Re-string Saturday

Managed to re-string my Taka earlier today. Many of us tend to forget the bridge; yes, it benefits from reconditioning as well. 

Nothing beats the feel of a crisp, fresh set of strings. Just inspires me to play.

Brush it in

At times, there are fine pores in the fretboard which escape the conditioning fluid, especially at the fret edges or that vicinity adjacent to the nut. I will use a soft-bristled toothbrush to literally brush the fluid into those pores.

Dry (Part 1)

I had my Smash S2 Lite out Saturday night but couldn't bring myself to play it because:

1. Strings were rusty. I recall not wiping the strings down after play the last time & left the guitar out on the stand.
2. Fretboard was dry. As seen above, the fretboard became dry rather quickly especially so when the last few days were some of the hottest days this month. This is another proof that, in this climate, we need not restrain ourselves from applying conditioning fluid onto our fretboards as & when the need arises. Remember, we are NOT in the tropics.

A more presentable & healthy looking fretboard after re-conditioning.

A set of GHS .009s in there & it's all play thereafter.

Dry

I was re-stringing my Grassroots G-LP-50S & chanced upon the opportunity to share how a dry fretboard looks like.

A closer look at the extent of dryness; the white patches/ bits there are dry spots. Note the overall hue of the fretboard wood before treatment.

The dry spots are given 2 coatings of Beemis Wood Conditioner (the same fluid used for this proses: CLICK), a 15min drying time was observed after each application. It clearly benefited from this re-moisturizing process, the darker fretboard looked much 'healthier' thereafter: Love your instrument, it'll serve you well.

Still on the issue of dryness, my throat had been excessively dry lately- it's the haze from the forest clearings in Indonesia.

Restring: What I do...

After much playing, my Ibanez RGA121 gets a restring. The numbered items are:

1. Beemis Wood Conditioner
2. GHS strings, .009 set
3. Vaseline

 I insist on removing all strings each & every time I restring my instruments. The nut slots get lubricated first. As you can see, I snipped a little bit off the the fresh set of strings to use as vaseline applicator.

The advantage of string absence is of course, easy access to the fretboard. It's not dirty so no cleaning was done, however, some parts of the fretboard was reconditioned. How often do we re-moisturize/ re-condition our fretboards? We do this as & when we see dryness, regardless of how many times it should be done. In other parts of the world, because the climate there isn't as humid as it is here, people would caution you against doing this too often (twice a year is enough, they say...) as it might soften the fretboard wood & weaken your neck. Well, this isn't the case here, so now you know. Let the moisturizing fluid settle for some time (say 10min or so) & wipe off the excess.

The headstock also got a cleaning treatment, a little dusting off & subsequent wipe down with regular guitar polishing fluid.

Next, the strings come on & the guitar tuned. I make it a point to stretch my strings & re-tune them as many times as it takes. Once the strings do not go out of tune, that's when I stop. This is especially necessary for guitars with a dual-action whammy bridge, we always complain our guitars go out of tune after each whammy action but that's because no stretching was done when the strings are fresh- they aren't 'acclimatized' to their tensioned selves, so to speak.

Before this guitar gets played further/ kept, I give the strings a protective coating. In this case, it's DR's String Life, liquid polymer fluid.

What does it do? It's an overcoat which serves to prolong freshness. Do note it does NOT prevent deterioration, it merely delays it.

I slip an unused string envelope between the strings & the fretboard so that the coating fluid do not come into contact with the fretboard & causes drying. Leave the finished process be for about 5min or so & the guitar is ready for play/ storage. This is the end of my re-stringing procedure, it's usually followed by a chocolate break.

Lemon oil: apply or avoid?

Many of us read dichotomised views when it comes to lemon oil. As a treatment chemical, should it be applied (if so, what's the recommended dosage?) or avoided altogether?

Lemon oil is a moisturizing/ conditioning fluid, don't let anyone tell you different. Its job is to address dryness in wood & is often applied to the guitar's fretboard which is only applicable if it's made of porous wood (eg: rosewood, maple isn't porous...).

If you detect dryness in your fretboard (spots being lighter in hue) chances are, it needs moisturizing. In addition to lemon oil (the yellow liquid in the clear surface bottle, above), there are other such fluid in the market. I've featured Dunlop's 02 Deep Conditioner & BEMIS' Wood Conditioner, among others. The commercial lemon oil, sold as a guitar care product in the shops, is especially formulated to be fragrant unlike Dunlop's 02. BEMIS Wood Conditioner isn't guitar exclusive, in fact, it's a general wood care supplement for any wooden products which require conditioning/ moisturizing often; your mum's chopping board is one of them.

My experience with these 3:

• Lemon oil: the least lasting & least oily but the most fragrant
• BEEMIS Wood conditioner: the longest lasting with the oiliest concoction
• Dunlop 02: fastest to dry with a conditioning strength in between its above-mentioned 2 counterparts. Plus points for the manufacturer's wisdom of including a ready-to-apply tip; dabbing on a cloth before application is not required.

When applying any wood conditioning fluid, be sure to give it time to set in (10min or so). Apply sparingly & leave it to sink in before wiping away excess. Products with a lemon derivative especially, are to be applied less frequently due to its acidic nature; it would weaken the fretboard material over time.
In our equatorial climate, the need to recondition our fretboard is to be exercised as & when it arises; our porous, wooden fretboards lose moisture faster unlike in temperate climatic conditions. Also, there are some of us who use scouring fluid (eg: Dunlop 01 Cleaner & Prep) to remove dirt/ grime off our fretboards. This often contains alcohol-based solvents which dry our fretboard excessively hence the need to recondition/ remoisturize.