Tone Finger Ease

[alerich]

So, I have started using this stuff. Finger Ease in the ubiquitous spray can. I have some random experience with it. I played in a band once where another guitarist and I swapped out on bass and guitar every few songs. He was a Finger Ease user. We used my guitar and my bass. I recall not liking it much but he sprayed it really liberally all over the fingerboard and back of the neck and all over his fretting hand. I use it rather sparingly, in contrast.

Fast forward to 2015 and I bought a Charvel So Cal with an unfinished (sealed) neck. I thought I'd give it a try. Used sparingly I actually like it. I was concerned as to whether it was detrimental to the neck so I emailed Tone. I wasn't expecting to hear anything back from them but I received a very prompt reply from a very nice woman in customer service. She assured me that Finger Ease was safe for my guitar and for me, also. As evidence she basically offered up the anecdotal evidence that the product has been used in the field for 50 years with no real reported issues when used properly.

She was nice enough to include the MSDS for the product. There, right in black and white, it cautions the user to avoid contact with the skin. Evidently nobody at TONE (this woman, in particular) bothered to actually read the MSDS. I know the product is probably safe and the anecdotal evidence is compelling but they also had the same sort of anecdotal evidence about asbestos, at one time. We saw how that ended.

I just thought it was amusing that the company claims the product is safe and freely offers up the MSDS as proof when the MSDS contradicts them right out of the gate and wanted to share.

Happy New Year.

[jjasilli]

I think it's body chemistry.   My fingers quickly crud up strings.  Finger Ease is great.  But I also just wipe mineral oil on the strings.  I must clean each string with a rag every time I play,  or they will be ruined.

[Toxophilite]

Didn't it used to be called just 'finger-ease''.  Funny they should add the word 'tone'

I've never used anything like that myself. My fretboards are unfinished , mostly I just clean them up occasionally with very light steel wool.
When I took a luthier course (25 years ago...)the fellow teaching it (a reputable local builder, over 80 now I think and still going strong)) suggested not putting anything on your fretboard, like oils etc, as they'll just be soaked up and then it'll be gumming it up all the time
If it's a silicone product it likely will NEVER go away (it's kind of anathema to use it on fiberglass sailboats as it's almost impossible to get rid and impedes adhesion of other products)


just what I've heard/experienced

[HotBluePlates]

People have brought up Finger Ease here before & I commented then. I think the product I had experience with was GHS Fast Fret, but probably same stuff without being in an aerosol bottle.

I took a guitar to be refretted in the early-90's to a great luthier/repairman. He saw the tube of Fast Fret in my guitar case and said, "I'll give you a quarter if you let me throw that stuff in the garbage for you." His claim was the lubricant over time soaks in at the fret edges and weakens the fret slot's hold on the frets. Eventually, loose or lifted frets results.

Is that true? I don't know. I stopped using that stuff then and haven't missed it since. I can't remember now why I thought I needed it.

And since I'm curious, why do you use it?

[jjasilli]

Body chemistry.  Whenever I play, the strings quickly get encrusted with crud.  It becomes unpleasant and difficult to play.  I need to treat the strings with something to avoid this each time I play.  Mineral oil is fine.  some years back Doug posted a thread on this use of mineral oil.  FingerEase is fine too.  After each playing session, I must individually clean each string with a  rag and mineral oil. Otherwise the next day the strings will be permanently corroded and ruined. 


Most people don't have this problem, in which case there's no need to fix it.  I have very occasionally had frets lift on one guitar over decades of playing.  Maybe that was due to the use of FingerEase or mineral oil; but to me it's a necessity.

[Ed_Chambley]

People have brought up Finger Ease here before & I commented then. I think the product I had experience with was GHS Fast Fret, but probably same stuff without being in an aerosol bottle.

I took a guitar to be refretted in the early-90's to a great luthier/repairman. He saw the tube of Fast Fret in my guitar case and said, "I'll give you a quarter if you let me throw that stuff in the garbage for you." His claim was the lubricant over time soaks in at the fret edges and weakens the fret slot's hold on the frets. Eventually, loose or lifted frets results.

Is that true? I don't know. I stopped using that stuff then and haven't missed it since. I can't remember now why I thought I needed it.

And since I'm curious, why do you use it?

I do not use fast fret or any lubricant, i used to, but not with all guitars.  When I am using a slim neck Gibson or any similarly finished neck during the summer the cup in my left palm will want to stick.  This only happens for a few minutes when my hand goes from dry to sweat.  Also, this is only if I am playing traditional blues style where I use the thumb over string 6 and 5 and sometimes Country Rhythm.  I also have nylon string with a finished neck (Godin Electric) which will cause the same thing.  It normally is with gloss finished necks that are wider as my hands are not large enough to wrap my thumb and keep my palm off.

I am not willing to scuff up the necks on these instruments even though I have on others and polished it back for resale.  I have had a luthier tell me the same thing and then watch him use lemon oil on Rosewood and Ebony so I guess he is inadvertently saying you could use lemon oil as Fast Fret.

I don't use any of it anymore since I started using antiperspirant on my left hand about 20 years ago.  I find I much prefer very dry to greasy.

