I think the ugly dark residue is what you cleaned off your frets.
I bought that kit to try but decided I liked the Gorgomyte cloth better, it also leaves some ‘flaky’ dark residue from cleaning, but like you say, is taken care of by the F-One or other cleaner. I think this is just how it is.
I am thinking I will put masking tape on the underside of the fret guards vs. moving the tape up/down.
Can’t hurt.
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Why are you folks using these fret guards for just cleaning your frets? Usually those are for filing or sanding, right?
I’ve always just gone at them with a 3M-style pad. Works fine, no chance of harming the fretboard.
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Oh man what a great idea, which made realize I should just apply an electrical strip of tape to the bottom of the fretguard and then cut a hole in the ahem slit to protect my fretboard.
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Normally I just clean them with a cloth but these were really dirty. The rubber and fretguard method took me 3 minutes to clean it. Was a piece of cake.
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Can you please post a picture of the 3M pad/packaging you are referring to?
Thank you.
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Yep, except bought the cheap way 
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I’ve mostly used Fender custom shop fingerboard remedy and it seems to work well. Planet Waves hydrate and food grade mineral oil are all good too. I live in a really dry area and i don’t worry too much about my guitars that have rosewood or laurel fingerboards but i do take a bit more care with the one with ebony. I clean/oil the finger boards once or twice a year.
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I just read in interesting write up from a guy that claimed to be a lab tech. He decided to test all the major fretboard oils to see what they had in them.
He tested products labeled as lemon oil and products from Dunlop, D’Addario, Dr. Duck, Music Nomad, and various other cleaners, conditioners, and string glides. What he found was they all used white mineral oil. Specifically, they all used CAS# 8042-47-5 which is a very specific compound of white mineral oil.
He went on to say the only differences were dyes and scents except with fast fret/ fret glide products which included less than 1% dimethicone (silicone oil).
$2 for 500ml of Johnson’s baby oil
versus
$5-10 for 50-100ml music brand oil
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I’ve read you should not use baby oil, but rather use plain mineral oil sold as a laxitive.
I use F-one oil. Yeah it’s overpriced but will last me years.
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Yeah, the Johnson’s baby oil he was referencing is a plain white mineral oil with nothing else mixed in. I wouldn’t use most baby oils either.
LoL! Yep. I’ve already got some overpriced Dr. Duck’s that will probably last the rest of my life. Smells good, though.
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It smells nice too. 
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I have some of that and also D’Addario Hydrate; I haven’t tried them yet but they’re both rated pretty highly. I’ve been using Fender custom shop fingerboard remedy for about 5 years, it seems to work well enough,
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