Music Nomad F-One oil = REGRET!!!

Billbill

Billbill

Power User
Short story for ya, aka rAnT!
I never bought into the hype of all this “conditioning and oiling” of unfinished fretboards. I believe that unless you live in an igloo or are of indigenous living conditions, one should never have to do any of that oiling gimmick crap!
So I picked up two bottles of this Music Nomad F One oil. Wipe on wipe off small amount. This stuff is absolutely garbage!!! It makes the board lOOk nice and dark but almost instantly dries it out!! Way too much friction on the board and it’s grippier than ever before. Tried an ebony board with a different bottle…same exact result. The board is sticky, not gummy sticky but like friction sticky. Worst feeling ever!! So pissed I put this garbage on my expensive guitars. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long for that crap to work out of the wood. Ugh!!!!!
 
I'm not surprised

in the spirit of shooing away hype, i'll share my experience with Music Nomad too

Bought a set of Music Nomad nut files and one of the files was useless-no teeth/abrasive Ugh!!!
 
I guess I’ve had better results for I’ve been using it for about a decade and have no complaints. I just make sure to buff it off really well after applying it, but it does a good job of cleaning and conditioning my fretboards.
 
ruso said:
I guess I’ve had better results for I’ve been using it for about a decade and have no complaints. I just make sure to buff it off really well after applying it, but it does a good job of cleaning and conditioning my fretboards.
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Yeah it will clean it enough to strip off the woods external oil coat. It’s a stripper not a conditioner. What can u feel about the wood that tells you it’s conditioning it?
 
Greg Ferguson said:
I’ve never had a problem with it and have been happy with the results.
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Yea you and about 50000 other folks on Amazon reviews lol. I guess folks have different expectations I expected an improved feel after this “conditioning” (kinda funny they even use that word), and most others like you probably went for aesthetics and want a darker fretboard.
 
Billbill said:
Yeah it will clean it enough to strip off the woods external oil coat. It’s a stripper not a conditioner.
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External oil coat?
Billbill said:
What can u feel about the wood that tells you it’s conditioning it?
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It loosens up the grime which comes off with a rag and leaves behind a small layer of oil after buffing off. Not dissimilar to oiling a cutting board, gunstock, or a guitar finished in tung oil.
 
ive used a bunch of Music Nomad product sand never had a negative result, except for there neck rest I just don't like the design. but I use a bunch of there cleaning and tool products and have had zero problems.
 
I used the same bottle of lemon oil my mom gave me for 20+ years. Finally ran out and got some more. A little goes a long way, and i've never had any fingerboard crack or any bs from it. IMHO YMMV.

Never tried the music nomad stuff. The only brand name stuff I kind of swear by is, Dunlop 65 polish.
 
Hmm interesting. I have a test subject guitar that I use for experiments and applied the music nomad “conditioner” to it as well and of course same grippy/rough feeling after oiling and buffing out. Ugh. Now I’m testing to see how to get that crap out of the wood and have been unsuccessful. Wiped with damp warm rag, baby oil, chapped stick lol, wiped again, even tried to rub wax on it and while the wax took well to the rest of test subject RW board, the area that was oiled with nomad crap the wax would not take to it al ALLLLL. So weird. Gonna try some lemon oil or something else to see results before I can lock in a solution before “repairing” my real guitars.
 
I never used the Music Nomad stuff, but there are times when an extreme cleaning and conditioner can turn something headed for the garbage can due to abuse into a playable instrument. I revived a bass that sat in a bar for months exposed to tobacco smoke and beer. It was a disgusting mess. The whole guitar and fretboard took many cleanings with cleaners and then used a conditioner. Turned into a nice instrument

I’ve used different products. I use the PRS fretboard condition now.

The one thing I’ve noticed is with all these guitar makers using non traditional woods that are in the same genus as the real deal Brazilian rosewood or Gabon Ebony they’re really not close. The main thing being color. So they uses stain or whatever to blend out blotches. Maybe the conditioner reacted with the stain and made a chemical goopy mess. Idk
 
Billbill said:
Hmm interesting. I have a test subject guitar that I use for experiments and applied the music nomad “conditioner” to it as well and of course same grippy/rough feeling after oiling and buffing out. Ugh. Now I’m testing to see how to get that crap out of the wood and have been unsuccessful. Wiped with damp warm rag, baby oil, chapped stick lol, wiped again, even tried to rub wax on it and while the wax took well to the rest of test subject RW board, the area that was oiled with nomad crap the wax would not take to it al ALLLLL. So weird. Gonna try some lemon oil or something else to see results before I can lock in a solution before “repairing” my real guitars.
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Murphy's orange oil soap and a toothbrush. Apply oil soap in small amounts (1 fret space at a time.), then scrub gently with the toothbrush. wipe off the excess with a clean, soft rag. That should lift off any grime or build up in the grain. You may have to re-condition the board afterwards.

I also tried the F-one oil, ended up going back to Dunlop 65 lemon oil conditioner.
 
My only complaint about it is that I don't care for the smell. Otherwise, is is fine. I haven't experienced the sticky / dry feeling you are describing.
 
Freds55 said:
Lemon oil is the ticket fret board always looks nice and you hardly have to apply it. A bottle will last a longgg time!
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I seriously doubt you're using real lemon oil. Most likely it's mineral oil with a bit of lemon scent added. I use the same thing, although straight unadulterated mineral oil will also work just as well.
 
Update:
Bought some Dunlop 65 lemon oil today and applied it to a raw area of my test subject and over the area that has the nomad conditioner. Same nasty dried out grippy feeling. Idk, I guess maybe I just don’t like what everybody else likes. I like my rosewood and ebony boards to feel very non intrusive. I like a wax-like feel sorta like what a finished nitro maple fretboard feels like. high quality rosewood and ebony boards always feel this way to me but now a couple of my high end guitars No More lol. :(((
 
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