20 Best Oil For Guitar Fretboard (2022 Updated)

If I could, EVERYONE with a fretboard would be buying this oil! Music Nomad’s F-ONE Fretboard Oil is THE perfect product for unfinished woods like Ebony and (Genuine) Rosewood. It even gives life to the lesser Indian Laurel and Pau Ferro woods that are being used on modern, politically correct instruments.

It DOES NOT leave a sticky residue while imparting a lovely, deeper color to your fretboard. I had two guitars that came with Indian Laurel that looked dry and lifeless. AFter using this, my fretboards looked like a million dollars.

Just in case you don’t know this will be ineffective and unnecessary on your finished, hard maple, fretboards that are already sealed. Don’t bother with lemon oil, orange oil, or (even worse) furniture polish sold in stores.

This F-ONE oil is ALL you will EVER need.

I have been playing and working on guitar for over 40 years (yeah, an old-timer) and have used a multitude of fingerboard products. Linseed oil was a staple for my early years but at times it would turn rancid and always had an odd smell.

Linseed has its following of users, but I am no longer one of them and stopped using it 35 or more years ago. Migrated to a mineral/lemon oil based products and had been satisfied with the overall results.

Then two years ago I happen to service one of my customer’s guitars and he had a bottle of Music Nomad F-Oil oil in the case that he asked me to use. First I noticed the viscosity was much thicker than most other products.

Second, it appears to permeate the fingerboard wood extremely well. And finally it does not dry out the wood, feels great to me (smooth but not oily), and lasts for a long time reducing the need to reapply at every string change.

For most applications, it does a decent job of both cleaning, hydrating and protecting. But for those very cruddy boards, I still use 0000 steel wool and/or naphtha prior to using F-One. I feel I have to mention that I am on my third bottle in the past 2 years and the new product appears to be a tad thinner viscosity than what I had used in the past.

Contacted Music Nomad and they said their formula has not changed and sent me another bottle to try. Even considering the higher price-point vs. some other products, overall I am very pleased with this product and will continue to use and recommend it my customers.

Give it a try and make your own assessment.

I saw a YouTube video demonstration of F-1 Oil and decided to invest in some as my old Eko Ranger VI needed a bit of care and attention. The fretboard had become very dry and grooved. Over the course of a day and a half I applied a drop to each fret around six times.

Even after the first couple of doses it started looking better. By the time I had finished the treatments the old fretboard was looking so much healthier. The rosewood had darkened up nicely and the grooving (corrugations) had become much smoother.

A most satisfying result. I would strongly recommend F-1 Fretboard Oil to anyone whose ageing guitar needs a bit of rejuvenation. It’s going to be a really worthwhile investment as I’ve hardly reduced the level in the bottle.

I shall now work my way through my guitar collection and appreciate the difference it makes.

I’ve been playing for 15+ years but haven’t done a ton of maintenance on my guitars myself. I usually have someone do any major adjustments beyond string changes and tightening and such. I got a used guitar recently and the fretboard was really gross but the setup was all nice, so I decided to grab some fret oil and do it myself.

It was easy, and with a rag and a toothbrush, I got it all clean and it restored a beautiful rich darkness to the fingerboard that made me even more excited about my purchase of the guitar. It also plays/bends better/smoother with the conditioned fretboard.

It’s been a couple weeks and it still looks nice and new.

I bought a older and clearly neglected bass guitar. The instrument had a very nice rosewood fret board that had contracted, causing the frets to stick out leaving sharp edges which scraped my hands while playing.

I read that this is sometimes caused by a overly dry fret board. I came to understand that treating the fingerboard with lemon oil can reduce or eliminate issues caused by untreated fret boards. That is now I discovered Dunlop 65 Lemon Oil.

I was surprised in how large the bottle was. The 4 oz bottle is a lot of product. There is enough product to keep many guitar fret boards treated. The applicator is great in that you only need to turn the bottle upside down to soak the wick-like pad applicator.

wiping the pad over the fret board applies as little or as much oil as you want. I let the oil set on the fret board for several minutes. It did not take long for my long neglected fret board to soak up most of the oil.

I applied another coat of oil on the board, wiping the excess oil, leaving the fret board clean and properly hydrated. Within days after treating the fret board it started to come back to its proper feel.

