refurbishing rosewood marimba tonebars

[Robert Haines]

I have a WWII-era Deagan marimba that was missing the top 3 sharps when I got it. I had previously asked here about substituting some padauk tonebars from a cheap xylophone, and I fitted them, but never liked their tone (or their appearance), compared to rest of the Honduras rosewood tonebars. Well, as it happens I finally found someone who was breaking-up the same model marimba and is parting out most of the tonebars, so I was able to buy those. Since I will now have a no-excuses marimba, I've decided to completely refurbish the instrument (which desperately needs it).

My question is this: since all of the tonebars are about 80 years old, and have not been treated well by previous owners, they are dull, dusty, with some liquid staining and other aesthetic issues (but no chips, cracks, dents, etc.) I understand that lemon oil, sparingly used on a microfiber cloth, is the standard for maintaining wooden tonebars on marimbas that are still in good condition, but that doesn't apply here. Obviously I'm not going to sand off the top layers, or put them in the dishwasher , and I want to be careful to not change the tone, so what should I do to bring the tonebars back to life, and make them look decent?

[Clay Schaeffer]

You could clean them with orange oil and then apply a very light coat of mineral oil.