Using lemon oil on a maple neck

[mandela]

Hy to all of you,
I'm new here (since i got my axis sport just a week now...)
anyway, on the FAQ and many posts here the lemon oil is recommended.
well, i got myself that stuff, it's "Dunlop 65 ultimate lemon oil".
but omg, it is written on it "not for use on maple fretboards" !!!
is it true? should I not use it on my maple neck? is it only for the neck and not the fretboard itself ?

thanks for any response,
Ita.

 

[koogie2k]

Welcome to the addiction. As for a maple only fretboard...wish I could give you the answer. My JP's have a rosewood fretboard and that is what I use the lemon oil on only.....you will get the answer shortly though....many peeps on here will answer that for you.....Again, welcome.

 

[Daggo]

Most maple fretboards are finished with some type of lacquer or polyurethane, which is why you wouldn't want to get lemon oil on them. The fretboards on an axis are oiled and waxed, so lemon oil is fine and recommended for keepint the unfinished fretboard clean and conditioned.

Daggo

 

[NorM]

What I recommend for maple is spray EB polish on a small part (about the size of your finger tip) of your polish cloth till the cloth is wet. Then using your finger and elbow grease, clean off any dirt on the neck. If the neck looks dry then consider the oil and wax treatment described in the faq.

 

[Dodgeball]

Funnily enough I had a bit of a scare last night when I decided to change the strings on my new Axis. After receiving a d.o.b on it telling me the gutar was built 3 years ago I thought it may be a good idea to give it a 'freshen up', lord knows the strings were really tired.

Anyway after removing all but the final (top e) string in prep for the lemon oil (I'm sure it's fine on the maple board and neck of the Axis) the floyd jumped off the trem posts and onto the face of the guitar with the tension of the springs! This nearly resulted in some nasty scratching of the maple top, and were my hands not very close to the trem at the time (to unlock the last string) I dread to think what could have happened. As it goes I was lucky, there was no scratching but it did suffer some scraping of the trem post, it seems not to have damaged the knife edges tho (thank ****).

I've owned many floyd-equipped guitars before, but not one with no recess cavity, so I was totally unprepared for this to happen.

Let this be a warning to those about to clean their axis fingerboard for the first time.

I'll be cleaning the fretboard removing 3 strings at a time from now on

laters

 

[spkirby]

Wow Dodgeball I cant imagine how that happened. I've had ALL the strings off my Axis many times without the floyd trying to make a run for it!!!

In fact without strings the floyd should be even more pressed against the body than normal and be very hard to budge. Because of this extra pressure when I take all the strings off, I put a thick cloth under the floyd to prevent is pressing too hard straight onto the finish...

Hopefully you and the guitar make a full recovery! Very weird!!!

 

[Dodgeball]

Wow Dodgeball I cant imagine how that happened. I've had ALL the strings off my Axis many times without the floyd trying to make a run for it!!!

In fact without strings the floyd should be even more pressed against the body than normal and be very hard to budge. Because of this extra pressure when I take all the strings off, I put a thick cloth under the floyd to prevent is pressing too hard straight onto the finish...

Hopefully you and the guitar make a full recovery! Very weird!!!

Hi Spkirby, I know and I agree with you, it is very weird and I have never had any experience like this before with floyd trems. Freak accident?

I'm gonna have to take a look in the spring cavity and see how far in the spring claw is screwed, maybe it needs more tension but it feels fine when I use the trem arm. WTF?

What may have been a factor is that all the strings were VERY difficult to unclamp from the locking saddles (remember this is 3 years the strings have been in there) and they required a good deal of leverage to release them - all the strings were totally flat when I removed them from the block so were clearly overtightened. The force required to move the allen screw (tho I didn't jerk at it) may have been enough to slip the knife edge from the post but hey, who knows!?!?

I tuned it up with no problem and after stretching the strings out all was good with the trem arm movement and tuning stability is rock solid so it looks like I got away with it. Really scary tho.

Thanks for the concern mate.

Take care.

 

[SteveB]

All my guitars have Floyd's, and I have seen many recommendations over the years that you should never remove all the strings like that, for precisely the reason that you discovered. Even if you don't maim the axe, you will likely lose your 'level' setting. Then you'll have to consult OC about zero-ing your trem!

