I’m not one that buys into hype when it comes to guitar care products, after over 20 years of playing I sort of know what my instrument needs.

But a friend of mine had sent me a cup of this “Montypresso” which is to be used on rosewood fretboards, giving you a better vintage look whilst hydrating the wood.

I’m not sure if you noticed before but all rosewood necks have different colour. To not be confused with ritchlite which is what Gibson is using now for standards.

Rosewood is a beautiful wood, but like all woods, there are different levels of quality and of course companies store this wood in different ways.

It’s most obvious on some lower end guitars how light the colour of the fretboard is, but I have also seen this in some Gibsons. This is often due to poor treatment of the wood or maybe a lower level of quality.

Well… this product darkens up the board and it gives it a beautiful shade.

The picture above shows the progress of applications.

Left picture: this is how the guitar came, this is the Gretsch G5422TG

Center picture: after leaving 12 hours a first application

Right picture: 12 hours after 2nd application

This is how you apply it

The product is like the old shoe shine mixture we used to use back in the day, but… for guitars and… it doesn’t stain your hand after wiping.

You can see on the neck pictures how the shade of the wood changes after the applications, giving you better accents on the grain. It just looks awesome, not only that… it’s also as I said before.. hydrates your fretboard and protects.

I don’t use this product on my most expensive guitars… only for those ones that come with a fretboard that looks dry or cheap.

This is their website: https://www.montysguitars.com/collections/department-of-component/products/montys-montypresso-relic-wax

I’m not affiliated to them and I didn’t get this product for free from them.

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