Danish oil

Bill R. Baker · From: Clinton, MS USA

I have a Godin and Seagull guitar. The information with the guitars states that when strings are changed the neck should be cleaned with Danish oil. What is Danish oil?
Where can it be obtained? Have you used it?
Do you recommend it? Thanks

Jon Light (deceased) · From: Saugerties, NY

Bill-there are other choices including products packaged and labeled specifically for fingerboards. But your luthiers aren't idiots so I'd do exactly what they suggest.

Danish Oil

This will tell you something about the stuff and where you get some. Your local hardware store may have it. Make sure it is unpigmented.

Larry Clark · From: Herndon, VA.

Woodwind bore oil is excellent for fingerboards. It's clear,odorless,and thin enough that it soaks in well. It was designed for oiling the inner bore of ebony woodwind instruments. Available at most any music store.

ajm · From: Los Angeles

Your manufacturers should know what they want you to do, so who am I to argue? Danish oil is a brand name, not a generic product, and can be found all over the place (Home Depot, for example).

However, I like to know what and why I am doing things sometimes. I have a maple board Strat that I had refretted, but didn't want resprayed with lacquer. I like the feel of wood and not a finish. I was going to do a simple refinish myself so I started looking into different oils and such. I did some internet searches and also called several manufacturers whose necks I like to see what they do and what they'd recommend.

I found out that most finishes labeled as tung oil, Danish oil, Tru oil, linseed oil, and the like are actually some mixture of a) some kind of oil, b) a thinner of some kind to make it easy to apply, and c) a varnish or polyurethane. I also looked at spray on poly finishes and other things. All of these things are difficult to remove once they soak into the wood.

What did I opt to do? Nothing. I like the feel of the bare wood, the guitar sounds great for whatever reason, and I'm afraid that applying any kind of finish will change the sound. If it warps, I'll deal with it then. However, I'm playing the guitar, not using it to row a boat, so I don't expect any problems due to moisture at this point.

My experience has also been that rosewood and ebony boards only need some form of lemon oil applied, not a complex finishing oil. Maple boards, if sprayed with lacquer, don't need anything.

Some people also claim that lemon oils have thinners in them also and evaporate quickly. However, I have some in a cup at home that has been sitting on a window sill for 9 months as an experiment, and it hasn't evaporated one bit.

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Artie McEwan

Per Berner · From: Skovde, Sweden

Artie, a word of warning:

I agree that the bare wood feel is great, but you will definitely experience problems with moisture from your hands and fingers with no finish at all on the neck. I've built about a dozen guitars with maple necks, and I have stripped a few laquered maple fretboards, trying nearly every possible type of finish. Without a protecting oil finish, maple very quickly becomes very dirty and soaks up a lot of moisture. Before you know it, the neck will warp and twist - incurably.

Also, there is certainly no varnish or polyurethane in the popular brands of finishing oil; if there was they'd be sticky.

The best thing for oil-finished wood is a light rubbing with 0000 steel wool every year or two to keep it clean, followed by re-application of oil, and then a few coats of beeswax (available whereever paint is sold). This way, the wood looks better than new and is well protected.

Roger Snively · From: Washington C.H.,Ohio USA

Bill,You can get Danish oil at Ace Hdware, Lowe's. etc. It's not as durable as some other wood sealers but should work fine on your fret board. Apply 2 or 3 thin coats and buff in between coats I use it to finish some furniture. Sure makes wood look pretty

ajm · From: Los Angeles

Per;

Thanks for the reply.

Just for curiousity's sake, what would you recommend putting on a bare wood maple fingerboard? It's not really getting too dirty, and I'm not concerned with that factor anyway.

If I can find the link to the site that explains what's in these finishes, I'll post it for you.

Thanks in advance.

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Artie McEwan

Bill R. Baker · From: Clinton, MS USA

The responses have been interesting and helpful. Thanks to all of you. I am going to purchase the Danish Oil when I can get to Ace then will have to decide if I want to use it. Time to close.

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