Author Topic: Owners Manual; lemon oil (Read 602 times)

elzie · « **Reply #15 on:** February 15, 2005, 08:08:24 AM »

As far as the body finish goes, I did try something recently and had excellent results. The finish on my Excel is a satin-like finish. I use Zaino Brother's card polish on my car and decided to try it on my Excel (in a small area). Well, it worked beautiful! So I polished the whole bass in steps and then buffed it out by hand and wow, does it look good! It really gave the maple top a 3D look.

Paul TGO

adriaan · « **Reply #16 on:** February 15, 2005, 09:00:06 AM »

Paul TGO,
The satin-like finish on older Excels, Epics, Orions and Rogues is a polyurethane lacquer, not oil.

keith_h · « **Reply #17 on:** February 15, 2005, 09:06:32 AM »

I asked the same question about care of the body on my 2004 BB a couple of weeks ago. The response might be different for older basses. Maybe a good item to add to the FAQ.

Keith

Here is the response from Mica:
You shouldn't need to reoil the body, as we use a polymerized oil finish. However, you may
want to wax it from time to time. We supplied the bass with a buffed wax coating of Liberon
Professionals Paste Wax. You can order the same stuff here:

http://www.woodfinishsupply.com/Catalog.html

The 500g tub should last you most of your life. We use a white (very fine) scotch brite to
apply.

The wax will get the little scratches, which you can buff out when you rewax. Of course, the
wood is not as protected as with a hard polyester finish, so you need to be careful of course.

mica · « **Reply #18 on:** February 15, 2005, 10:41:33 AM »

Keith, that's an excellent suggestion. I'll add finish care section to the FAQ.

The Eic/Orion/Rogue basses originally supplied with a thin polyurethane finish, which has the same care as the polyester.

elzie · « **Reply #19 on:** February 15, 2005, 11:00:59 AM »

Adriaan, I thought the finish was polyester. At any rate, I only posted that comment about the polish in this thread because the topic turned to finishes, and I was very excited to have such a shiny, deep look to my finish with just a little work

musikill · « **Reply #20 on:** February 22, 2005, 05:39:30 PM »

As for Lemon oil, I have been all over this issue for a few years and the ONLY lemon oil to use (as was stated in this thread) is a pure essential oil/extract. These contain no additives or waxes or silicones (silicones are the worst). You can use this sparingly every other string change if you change your bass strings less than 6 weeks apart. Don't oil too frequently as it will saturate and that will affect your new strings. just a drop for every 2-3 frets, let sit for a few minutes and buff to a luster. This will clean the fret board very nicely and leaves a great smell with no residue.

Linseed oil is to be avoided - do not use linseed oil as it does not provide the right type of oil the wood needs in this case and it never soaks in completely nor does it dry. It will deaden your strings very quickly and can do more harm than good. Besides, the pure lemon oil is cheaper. As for rubbing a lemon on the fret board - I suppose if you only rub the skin (that is where lemon oil comes from) you wouldn't hurt anything but you won't be placing enough oil on the wood to do any good. Plus you'll end up with lemon skin shavings all over the bass and floor. Spend the $3.50 - $6.00 (Los Angeles prices) and get an ounce of pure lemon extract - it will last a couple of years.

s_wood · « **Reply #21 on:** February 24, 2005, 06:00:32 AM »

Musikill is right on: linseed oil sucks! It dries to a tacky mess the feels like dried maple syrup.

I have never been able to find Jasco Lemon Oil anywhere, so I've never used it. Instead, my oil of choice for fingerboards is ColorTone Fretboard Finishing Oil, which is available from the Stewart-McDonald, the luthier supply house. (www.stewmac.com) I have no idea what kind of oil it is, but it isn't linseed oil as the stuff dries really hard in about 24 hours.

Whatever kind of oil you use it will gunk up your strings, making them sound like 10 year-old flatwounds. So, unless that's the tone you want, make sure that you oil your board just before you change strings.

beelee · « **Reply #22 on:** February 24, 2005, 02:31:02 PM »

I don't know if anyone has tried this yet:

I did a google search on Jasco Lemon Oil and Jasco has a website here is the link:

http://www.jasco-help.com/cgi/store_locator.pl?code=4301-4&state=all

I've looked at number of stores by me, they do not have it......I did find Old English, Halloway House and Formby's Lemon Oils, but was hesitant to try any of them, as NONE of them list any ingredients.

Ace Hardware was listed on Jasco's website, they had two Jasco products but no lemon oil and they looked it up on their computer for me and said it they don't stock it.

I have not checked all the info on the Jasco site tho.

The funny thing is many years ago before I owned an Alembic or really knew anything about them, my parents had a bottle of Jasco lemon oil in the house and I tried it on the fretboards while cleaning my basses and it worked really well.

If Alembic still uses it, you have to be able to find it somewhere.

if I get more info, I'll let ya'll know
B.

tbrannon · « **Reply #23 on:** February 24, 2005, 03:22:10 PM »

Jasco makes really nice wood products. I've done quite a bit of wood restoration work and have used Jasco paint removers, wood conditioners and the Lemon Oil (they make a really nice Tung oil as well) frequently in the past.

Ace hardware carries it sporadically. I moved overseas, but my local Ace Hardware was a Crown-Ace and they carried it. Believe it or not, I used to be able to find the Lemon Oil at Home Depot and OSH.

I have a large (1 pint?) container of the Lemon oil and use it on my G&L. Seems to work fine!

keith_h · « **Reply #24 on:** February 24, 2005, 03:50:23 PM »

I had no problem finding pure lemon oil (100% pure essential oil) at my local Whole Foods Market. They are a natural/organic supermarket chain. It is carried in the health and beauty aids area for aroma therapy. They had a couple of brands to choose from. The prices are in the $3-5 range for 0.5 oz. (15 ml). I found it does not take much to oil the neck and I guess the bottle will last me a couple of years (2 basses every six months).
As other people have reported I did get a strange look when I told the clerk it was for oiling the neck of my bass guitar.

Keith

David Houck · « **Reply #25 on:** February 24, 2005, 04:29:41 PM »

Bruce; based on what Mica said near the top of this thread, I think it is the case that the Alembic shop no longer uses the Jasco but instead uses pure lemon oil. If you haven't done so already, you may want to go here and read the two other threads on this subject that are referenced there.

beelee · « **Reply #26 on:** February 24, 2005, 08:14:10 PM »

thanks for the heads up Dave I missed that.....

mpisanek · « **Reply #27 on:** February 25, 2005, 06:34:24 AM »

In Europe there is a brand of aromatherapy oils called Tissarand. They are available at almost every drugstore. Their essential lemon oil is excellent and is cheap as well.

lbpesq · « **Reply #28 on:** February 25, 2005, 07:31:33 AM »

All of these discussions about lemon oil have been concerning ebony fretboards. Does anyone know if lemon oil is equally applicable to rosewood fingerboards? Until I read these threads I never thought about oiling fretboards. My Strat has not had its rosewood board oiled for at least 30 years (as long as I've owned it), and maybe not for 44 years (its lifetime!). I haven't noticed any problems, but now you all have me worried. I feel a lemon oil hunt coming on.

Bill, tgo

(Message edited by lbpesq on February 25, 2005)

adriaan · « **Reply #29 on:** February 25, 2005, 08:01:16 AM »

Bill,

Good point. I wonder if it's something you only really need to do when you're in a dry climate - say

Author Topic: Owners Manual; lemon oil (Read 602 times)

mpisanek