If your fingerboard is made from an exotic wood such as Hawaiian Koa, or Ziricote, then products made of petroleum distillates such as Gerlitz Honey (see below) are a great option. If you want to play it really safe, try Music Nomad’s F1 which is 100% natural mineral-based, so it won’t harm your wood. When to Use Lemon Oil? If you’ve ever tried to polish your car and notice it looks pretty bad after, you’ve run into this issue! It’s very difficult to get an even coat of polish applied, and the results are challenging to correct.

You can also go for a specialist fretboard conditioner like MusicNomad’ s The F-One Fretboard Conditioner, which is a favorite of ours: The Roche Thomas Bore will suit guitarists who require a nourishing liquid to maintain and encourage smoothness across the wood. It will be less suited to those looking for something protective against the grime.

How Do I Keep My Guitar Clean?

It is safe for all types of woods so you are less likely to make a mistake. The products listed here are the best ones in my opinion. People are claiming that some products are dangerous, but as long as you use them moderately and following the instructions, you won’t have any problems. In fact, some such solutions contain no lemon oil whatsoever, containing only the mineral oils mentioned above with an additional lemon scent and yellow coloring added so that it is more in line with the name.

Thankfully, most manufacturers of guitar products have heeded these words and perfectly understand the potentially harmful effects that pure lemon oil fretboard solutions can have on a guitar’s sanctity, and have thus designed products whose lemon oil content is specially brewed so as to ensure the safety of your guitar’s fretboard. For the most part, cleaning an acoustic guitar is no different to cleaning an electric. You’re unlikely to find acoustic guitars with Maple fretboards, however the majority of them will feature either Rosewood or Ebony boards like their electric counterparts. This means that lemon oil will suffice; not only cleaning the material but rehydrating it too — giving it a new lease of life!To condition a fretboard you need to use an oil that; A) Won’t go rancid, and B) Won’t dry and solidify. No doubt you have come to this article looking for a definitive answer on the in’s and out’s of the lemon oil fretboard solution, though I must insist that, before we go on and get right into it, we should discuss some methods that you might use to even prevent needing to use it in the future. If your strings don't stay in tune, produce a dull tone, are discolored, feel stiff, or feel dirty, it's probably time to swap them out for new ones. In this case, it's not worth spending the time to clean them.