What do you use to clean your ebony fretboards?

[Hellbat]

Dunlop fingerboard cleaning kit. Everything you need in one nice little box. Fret polishing emery, fingerboard cleaner, conditioning oil and some cloth.

[Phantom Hawk]

I found an early 90's KV in a pawn shop last year. The shop was a real dump in a shit hole part of Philly. Anyway, I'm checking out the V and there's the unmistakable odor of urine coming from the upper neck / headstock area. An animal had apparently taken a wizz in the case and the previous owner just let it soak in. What a douche. I wound up getting an insane deal on it, so the guitar came home with me. The case went to live in a dumpster. I cleaned the entire guitar with naptha to get all the crud off, then concentrated on the neck. A good scrubbing with naptha and steel wool took away the pee smell. A few days later, it came back. I had to repeat the naptha treatment quite a few times over the next three weeks, slowly drawing all the pee outta the board. It was a bit of an annoying project, but once it was done I was really glad. Its got its dings, but it plays fantastic and just has killer tone. I play it more than any other guitar I own.

[wilkinsi]

Ugh! Revenge of the Aardvarks? Or did the shop piss in the case cuz you got it so cheap? I take it you mean Naptha-isopropyl?

[Cygnus X1]

Piss?
I know cats like to sleep in guitar cases if you give them a chance.
So not so far fetched.

Wilk, my son...as my Dad used to say: why ask for my advice and then hunt for others?
I told you all of this (mostly, except about the piss).
Naptha (lighter fluid) to clean gunk, lemon oil to condition.
Fret Doctor is good as well.

Mineral Spirits will work in a pinch...sparingly though.

[toejam]

lemon oil to condition.

Lemon oil is a good cleaner, but it doesn't sink in and won't really condition the wood. It's just scented mineral oil with other solvents added. I use it, too, but you're better off with bore or linseed oil if you really want to condition it.
Vaseline, baby oil and motor oil are better than the lemon oil. Hell, rosewood oil and coconut oil will work better.

[Cygnus X1]

Lemon oil is a good cleaner, but it doesn't sink in and won't really condition the wood. It's just scented mineral oil with other solvents added. I use it, too, but you're better off with bore or linseed oil if you really want to condition it.

True, but I like a much lighter oil.
Heat and finger oils can create that nasty gunk that I have to remove later on.
Just enough to soak in, get it glossy, then wipe off the excess.
Ebony (which he asked about) is very dense and tends to "float" whatever you put on it. Mineral oils seem to penetrate just right.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Lemon oil is a good cleaner, but it doesn't sink in and won't really condition the wood.

I totally agree.

It's just scented mineral oil with other solvents added. I use it, too, but you're better off with bore or linseed oil if you really want to condition it.

Typically lemon oil will have naphtha in it too (helps it clean) and it's flammable. At least the Formby's kind I use does/is.

Unless we're talking about Fret Doctor, bore oil is just petroleum-free mineral oil. You can get petroleum-free, pure mineral oil at the drug store in the laxative aisle, a bottle big enough to do an army of ebony Jacksons twice a year for the rest of your life for about $6, so long as you're man enough to plunk it down on the counter.

I'm not big on "conditioning" wood and I don't like to soak it in oil, as I feel it causes more problems than it actually solves.

Linseed oil is a wood finish. I would not put that on ebony. I don't think it will hurt it, but I just don't see the need. I might put it on rosewood to fill the pores a little, but it's not needed to protect it or anything, rosewood is plenty oily on its own.

I'm not trying to start an "I know best" war, I know everyone has their own particular little things they like to do. I honestly don't feel that it is that important, so long as you do at least clean it periodically and put *something* on there.

[VitaminG]

How bout that tricky semen stain?

isn't that code for MOP inlays on a maple fretboard??

[DonP]

Fret Doctor here, with naptha as a cleaner.

I'm just not so sure about using steel wool on a guitar.

[Bengal65]

Fret Doctor here, with naptha as a cleaner.

I'm just not so sure about using steel wool on a guitar.

+1

[Ben...]

0000 steel wool.

That won't damage MOP inlays, will it? I really need to clean up the boards and polish the frets on my Soloist (It has a rosewood board) but I'm paranoid I'm gonna scratch up the inlays with steel wool. Obviously you have to cover up pickups so little pieces of steel don't hook on to them.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I clean & tape off (mask) the board off before I do fretwork.

I like to use a Scotch Brite pad instead of steel wool so there aren't little bits of steel wool all over my workbench.

[Grandturk]

That won't damage MOP inlays, will it? I really need to clean up the boards and polish the frets on my Soloist (It has a rosewood board) but I'm paranoid I'm gonna scratch up the inlays with steel wool.

As long as you use the right grade, your actually polishing the wood and the inlays.

[DonP]

I clean & tape off (mask) the board off before I do fretwork.

I like to use a Scotch Brite pad instead of steel wool so there aren't little bits of steel wool all over my workbench.

Yeah, why not a Scotch Brite pad instead of the steel wool?

Have you tired both?

Any Pros and Cons of each?

[Grandturk]

Yeah, why not a Scotch Brite pad instead of the steel wool?

I've used the 3M synthetic steel wool and find that it has a lot more cut than steel wool does. Since I couldn't find the 3M synthetic finer than 0000, I wouldn't use their current 0000 equivalent on a fretboard.