I do use a touch and I mean a small shot of WD40 on a baby diaper to clean my strings individually after paying as I to have high acidic PH that will corrode string quickly.  Sometimes I will do this after playing the same guitar a couple of hours when that black tarnish begins to show on my finger tips.  A few years ago I began using Pymarid strings, the original silver plated ones.  They are roundwound and cost 2 times as much as more common strings, but last me 3 to 4 times as long.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but this is why I have used Fast Fret.

[Willabe]

I have had a luthier tell me the same thing and then watch him use lemon oil on Rosewood and Ebony so I guess he is inadvertently saying you could use lemon oil as Fast Fret.

I LOVE GHS Fast Fret!!!!!!         I've been using it for, what 30+ years? Says right on the can 'white mineral oil'. (They use 'food grade' mineral oil on kitchen wooden tools, like cutting boards and wooden spoons.) When they 1st sold it, it came in a metal can, then they went to a thin plastic container that would break and the applicator would dry out.       Now they went back to the metal can. 

I've never had a fret lift or loosen on any of my guitars, ever.
 
Blues/Jazz guys (Chuck Berry too), do a lot of slides from 1 note to another, slurs if you will, over a few frets. They don't always bend to the next note. The slur has a different sound. Fast fret is a great help to enable an easy, smooth slide. If you get the slightest sticking of your fingers on the string, the sound is wrong. It has to be as smooth as a slide guitar to get the 'slur' sound.

I DO NOT drowned the strings with it, just a little. I put it on all the way from the head nut to the bridge.

I prefer rosewood fret boards and have always used boiled linseed oil on them. Boiled linseed oil has a drying agent in it, don't use raw linseed oil it will take forever to dry out enough so you can play.

I put some on every time I change my strings. Again, I DO NOT drowned it. I also use it on the saddle on acoustics, but I only apply linseed oil to the wood bridge a couple of times a year. I even use a Q tip to put some oil in the saddle string pin holes.

And I've been using good old 'Lemon Pledge' for polishing my guitars since the 1st 1 I bought. Go ahead and laugh but I love it. 

Using these 3 products makes for very easy movement up and down the neck for me. 

I had a friend (he past away) who refused to take an old tooth brush to the sides of his guitars frets to clean off the build up of crud. He said it would cause the fret board wood to rot.       

When I was playing a lot (3 to 4+ hours a day, 4/5/6 days a week) in the summer time, 90+ degrees/high humidity, I would KILL a new set of acoustic strings (GHS .012's, phosphor bronze, I tried .013's a few times but they were too much for me to handle) in a single ~3 hour night.

On my electrics (GHS Boomers, .010, with .011 swapped in for the high E and .014 swapped in for the B), under same conditions, took about a week.               

[jjasilli]

Ed:  I would not use WD-40 or other such oils.  It may work well on the strings themselves, but such oils are very bad for wood, and accumulate over time.  E.g., Dan Erlewine removes tuning machines from the headstock to oil or grease them, so as not to get oil or grease into the wood.  Also  a problem for gun owners -- over-applying "gun oil" which is needed to help preserve blued metal finishes allows the excess oil to seep into wooden stocks and rots them from the inside.  Mineral oil is friendly to wood.


Willabe:  I too use boiled linseed once a year on unfinished fingerboards.  But fingerboard maintenance is a different topic from string playability and maintenance  -- except that the stuff, if any, that you put on the strings will also get on the fingerboard.  To me this is a factor in favor of mineral oil for those who do treat their strings.  It's probably also cheaper than commercial string treatments.

[Willabe]

Only once a year for boiled linseed oil on the fret board? I put some on every time I changed the strings.

I'm just saying although I do use Fast Fret I also rely on the boiled linseed oil and the Pledge to keep the neck from feeling dry.   

Works for me.   
 
 

It's probably also cheaper than commercial string treatments.

One Fast Fret container/applicator last me ~ a year when I'm playing a lot.   

[jjasilli]

Info is every which way on fingerboard oil!  See, e.g.:


 http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/bob-taylor-recommends-linseed-oil-for-fretboards.615419/
 http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?234783-Good-fretboard-oil


Dan Erlewine is now pushing the latest Stew-Mac concoction, which seems like boiled linseed boiled to me. 


My luthier recommends oiling the fingerboard once, not more than 2X per year.  He swears by boiled linseed oil and NOT lemon oil (though some prefer the latter).  However, because I constantly wipe my strings with mineral oil, the fingerboard should be getting its share too.

[Willabe]

My luthier recommends oiling the fingerboard once, not more than 2X per year. 

Why only once or twice a year?     I'm in the Chicago area and we have 4 full seasons of weather, hard on unfinished wood. 

Won't hurt anything if you apply it more times a year. Just don't drowned it.

 

[alerich]

And since I'm curious, why do you use it?

