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I have a Tele kit and the rosewood fretboard is very dry. I was wondering if boiled linseed oil would be good to put on it. Keep in mind I haven’t done any finish work yet. Should I wait until later before conditioning this board? Any advice is appreciated.

First, I am one of those folks who don't put anything on any fretboard, but I know a lot of people do and I'll concede that.

Second, if you put anything on it now you really jeopradize your finishing prospects. If you decide you want to oil it I would suggest waiting until you are completely done building the kit - it won't hurt it to wait a little longer.

Third, if dryness is due to lack of humidity (and you have the characteristic sharp fret ends) then your fretboard needs moisture, not oil. And part of your building process will be dealing with the frets.

Unusually cold, dry winter.

What the gentleman who posted before me said on all points.

If you are going be doing more building you may want to work out a humidity situation for your shop, we all have to do it in climates that can dry out. It's still important even for electrics too as your sharp fret ends can readily attest. Necks can go into back and forward bow too because of being dry changing the set-up.

Welcome to the OLF.

I'll add two more thoughts. I don't know what kind of finish you are thinking of applying but Martin used to recommend NOT using lemon oil on their fretboards. It wasn't an issue with the rosewood but they said it could potentially react with the nitro finish.

I'm building a guitar right now out of cocobolo, a wood that is notoriously oily and I've been doing everything in my power to get the dang oil off any surface that is going to see glue or finish

MThanks for the input. The fretboard can wait. Here is my plan of attack, although it has been sanded it is not sanded as well as I would like. What grit should I start with? Do I need a block or just sand with the paper in hand? All and any advice accepted. Back to the fretboard my work area as of now is very humid, we actually have to run a dehumidifier in there all the time, It is a basement room. I feel like I’m going to be doing a lot of honey do projects to convince my wife I need a separate structure for my “stuff”she is complaining about.

Also anyone who thinks they are gonna get a kit and it’s gonna build itself better think again. I know or I am finding out. It’s great to have a forum where ppl actually are out to help you and not look down on you.

KOinKY, tell us a little more about your kit - who made it, what kind of woods, what exactly you want for finish. Lots of us can help you a lot but we need as much information as possible.

Edit - I remember now your other thread about your guitar being the set neck tele from Guitar Fetish so we do know what woods it is and that you are thinking of some sort of stained sunburst.

I'll add that, no, a kit won't build itself and yes its not necessarily easy, but it can be a wonderful experience. It can also be frustrating as hell. Unfortunately two of the hardest parts of building a guitar are finishing and doing the setup - getting the action perfect so it plays like butter.

The thing to remember about sanding is a coarse grit of paper will remove a lot of material, but it will leave scratches that must be removed by a finer grade, which will leave smaller scratches that must be.... If you start with too fine a grade it will take a long time and a lot of effort to remove any material.

That said, I would generally start with 120 or 150 or maybe 180 grit, and sand with the grain (I'll say that again). For flat surfaces like a tele will have I wrap the sand paper around a small block of wood. I also use a piece of thick foam as a backing for curves and edges. If you started with 120, then switch to 180 and do the whole thing some more, then 220 and more (by now you should not be seeing any scratches in the wood). I'll usually finish up with 320. I cut the paper into little squares and wrap them around the sanding block or foam, when the paper starts to load up with dust switch to a new piece. The idea is that the grit on the paper does all the work. Dampen the wood and let it dry - that will raise some of the grain, sand some more until that is smooth.

You haven't told us what kind of finish you want to apply - that will make some difference in your prep but basically you want to sand to at least 220 or 320, eliminate every scratch and move on to the next step

Sorry Ken, but you are not giving out enough information. There are lots of Tele's with fretted necks. In order to make a better comment, we need to know what kind of kit it is. They can range from a box of raw timber to all ready to assemble.

I'll ditto that, $300 for a box of sticks and some flat boards!