when I was touring the Fender factory a couple of weeks ago, I made a point of asking about exactly that of our tour guide. He flat out shut that down, and said absolutely not - if it's billed as rosewood, it IS rosewood. He said that he didn't think they could get away with advertising rosewood but then using pao ferro. And in fact, I know that the SRV signature Strat has always had a pau ferro fretboard and said that in the description. I also saw that the brand new budget Jimi Hendrix Monterey Strat also has pau ferro in the description. I don't have anything against pau ferro, it was even offered by Schecter and other companies as exotic wood. But I do believe if you have a very pale rosewood fretboard, it's pale because that's just how they're shipping from India now, which doesn't have the best rosewood - but it's basically its only existing legal sources today. Again, thank God for Fret Doctor!

That was an interesting article at the Boles website Ivan thanks!

You're very welcome! It seems to me that Fret Doctor is actually superior to regular lemon oil, but YMMV.

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
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Thé first raison of pale fretboard is thé rarity of dark Wood du to much exploitation ,before compagny have choice of lumber and chose thé darkest one, but now they use what they found ,fews Years ago already to have dark ebony board become more complicated ,you find only old stock 1st class totally dark ,the ebony by now is not totally dark ,you have often a paler line in it