Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Can anyone recommend a good fretboard cleaner/conditioner? I'm working on a 4003 and it has some tarnish on the frets and some deeply seated grime on the fretboard.

Welcome, David!

1. I use Maas metal cleaner (I get it at one of my local Ace Hardware stores, but IIRC it's available on-line, too) on the frets. I usually mask off the areas between the frets first (as painfully tedious as it sounds) because dirty frets have a dark 'corrosion' (for lack of better term - and me a chemist! ) that is removed by the Maas, and I don't want much of that residue to get on the fretboard. Really dirty frets will require repeated treatment until the clean-off rag stops picking up much black residue. I sometimes will use a toothbrush to get the crud out of the juncture of the fret and its slot.

2. After the frets have been cleaned and the masking tape removed, if the fretboard looks like it needs a Scratch-X treatment, I do that.

3. I then use the recommended Turtle Wax polish on the fretboard (although one could use Zymöl instead, of course!). I usually do two applications - the first is mainly to clean/remove any residues of the previous treatments, the second is the actual polishing. Again, a toothbrush can be useful in removing difficult residues.

I just did this on the fretboard of my 610 Ruby guitar, and it cleaned up nicely.

Hope that helps!

Welcome to the forum, David. Gary gave you very good advice. After you have all the gunk off the fingerboard and have it polished up, it's best to keep after it, so it doesn't get all cruddy again.

Great! Thank you very much! Thanks for the welcome, I will post pics as soon as I am finished with the bass!

Yep, we love pictures!

doctorwho wrote:Yep, we love pictures!

+1!

kiramdear wrote:

doctorwho wrote:Yep, we love pictures!

+1!

+2
We can never get enough pictures!

Dave, welcome. Using Gary's methods will work great. What I was surprised and really liked was the grain in the bubinga fretboard really pops after a couple coats of Zymol and the goldish highlights look almost 3D. Pics after, indeed.

how DO I post pictures on this forum?

DeepandEvil wrote:how DO I post pictures on this forum?

When typing your post, look below the box and see the Upload Attachment tab. Click that, browse to your picture, then upload it. Then put the attachment link in your post where you want it. Pictures need to be 800 x 600 or less and 350k or less. Almost any format is good.

Ok these are the Before shots

Here are the after. Really once again thanks for the fretboard cleaning recomendations! im also gonna post these in the Curmudgeon section and thank the hell outta Paul as well!

You did a very good job, David. There's alot of difference in the before and after. Now enjoy your 4003!

Great photos, David.

I prefer the "After."

Wow! I don't know how much time you spent on the cleaning, but it was time well spent! She looks beautiful now.