Members Darkstorm Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Yes would avoid it. If its noticeably dry new out of the box would assume poor final curing and preperation of the fretboard. If it was one youd had awhile and starting to notice drying would suggest dunlop fretboard deep conditioner. But a new one should not have that problem. Indicates something wrong at the factory for the batch. Imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 Raw linseed oil is the best treatment. Most definitely among the worst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Rosewood dried correctly is about as likely to crack as a nun's {censored}.Gibson are about the only maker who really seem to dry their fretboard timbers really really well, and then make them into a fretboard. This makes sure that when they put the guitar together the timber is at it's smallest possible and therefore when the binding and frets go in it ain't gonna move.Rosewood is naturally oily, and doesn't need any "conditioning" Uh... No. Talk to any acoustic builder about how dry wood should be. It should never be bone dry. That is why we keep in case humidifiers and use humidifiers in guitar rooms and why every guitar factory around keeps their ambient humidity strictly controlled. Acoustics will sound anemic and lifeless unless properly hydrated. Wood should never be "bone dry" or devoid of moisture. It should have a nice water of oil to moisture. Being form the UK, Ratae Coritanorum may not run into low humidity situations, but walk into any poorly humidified Guitar Center in the colder US states in the wintertime and the rosewood boards dehydrated and shrunken, with frets breaking out the edge of the fretboard. On bound fretbaords I've seen it bad enough to crack the binding at the fret tangs. And I see this on Gibsons just as much as any other make. Electric guitars are cheap....Les Pauls are dirt cheap...compared to woodwinds and orchestra string instruments, where midpriced means about 3 to 4 times as much as a Les Paul. Hold a conversation with a oboe player about the steps they take to keep their wood hydrated. Properly conditioning with oil helps hydrate and seal in the moisture to avoid this problem. And guitars should never be stored in dry heated rooms without a humidifier. As for the OP: Good, dark, streaky rosewood is very hard to come by in huge quantities. So Gibson doesn't mind to put lighter pieces on their guitars if that is what they have on hand. Don't be surprised in conditioning one doesn't turn it as dark as you expect. Then why do other companies have darker boards in seemingly endless supply? They stain the wood. Bore oil for conditioning. And an good in case humidifier to rehydrate. In the case of acoustics, with their lack of metal parts and electronics, it's common to place a rehydrate a horribly dried guitar in the bathroom with a hot shower running to steam up the room. Guitars stored outside of cases should be in a room with 40-60% humidity, no more no less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Most definitely among the worst That I agree with, lemon oil and linseed oils are to clean boards, not condition them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armitage Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Gibson are about the only maker who really seem to dry their fretboard timbers really really well, You must get different Gibsons where you live. They're famous for poorly dried boards here (in North America). Actually, they're the only company anyone ever seems to complain about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 Uh... No. Talk to any acoustic builder about how dry wood should be. . I wasn't talking about backs n sides of an acoustic guitar Wyatt, I was talking about fretboards and contrary to the wisdom of the acoustic builder a fretboard on a bound guitar needs to be dried to the lowest common denominator, so I guess the RH of somewhere like Arizona , so that if and when the fretboard loses it's maximum amount of moisture ie down to it's lowest moisture content possible, the wood fingerboard doesn't shrink and do what is evident on many Norlin LPs, cracks in the binding at the end of frets, you see that on yours? If as I suspect Gibson builds their LPs' like I think they do then this method is really their only option to avoid this cracked binding scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 You must get different Gibsons where you live. They're famous for poorly dried boards here (in North America). Actually, they're the only company anyone ever seems to complain about. What do you mean by "poorly" dried? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Eddie Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 If as I suspect Gibson builds their LPs' like I think they do then this method is really their only option to avoid this cracked binding scenario. I think they showed Gibson's drying process -among other things- in one of their factory tours on TV. There's probably a video on YouTube. They do use kiln drying, and inside the facility humidity is 45%. Here's Hamer's way. As is often the case, they go to extremes to make it a higher quality instrument. "a number of individuals would inspect the wood for curl, grain and moisture content. Here's another important thing; Hamer did all its own drying in these electro-static drying chambers. This is another expensive way to go...instead of force-drying the wood in a steam kiln in a matter of days as it's done most places, we dried it in a very controlled electro-static drying process which draws the moisture off very slowly. We're talking about a matter of months as opposed to a matter of days. When you heat the wood up quickly in a kiln, the moisture comes out of it from every single direction which breaks down the fiber of the wood as opposed to naturally drying the wood as we do in the chambers." Another extreme used by some builders would be air drying which can take years. From what I understand kiln drying is the most common approach, since it's faster and cheaper and can yield good results. These pictures show a bit of the fingerboard. You can zoom on them. Unfortunately chances are that I took the pictures after applying the fingerboard oil. I don't recall applying oil on the Hamers. I don't know whether a different drying process is used for fingerboards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Eddie Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 And things may have changed by now, but from April 1980: "The thing I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mazi Bee Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 I can't believe no one has suggested bacon grease yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 I can't believe no one has suggested bacon grease yet. I err on the side of beef dripping:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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