If you absolutely must remove all the strings at once, there's some device called a 'trem blocker' that you can place under the bridge at the cavity to prevent that. Of course, you can jam anything under there that you want and get the same result, just be careful that your improvised 'block' won't scratch the guitar.

When I re-string, I usually remove 2 strings at a time, replace them and wind them up a bit to regain tension on the bridge, and then move to the next pair.

Of course, I'm talking Ernie Ball strings here. Other brands will probably break just to spite you.

 

[spkirby]

SteveB,

theres no problem with removing all strings and "un-zeroing" the trem on an Axis...the floyd trem doesnt float (it actually rests against the body and only lowers the note) so it always "zeros" / returns to position after a restring - assuming you use the same string gauge!! Easier to clean the neck with no wires in the way as well!

SteveK

 

[SteveB]

SteveK,

Ahh. I didn't know that about the Axis. All my Floyd's are sitting snugly in routed cavities. But then, I like to pull up on the bar!

-=SteveB

 

[Dodgeball]

Yeah all my previous floyds were in cavities too yet I still used to remove all the strings to clean the fingerboard - with no sign of this problem.

I have seen and read recommendations not to remove all the strings *unless* cleaning the fingerboard tho the potential effects of that were never clear to me until now.

Anyway, no damage done and all is right with the world. Just wanted to make the posting to let others know exactly WHY it is that the removal of all strings is somewhat discouraged on a floyd rose.

All the best fellas.

 

[Daggo]

I also had my axis bridge pop off the last time I changed strings. I always put a cork coaster under the back of the bridge to keep some tension on it and this has always worked in the past. However, this time as I turned the guitar over to polish the back of the neck, I heard a snap and the bridge fell off. There was no damage to the guitar AT THAT POINT.

Unfortunately, I ran into problems when I tried to re-install the bridge. The springs are very tough to stretch, and as I tried to get the second spring in, the whole thing popped again. This time, I ended up with a clear cut scratch all along the face rim of the tremelo route. Luckily, this is totally hidden under the bridge now that it is re-installed and there is no other damage to the face of the guitar, but it ticks me off knowing that the scratch is there.

I will be leaving a couple of strings on my axis the next time I clean the fretboard.

Daggo

 

[NorM]

I found that if I have to reinstall springs, it's easier to loosen up the claw before attaching the springs. Then I tighten the claw until I can bend up a full note on the high E without the rest of the strings going south. Schaller makes an easily adjustable persicsion claw that I intend to install on my Lowers Pitch only Floyded Silo. (Wow, I am the only one I know with one of those)

 

[felixq78]

Lemon oil should not be used on maple necks.
I've always used Lemon Oil on Rosewood or Ebony and used it once or twice on my Telecaster until I noticed that it was bleaching the colour from it. Then I read about the problems with maple necks and lemon oil, stopped and began using Darkwood Furniture Polish which improved the situation.
Sheraton is a similar product and probably better but don't go nuts with it as it's very oily, more of a once a year thang.

 

[rickjohns]

I have found that using needle nose plies to reinstall the springs is ideal. I put the spring into the floyd sustain block, and grab the hook end of the spring and hook it on. The pliers help you get the leverage you need to pull the springs. When I work on my Axis, I just take the trem out, it loves to jump off the post on the low E side, I've tried putting soft rubber coated items under it, but it still likes to pop off. When I do a tune up on the guitar, I like to take the bridge over to my workbench, and I spray it with Liquid wrench, saturate the hell out of it, and then use my air compressor to remove the oil. Then I polish it up with a micro fiber. The oil lubricates the tuners, and coats all of the nooks and crannies that can rust, keeping all the nasty sweat and stuff from corroding the trem. On the neck, I use gunstock oil. Go to wal mart, or any sporting goods store, and get some in the gun section. I used lemon oil in the past, and never liked how it felt. I finally used the gun stock oil, and man, that neck felt like it did the day I got it. It is what EB uses when they build the guitar. I also use the opportunity when the trm is off to clean the body, it makes it really easy to clean around the pickups when the trem and strings are off. The whole process takes about a half an hour, and the thing feels great when I'm done.

 

[phatduckk]

i just used wonder wipe fretboard cleaner on my maple board 25th anniv. today. i even use it on the back of the neck. ive been doing this for a while and havent had anything whacky happen to my maple board MMs