This resolved most of the issues with the frets sticking out. I’ve owned bass guitars for more than 20 years and I have never given fret board care much attention. After the experience with my current guitar and with the ease of use this product provides, I will now schedule regular care to the fret board using Dunlop 65 Lemon Oil.

The Jim Dunlop 65 fretboard Lemon Oil cleaner is just the job for getting rid of dead skin which accumulates where the frets meet the fretboard, it’s amazing just how mucky they can get. Not only that the Lemon oil does a great job conditioning the rich grain of the of the dark woods used on some fretboards.

My fretboard was dry, I could tell as the wood had taken on a milky hazy look but as soon as the JD65 Lemon Oil was gently massaged into the grain and left to soak in for half an hour or so the milky look disappeared and I was left with deep dark rich looking grain.

For anyone with a fretboard that hasn’t got a lacquer finish I’d recommend you buy yourself a bottle of this, you won’t be disappointed.

Thought this was a little pricey for the amount of product but decided to give it a try. The fret board protectors were the deciding factor as those alone from a luthier supply house are almost the price of this kit.

The oil goes a long long way just a dab of fret polish takes care of a fret and gives it a mirror shine with a little elbow grease. I will buy more when I run out.

I’m just learning to do my own setups. I didn’t want to use steel wool to polish the frets because of the mess (and being attracted to magnetic frets). A number of alternatives, including this one, need fret shields.

This is a convenient package that has all you need: fret shields (with convenient handles), polish, microfiber cloth, and oil. Someone mentioned the polish is very fine, so requires a lot of rubbing to remove a scratch.

This is true. so use something else (e. g. , micromesh) to remove the scratch and then polish it with this. You may also think this is not much fret oil, but you only need a drop or two for the entire fretboard.

I wanted to give a little boost to my black Dinky X with the Fishman Active/Passive (Fluence) pickups (which by the way sounds awesome). The frets were a little dingy even when I bought it. After watching some YouTube videos, (and the guy’s obsession with frets), I decided my guitar could use a little shine on the bad boys.

The boys at guitar center were awesome, and I am very happy with this purchase.

I use this fret polish to make my frets slippery. I use it even more to polish my E,C & G guitar strings. Using it regular on these unwound strings will make your strings last forever and slide with ease.

A product smaller than a tube of toothpaste packed in a box large enough to contain 1500 sheets of a4 printing paper. I knew what was comming so the product is fine, next time please for it in the right box!.

I swear by this product to extend the life of my strings. My hands sweat excessively and as a result after only one of two plays my new strings are dull and lifeless sounding and also feel dirty. After each use simply wipe down the strings (top and under side of strings) with a cloth, I use a microfibre one, then apply Dunlop 65 String cleaner and conditioner.

Plain strings stay untarnished and smooth and sound strings stay bright sounding, rust free and keep in tune much longer too. From a player comfort point of view, strings and frets are smooth and dont become sticky or tarnished.

Great product which basically does exactly what it says it does. I also use Dunlop 65 Guitar polish & cleaner on body and neck, brilliant.

Works so well I immediately ordered another as a birthday present for a musician mate. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the small size of the bottle when it first arrived. But then, after following instructions and applying it to my Casino Coupe, I was blown away by how well just one squirt on a microfibre cloth worked.

It was like magic! The guitar immediately looked new, and subsequent wipes with just the cloth maintained the finish over the next couple of weeks. So cool to find something that actually worked better than advertised.

Overall: Been using Dunlop 65 for 10+ years and it’s all I ever use. It’s great as a cleaner, it gets rid of the fingerprints, sweat and other crud that inevitably gets on your axe. After cleaning I hit my guitars with a light spray and it polishes them up to a high gloss when you wipe it down with a clean cotton towel.

I’ve used this on my wood furniture when I’ve been out of furniture cleaner/polish and it works great, just a little too expensive to use all the time on my furniture though. Like with all wood cleaners and polish don’t use on your pickguard (unless you want a damaged and bad looking pickguard).

Nothing cleans, protects and conditions fingerboards like Gerlitz fingerboard oil. It makes fingerboards look and feel brand new, so your fingers glide along easily and comfortably. And there’s no oily, sticky feeling.

Not only do I use Gerlitz on my vintage (Fender) electric and new (Epiphone) acoustic guitars, I use it on my antique (Gibson) uke, vintage (Unknown Brand) violin and vintage (Suzuki Limited Edition) “tater bug” mandolin.