I just thought I would give it another try. Many folks who have these super strat style guitars with unfinished necks use it and like it. I pretty much only spray is on my fretting hand and maybe a slight mist on the fingerboard and then rub my hand up and down the strings a few times. It makes the strings slicker and reduces friction and string noise. It also seems to make the strings collect less buildup and clean up easier when I am finished. I spray a small shot of Finger Ease on a soft cloth and go down the length of each string when I am done. So far my strings seem to be stay looking and feeling newer. I'm not hooked on the stuff (I know guys who are). Half the time I forget to use it until I am cleaning the strings.

I don't speak to luthiers all that often. I do all my own setups and basic fret maintenance. I've never actually owned any one guitar long enough for it to need frets. Now that I think of it, I have only gone to a luthier one time in forty years... to replace a poorly installed nut on a used guitar I bought. Anyway, I have also read about warnings attributed to luthiers cautioning about Finger Ease and other lubricants. The thing is, I have never read any statements from actual Finger Ease users that have ever had a problem. It seems that after all these decades of being field tested we'd hear negative reports from both users and luthiers.

Someone mentioned Lemon Pledge. I have used that and Endust for decades with no ill effects. For Christmas, my daughter gave me a Dunlop guitar care kit with their Formula 65 polish/cleaner and wax. Haven't tried the wax. Likely won't ever use it very often but that guitar polish is the bomb.

WD-40 is evil stuff. I don't let it near anything but maybe my lawn mower and even then I am careful. I wouldn't allow a can of that stuff in the same room as my guitars. There are people who actually use it instead of DeOxit to clean potentiometers. Yikes.

I treat my rosewood/ebony fretboards once or twice a year but then again I only change strings 2-3 times a year on most of my guitars.

[Willabe]

Just read that link you posted. Meh, never had a fret get loose or raise up.

Just try putting raw linseed oil on a fret board, it'll take several days to a week before you can play it, even if you just apply a little bit. Try bending a string, your fingers can't hold onto it.      
I found out the hard way.         

DIY wood workers/furniture makers have been using boiled linseed oil for decades if not longer. Linseed oil has 'solids' in it. So it fills the pours and will not keep 'soaking' in. So it helps stop the bodies salts/acids/dead skin cells from getting into the wood.

But it's not a 'hard' finish so the surface of it wears off from playing, pushing your fingers down onto the finish while bending the string across it and because of the bodies salts/acids.

So you reapply a light coat when you change your strings. No big thang.     

[jjasilli]

BTW: when I change my strings I always do it 1 string at a time.  Except for an actual repair job, or my "annual maintenance", I never take all the strings off, or loosen them all, at the same time.  The rationale is to maintain string tension to save the neck from rapid and large changes in stress-tension.  That's how I do it but don't know if it actually better than complete string removal.

[alerich]

BTW: when I change my strings I always do it 1 string at a time.  Except for an actual repair job, or my "annual maintenance", I never take all the strings off, or loosen them all, at the same time.  The rationale is to maintain string tension to save the neck from rapid and large changes in stress-tension.  That's how I do it but don't know if it actually better than complete string removal.

I've never seen a consensus one way or the other.  I always remove them all so that I can clean the fingerboard and buff and polish the frets. I bought this little gizmo
http://www.shredneck.com/?p=1001   to support my Floyd Rose during string changes.

[HotBluePlates]

Body chemistry.  Whenever I play, the strings quickly get encrusted with crud.  ...

Ah... unfortunate!

It takes me a while of heavy playing to get the strings tarnished (some brands are worse than others), so I don't need such stuff. When my strings get cruddy, I change them out. I have friends that like old dead strings, but I'm the opposite. As long as I have a good setup (not super-low), I prefer them fresh out of the pack.

...  When I am using a slim neck Gibson or any similarly finished neck during the summer the cup in my left palm will want to stick.  ... I am not willing to scuff up the necks on these instruments ...

Yeah, I can't bring myself to scuff my new LP (though over time I think sweat/gunk will build up to give a slicker feel on the back of the neck). However, my homemade Tele will almost certainly get the 0000 steel wool treatment soon. No such problems on any of the satin-neck guitars I own.

... Blues/Jazz guys (Chuck Berry too), do a lot of slides from 1 note to another, slurs if you will, over a few frets. They don't always bend to the next note. ... Fast fret is a great help to enable an easy, smooth slide. If you get the slightest sticking of your fingers on the string, the sound is wrong. ...

Tubenit can tell you I probably slide as much as bend. Again, new strings make it smooth.

When the get older, or if you have squeaking, do the old Barney Kessel trick I read about once: wipe your fingers across the skin of your nose. The little bit of skin-oil gets on your fingers and overcomes squeaking/sticking. It will probably make your strings go deader, faster (especially if you have pH that corrodes strings).

I mention that because when I tried Fast Fret way back when, it actually gave me the sensation of the strings being stickier, amplifying the squeak problem. Then again, I was relatively new at playing guitar back then, so who really knows?

I suppose it's like anything else... I don't use any kind of polish on guitars, or even a special cleaner. When I had an old, old guitar with a finish in need of cleaning, I just used lighter fluid & paper towels, which worked a treat!

Anyway, I guess everyone has a unique situation and set of things which work for them. Maybe I'm lucky to not have a true need for a lot of paraphernalia...