Help! Majesty ebony fretboard with shining spots: should I use steel wool?

[AndreeTheG]

Hello everyone. I've a EBMM Majesty Sunrise Red (2019) bought used, very well kept except for some marks with shinier parts on the ebony fretboard, surely due to the oil of the skin of the previous owner. I tried of course to clean it with the Dunlop Fingerboard Cleaner and oil it again with the ErnieBall wonder wipes but those parts come back shinier than the rest of the fretboard and are aesthetically horrible to my ocd eyes.
I red that some use wool steel 0000 in order to restore the "matte" of the fretboard (of course removing or covering the pickups). Do you think it is an appropriate solution? I have already done lutherie work on other guitars but I have never used wool steel.
I attach an image found on the internet to help you better understand what those shiny parts on the fretboard look like.
Thanks to everyone

 

[DrKev]

I don't think it's finger oil, but that the fingertips have polished the surface of the ebony through friction. I'm no expert in correcting this but my thoughts are...

You can try abrasives to 'resurface' it. You may find that fret cleaning erasers have enough abrasive quality to do the job. Fine sandpaper (maybe 400 grit US / P800 Euro) could be about right too. Whatever you do, I'd start too fine and work down to coarser grit from there. The trick is to find the grit level that's not so fine that it does nothing or polishes the rest of the fretboard but not so coarse that you cause too big scratches either. And be gentle! You will effectively be scratching the surface of the fretboard. Deep scratches are to be avoided!

That said, getting the result to match what's around those spots will be a challenge. You are never going to achieve perfection without re-doing the whole fret area or the entire neck to match and you may not like the result if you do. You might also end up repolishing all the frets afterwards too and being stainless steel that can be a lot of work (and practice) to get to the finish you already have. Do the minimum you can, if you don't feel you're getting anywhere, live with what you have done and move on rather than make things worse. Knowing when to quit is the luthier's/guitar tech's hardest task to learn.

Besides, your own fingers will eventually do exactly the same thing to the wood over time anyway, especially fine grained wood like ebony. It's what well-loved guitars look like. If you can live with it as is, or merely making slightly less obvious, it is the simplest solution.

Personally, I have stopped using steel wool. The particles it sheds are just too damn messy and there is always a risk of those tiny metallic shards getting they are never supposed to be and short circuiting pickups or electronics. Even just having them stick to pickup pole pieces is to be avoided. If you have to use steel wool, masking tape everything on the guitar you need to protect first. Cover you work surface with newspaper or similar before you start too, for faster cleanup.

 

[Musikron]

It's a guitar, a tool, and it's going to get used and show signs of it. Either play it or don't, but don't expect it to remain u touched if you're touching it.

Just play the damn thing!

 

[fbecir]

This is the neck of my Morse :


It was 10 years ago ... now it's worst ! Perhaps it will help cure your OCD eyes ...

 

[Astrofreq]

Embrace the rock evidence.

 

[nervous]

A light touch with a piece of green or red Scotchbrite pad should help bring that gloss down. With the direction of the grain of course. These also present no issue of the stray magnetic particles and associated concerns that steel wool does.

 

[AndreeTheG]

Thank you all for the replies, awesome community!
I'll consider whether to do something or leave it like this, I don't want to make the situation worse
I see, it's the rock evidence but I have a J. Custom that I used from 2018 almost everyday until I got the Majesty but the ebony didn't have these "aesthetic issues". However the guitar is perfect for the rest, we'll see what ill happen. Thanks guys... for now!

 

[Rbg]

Here is one for you. Take a small piece of a paper towel wet it with warm/hot water. Not too much, not soaking wet. Rub the spot on the fret board and wipe the water marks with another dry paper towel or any rag. It will raise the grain and make less polished and shiny. It is safe to do so, especially if you don't let water to seat on the fret board