I love Gerlitz so much, I’m even thinking of applying it to the black keys of my antique (Lester Cabinet Grand) piano. This product is EXCELLENT.

I had a new bridge installed on my 74 Gibson heritage model. The guitar is in great shape so I asked the luthier the best way to protect the guitar and he turned me on to this product. He said to not use lem oil because it is slightly acidic and would dry the fret board out over time.

He said this stuff was the best and he was right. This product brings out the beauty in the wood, polishes the inlays, and clean the fret better than anything I have tried. It also gives the fret board a super smooth feel which makes the instrument feel like silk.

I have used it on all of my guitars with ebony and rosewood fret board and it is amazing. This is a must for protecting your fret board.

The best fretboard oil / conditioner I’ve ever used for ebony, rosewood, wenge. It really makes a difference in both feel & looks. When changing strings, use a scotch brite pad to take tgrime off fretboard & frets, wipe off with cotton towel, spray on Guitar Honey, wait a few minutes, rub it in, wipe it off.

(Don’t use on maple fretboards).

Before using lemon oil, I used boiled linseed oil. This works better and it is easier to work with. I don’t like to see the bridge or fingerboard of a guitar look dry and faded. Lemon oil revitalizes the wood and keeps it from drying out (and possibly cracking).

It also cleans the wood and removes skin oil, sweat residue, and dirt from your finger tips. This makes the guitar look much better and helps your strings last longer.

This is my Favorite product for cleaning and maintaining all of my Acoustic Guitar frets and fretboards. Was getting difficult to come by close to home. I was so glad to get a great deal on it and get multiple bottles at once.

I recommend to all my Guitar playing Buddies, Bc it is an excellent product.

Give that fretboard a bit of a clean and a bit of TLC. Helps remove sooner of your grubby finger marks, feeds the fretboard wood and makes it all look new and special again. Recommended

This product is very good, a little overpriced though. The applicator on top of the bottle helps make it a “no mess” job. There are similar products available from hardware stores with comparable ingredients.

The applicator clinches the deal. I’d recommend every guitar owner try this product at least once especially if their guitar(s) don’t “sleep” in a case with “humidi packs”.

used on a very dry looking rosewood fingerboard and it both refreshed the wood and seemed to clean it as well. In addition I like the small size of the product. I make guitars as well as play and too often I have bought large size bottles/ cans of oils, lacquers and cleaning products , only to find that understandingly they deteriorate when kept for a long time before being used again.

As a professional for thirty years, I have reasonable experience in cleaning fingerboard, although it’s probably been ten years. I watched the demonstration video and got right to it, replicating the video.

It’s not a complicated process: dab on, soak for a few seconds, rub off. I was pretty disappointed the gunk did not come off anywhere near as well as in the video. I tried soaking, rubbing harder, different cloth, etc.

Both instruments (high-end acoustics) had a buildup that I eventually had to carefully scrape off with a tool. Once I got almost all gunk scraped off, I used the fluid again and it cleaned the last bit.

It did soak into and condition the ebony, however, so that’s a plus. I probably won’t use it again.

I’d been using Old English Lemon Oil for years and it worked fine. I wanted to try something different with a couple of new guitars that I’d recently bought, so I order this. Most guitars these days come with pretty dry fingerboards and some have new variations in the type of wood.

The F-One Fretboard Oil leaves less residue and works great so far. I’ve used it on fresh Indian Rosewood and Jatoba fingerboards and it takes very little to bring out the beauty of the wood better and gives it a traditional well-loved look.

Feels better to the touch too!.

A quick rub of this stuff on the strings of my bass guitar makes them wonderfully smooth and resistance free. Somehow it does this without leaving them feeling “oily”. My fingers no longer get bound up on them when trying to move quickly between frets and I can actually play better and faster! It also does a great job of reducing friction on my plucking fingers.

It smells quite pleasant and is non-toxic, which is an added bonus, seeing as a small amount of it is going to end up on your fingers (but again, it doesn’t leave your fingers feeling greasy or oily, which is quite magic).

All round, a great product I wish I had discovered before now.

Not sure what to buy to clean my fret board. Did not fancy de-stringing the whole guitar to use some of the other products available. So I went for the fret cleaning stick. Just a matter of taking off the plastic covering lid and rubbing the stick up and down the fret board and over the strings until happy.

