Grain fill the fretboard?

[mjg]

I've seen a few posts about whether to grain fill the body or not, but nothing about the fretboard surface. What are peoples' thoughts on grain filling the fretboard? Is that something that I should do before sanding/oiling it?

I've got a rosewood fretboard with my kit, it has quite obvious little marks of grain running down it. Fill it, or just leave it?

Example:

[Simon Barden]

Personally I'd leave it. Any rosewood fretboard will have grain holes in it. PRS, Gibson, Fender etc. leave them unfilled. If you want really smooth, then you need to swap to ebony. I've got an old Gibson acoustic with a Brazilian mahogany fretboard and it's full of grain holes.

You can sand the fretboard to make it feel smoother to the touch, especially when bending strings. It's the surface of the wood you feel, not the small grain holes. It looks like your frets would do from being polished anyway, so I suggest getting a set of Micromesh cloths or pads, and do the fretboard the same time you are running up the grit numbers on the frets.

[mjg]

Thanks Simon. I'm happy to not fill it, but wasn't sure what people normally do. I'll leave it as is based on that advice.

Yep, those frets definitely need to be polished...when I took the neck out of the box the other day to start work on it, I thought the frets were gold...but it was just they have tarnished a lot in the last few months in the box in the shed. I've polished the 24th as it needed some other work done, using some strips of sand paper, and finishing with steel wool. Seems to come up nicely.

[Simon Barden]

I think the colour depends on the quality of the fret wire. It's typically 80% copper 18% nickel and with bits of zinc, lead and cadmium. Cheaper stuff has a bit less nickel and more copper (so tends to go yellow/gold when it tarnishes), better stuff has less copper and more zinc e.g. 62% copper, 18% nickel and 20% zinc. The better stuff is harder, so wears better and keeps a shine longer.

[stan]

Yep leave it unfilled. The only time I've seen it done was on fretless basses

[Andy40]

No fill please! I just used to use fretboard conditioner but now I use the Dingo Wax. It fills a little bit. It also buffs up nicely each time i change the strings and I haven't yet had to reapply.

[wazkelly]

Rickenbacker are the only brand I can think of that bothers with sealing rosewood fret boards and they come up just like a Fender Maple one to touch.

As Simon said part of the reason for having rosewood is the different feel plus a bit more mellow tone. Lacquered maple boards tend to sound brighter.

Andy is on the money with DT Wax as I have used lemon oil which helps to clean and seal the timber whereas the wax also fills the grain plus it lasts longer before needing another application. Best to go with DT Wax first. Bit of effort on a dry board but well worth it once finally done.

Cheers, Waz