Protruding frets after 25 years?

[NachoGomez]

Hello there

My Orion 6 string bass from '98 is still having protruding frets like once a year. This is really curious because it started to happen around 2019, but never before that.

To give a bit more of context, I bought this bass back in 1998 and it was shipped to Valencia, Venezuela, where I used to live back then. Then I moved to Queretaro, Mexico in 2014 and of course I brought my bass with me. The weather in Valencia is warm and wet year-round, with no sudden changes in temperature throughout the day, but here in Queretaro, the weather is a bit extreme, it is a semi dessert @ 2000 meters above sea level with a temperature change of around 20° Celsius during the day. During winter, temperatures get as low as -2° Celsius and in spring, they could reach 40° Celsius easily.

I oil the fingerboard twice a year with essential lemon oil only, it doesn't seem to be dry or cracked, and when I oil it, the oil takes around 10 to 20 minutes to get absorbed and usually I need to remove the excess of it from the fingerboard after that, which tells me it is not really dry.

I've been filing the protruding frets following the guides from Alembic with no issues, but I'm curious if this is going to keep happening or if will it stop eventually at some point?

Thank you very much for your comments!

Nacho

[lbpesq]

Hi Nacho.   In my experience, if the lemon oil is taking 10-20 minutes and still has excess, I would suggest you are using too much oil.   I use literally no more than 3 to 4 drops for the entire neck.   If it is completely absorbed in 1 or 2 minutes, I apply a second coat.  If it takes about 5 minutes to be completely absorbed, it has been sufficiently oiled.   Frets protruding seasonally is usually caused by seasonal changes in temp and humidity.   Over oiling may be a contributing factor, but I don’t know for sure.   Perhaps Mica or someone else will chime in with further assistance.

Bill, tgo

[mica]

Even though the water was mostly gone when your bass was made in 1998, there are other, larger molecules that evaporate from the wood over time. The wood is dry when we build it, and your experience is that the fingerboard is nice and stable. It's good that you keep the fingerboard oiled, and I don't think that's causing an issue with the frequency you report. The extra just sits there and is wiped off, but no need to waste it so maybe use a little less.

However, you mentioned the semi arid climate. What is the humidity? I'm guessing it must average very low. The wood responds most to changes in humidity, and the drier it is, the more it will shrink.

There only so much the fingerboard can shrink, so I would expect that sprouting frets should calm down at some point. It's kind of a thing where if you file it down when it's barely noticeable, you'll probably have to do it again.

[NachoGomez]

Thanks Bill and Mica for your input

... there are other, larger molecules that evaporate from the wood over time

Yeah! Those terpenes like to take one-way trips outside of the wood

However, you mentioned the semi arid climate. What is the humidity? I'm guessing it must average very low.

Yup! Weather here is arid (and really dusty), the year average humidity here is around 50%, while in Valencia is around 75% with a dew point closer to the average temperature so, more condensation.

Alright, I'll keep filing the frets until the fingerboard settle, I really don't mind doing it, I was just curious why, after so long, this was still happening.

Regards...

Nacho

[BeenDown139]

on yardwork break so here's my $0.02 USD fwiw:

took delivery of a 1980 SII a coupla years ago from the east coast.  after it acclimated to the dry denver air the frets on the top side of the started protruding from the neck on the top side  to the point i couldn't play it without risking serious cuts to my thumb. i had a local luthier dressed the frets for not a lot of $ and it's behaved itself since.  had to have the same thing done to my 2018 MK deluxe that came from florida after the neck dried out here.
the denver air here becoming more arid with periods of high humidity when the seasons change like they're doing right now.  i do not have a climate controlled bass room so i have to roll with it.  the drastic humidity changes really affect my fretless basses much more than the fretted ones.  all 4 of my basses have developed some sorta neck warp and action issues now that we're transitioning into summer so i've got a truss rod tweaking party scheduled for this afternoon.  i lemon oil the necks whenever i change strings which seems to help stablize them somewhat.  kinda comes with the territory, imho.

hth