Instant result to the fret board, which now looks deeper in colour and revived and moisturised. Brought my guitar from a friend who has a collection that he does not play that often. He was glad I had brought it, but had neglected its cleaning.

This made easy and quick work of it with instant results.

Bought a new guitar which (as seems standard now) came with a very dry deck. It only took a few applications of this onto the strings and some hours of playing to have the neck looking its true colour with improved playability and sound.

This stuff makes your strings much slicker too and makes sliding and pretty much all playing easier. It keeps them clean and prolongs their life and sound. For a low price this really improves the playing experience and I would recommend fast fret to all guitarists of all levels.

I have been using Finger-ease over 50yrs. I have never had a problem. I don’t understand the cons. It doesn’t make strings stiff, it stops string talk by lubrication not making it stiff. As for not lasting long, I spray it on after every set.

Rarely do I have to spray it on during a set, maybe 50 times in 50yrs, & that’s on outdoors gigs. It does not make you callous’ soft or tender, what it does is stop the dead skin from flaking off & the strings hooking into callous.

It just keeps them smoother. If you don’t buy this because of the comments you are making a mistake. I have used other string products they don’t come close.

I haven’t tried too many of these fretboard cleaners over the 40 years I’ve been playing. When strings die I change them. Somehow I ended up with a can of finger ease about two decades ago and fell in love with how nicely it clean the strings.

I do take the time to use the cloth and get underneath the string as well which completely cleans up the gum and mark from both sides of the string. Doesn’t make any sense to only clean the face of the strings.

Anyhow, like I said I haven’t tried any other products and I’m sure that other products workwell but the fact that this is in a spray can and I can spread all over my guitar necks freely and then slowly work off the dirt without having to worry about a pump spray not facing the right direction is just good for me.

There are a lot of opinions as to how to clean neck and most are completely correct. I’m not as interested in cleaning the neck as I am getting the gum off the strings so that I can continue are there practicing or teaching.

It also happens to be a great way to clean the guitar necks of my students quickly and easily. I highly recommend this product but like I mentioned, there are probably other products that do the same job just as well.

I just prefer the spray can because it’s fast and I can get a whole lot of it on to the fretboard very quickly. It also works really good on smudges but I only use finger ease for smudges on guitars that only have value to me and not necessarily valuable on the open market.

But as far as cleaning the strings, I use it on everything and like I mentioned it’s been over 20 years. So as far as I’m concerned it’s great!.

I have never used anything else, so is it the best ? I don’t know, but it makes the rosewood fret boards on all of my guitars feel less ,,,well I would say sticky. When I notice my fingers dragging on the frets I spray a little on the fretboard and it just makes it feel much better.

It seems to help keep the grunge from building up on the rosewood. It conditions the rosewood , sometimes it starts to look dry and a little spray and it looks deep and rich again. I don’t have any maple or ebony fretboards so I don’t know how it will work on them.

I use it sparingly and it has lasted me more then 5 years might even be closer to 15. My can is getting low so I bought another one. I wipe it as soon as I spray it and have never noticed any damage to the finish on my guitars.

1998 ibanez s540 , 1973 es335 , 1968 Gretsch double Anniversary, 2005 SG standard , early 80s Japan no name les Paul, JS 100, 3-SZ 520’s , SZ 720, s470. 6-RG’s of various years ,2005 epiphone hummingbird,1998 MIM strat, couple of squire stats, couple of epiphone sg’s, Lyons bass.

I would give it 5 stars but I have never used anything else so I have nothing to compare it to. My friend uses a different product. That he loves but this it tested and true on my guitars do I stick with it.

One other thing ,I buy most of my guitars used and they always come gunked up with that finger grease buildup that is so hard to get rid of. I use 000 grade steel wool and finger ease to clean it off when I change the strings.

I have been very happy with the results. Would I buy again? ,, yes I did, recommend to a friend, certainly. The two pictures included show the very slight differences. The fretboard stays clean even after many months.

Normally only reapply when my fingers start to drag or fretboard looks dry. Good stuff!.

I recently bought a few new guitars and after the initial inspection I was surprised that the guitar’s neck is somewhat “dry”. Of course, we never know how long the guitar has been in stock, in what temperatures or other conditions, and the wood of such an instrument can dry out.

This oil comes in handy – it is enough to rub even our long-used guitar into the neck and it starts to blush and sound even better. I would highly recommend Hosse.

