Rosewood fretboard - filling pores?

[pipedwho]

I've seen some rosewood boards with very smooth surfaces - almost as if they've been waxed. The image below is of my '98 TA standard drop top neck / rosewood fretboard. Is this visible pore size normal, or has it been neglected for too long and dried out?

What is the best way to bring it back to life and maintain it? (Lemoil, carnauba wax, linseed oil, finishing oil, etc?)

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4323/fretboardporesyc7.jpg

[Barry]

I seem to remember that lemon oil is suggested on the Anderson website .

[funalij]

Hi:

I have two TA wich different rosewood board (Indian and African) and everyone has his own pore size. I really don't know if it's better more or less pore size (maybe Tom or Roy could tell us the answer).

I use to clean the fretboard each 3 or 4 months so I never let the fretboard to be dry (it will depend of atmospheric conditions in your place), so I think IMHO pore size in pic is normal.

To clean fretboard:
http://www.andersonforum.com/board/showthread.php?t=1334&highlight=cleaning+fretboard

Javier

[GuitarNorton]

I've heard alot of good things about bore oil, have never used it myself. Interested to hear what TAG thinks of it.
Also hear of people useing pure rosewood oil I believe it is that they get from health food stores. link to the Bore Oil (http://beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm)

[mbrown3]

I've used bore oil a lot with my acoustic fingerboards to very good results. I assume it would be the same with electric (only dark wood fretboards!), but I would go by whatever TA recommends. But these type of oils will clean and "moisturize" the wood, keep it from drying out, but they won't actually fill in pores, to my knowledge. I think those kinds of pores are natural, but I could be wrong.

[tom]

rosewood is an open pore wood. as a general rule, indian has the smallest , african and brazilian has longer larger pores. madagascar has less pores, but they can be rather long. i like to keep the wood clean, not necessarily fill the pores. i don't have any experience with a filler. many old guitars have the pores filled with years of dirty finger oil.
your neck looks normal to me. when the wood gets dried out it tends to look greyish. i've never seen one that was too far gone to not come back when taken care of.

[sean]

The board looks normal to me.
I use Roche Thomas fingerboard oil on my Rosewood boards.
About 2 or 3 times a year.
I had used lemon oil but,the reading I have done states that lemon oil over time can build up and leave a film over the board causing no moisture to penetrate it.Of coarse,I don't know if that is true.

[pipedwho]

Thanks guys, I was hoping that was the case. I really like the natural look with the pores, I just wanted to make sure it was normal for this kind of wood.

The organic bore oil looks interesting, I'll order a small bottle of that and try it out.

Cheers!

[Janine Doubly]

A luthier friend of mine makes up what he calls his "special sauce" for fingerboards. Its even parts Olive Oil (to condition) and Turpentine (to clean) with the juice of a whole lemon mixed in for taste :p and smell (as well as additional cleaning and conditioning power). Its great stuff, I've used it a lot and it smells awesome.