I’ve used some other brands, including lemon oil, and this stuff is incredible. This stuff stays on and gives the fretboard tons of depth and color, just beautiful. I won’t use anything else, I’m hooked.

I have been using Dunlop 65 lemon oil treatment on my fretboards, but was looking for something less acidic. I got this to use on my new Ibanez Jem Jr’s Jatoba fretboard. The fretboard looked a bit dry when I got it, and seemed to cause friction when I played.

I put this on and it not only made the fretboard smoother to play, but brought out the color of the fretboard and made the inlays stand out better. I’m very happy with this stuff so far, and would recommend it for use on dry, dirty fretboards.

There are countless products on the market intended to clean guitar strings and thereby extend their life, and I have used many different types/brands of such products over the years. For me, Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes serve the purpose better than any other product.

I use them by wrapping a portion of the wipe fully around each string, then running the wrap up and down the string over the entire length of the fret board. A few passes removes all the build up that accumulates on the strings through normal play, and leaves the strings feeling and looking clean and smooth without any greasy coating.

Unlike spray products, Wonder Wipes apply nothing to the fret board (at least when used the way I use them); unlike wipe-on products, Wonder Wipes require no use of an additional cleaning cloth because the cleaner and the fabric are all-in-one.

I always wash my hands before playing my guitars, and wash them again periodically when playing for long stretches of time; I also change strings frequently — usually after about twelve hours of play.

Nevertheless, strings start to accumulate gunk with every hour of play. Wonder Wipes keeps every set of strings I put on my guitars playing at peak condition until it’s time to change them. I also get multiple uses out of each wipe simply by folding it back inside its packet and closing the packet with scotch tape.

I bought these wipes to help ‘deep clean’ a single, dinged up, second-hand guitar I had just bought. I went for the wipes rather than bottles of cleaner as, knowing the cleaning products would be rarely used, I felt they were more cost effective.

If I had a collection of several guitars, I would probably go for bottles. To clean the guitar, I first used a restoring product (not part of this set) followed by the instrument polish wipe. There was plenty of solution on the wipe to cover the whole guitar.

After this, I buffed the guitar with a microfibre cloth which left a very nice mirror shine on my black guitar. My guitar has remained shiny and dust free since I did this a few days ago. I next used the fretboard conditioner wipe on my rosewood fretboard.

Again, there was no lack of liquid on the wipe, and I easily had enough for a thorough coating. After leaving this for a while and then wiping of any excess, I had a nice, smooth and slick fretboard.

For my purposes, I did not use the string cleaner wipe as I was re-stringing the guitar anyway, but I am sure these will come in useful down the line. With the wipes I used, I was very happy with the finish they left on my guitar.

My only gripe is that, with this kind of set, I wish there was a deep cleaner/scratch remover productas I had to purchase one of these separately. For somene who has a sngle guitar who wants to shine it up now and then though, this product is great.

These wipes are great for a quick cleanup and wipe down after gig or rehearsal. The guitar polish is not for heavy cleaning, great for wiping finger prints, sweat, or smudges off off the paint job before storing.

The string wipes are surprisingly good. The wipes WILL NOT over saturate the strings leaving a buildup or residue on fretboard. They will give the strings that clean fresh feel. The fret wipes are good for a once over, cleaning and putting some of the oils back in the wood at the same time.

I would not consider it a true fretboard conditioner, it’s good if you need a quick wipe knowing it’s not some harsh chemical that will damage your fretboard. Over all it’s a very inexpensive product that can come in handy.

Works really well. I use it by hand so it does take a bit of “elbow-grease”, but my friends tell me my frets look brand new and the shiniest they have ever seen! Get some today!

The product in the bottle is great. But the applicator is horrible. it gets the product all over your fretboard. and i personally do not want a cleaner/lubrication product for metal strings soaking into the wood of my fretboard.

What i do is bypass using the applicator on the strings by applying the product onto this little string cleaning gadget called “the string cleaner” by tone gear. Its a clamp that has two padded sides that can clamp onto your strings and you slide it up and down the length of your strings which avoids any kind of product getting on your fretboard.

I’m sure this is a lot like many other conditioners, but I like to use Taylor concoctions on my Taylor. I have a feeling they’ve designed this specifically for their guitars.

First time purchase for me. An impulse buy but very pleased with the results-follow the instructions and all will be good in the world. I think it will last a good while to so good value for money.

Perfect for keeping your Taylor in tip top condition