# Guitar Cleaner



## THRobinson (Jun 29, 2014)

I'm always on the look out for stuff not sold at guitar shops, because can usually get the same stuff cheaper at the hardware store (ie. lemon oil).

What do you guys use for cleaning? Not polishing, just regular cleaning... microfibre cloth and?

Normally I'd just get whatever I saw at the guitar shop, but if can find a better/cheaper alternative, great. I know because of the forums I now have a big bottle of the Howard's Wax 'n Feed for the fretboards and love that stuff more than the lemon oil L&M sells.


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Like this guy?


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## THRobinson (Jun 29, 2014)

I usually use DAWN for mine... not that yellow stuff.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

A little warm water on a microfibre cloth.


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## Davestp1 (Apr 25, 2006)

Virtuoso cleaner


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

Fret wires: Miracle Cloth https://www.amazon.ca/Miracle-Cloth-Purpose-Metal-Cleaning/dp/B000C0B3E0 (there was an old thread about it)
Fret board: Dunlop lemon oil on dark. Just a wet micro fibre on maple.
Body: well it depends on poly vs lacquer vs I-don't-know-what-it-is.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

windex? at least on the poly, otherwise just a dry cloth


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

For polyurethane, I used Bar Keepers Friend on the Tokai silver star I just got. It is a super mild abrasive. 2.99 at crappy tire. Wiped down the body and the fretboard. with a micro fiber cloth. The nicotine stains etc are gone from the body. The fret wire looks brand new. Then wipe everything down with Naptha. Then the Fret Doctor oil to rejuvenate the board. 

If you have nitro finish the only thing I know that works is Naptha. But Naptha does not remove sweat and nicotine buildup.


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## John Reilly (Apr 7, 2018)

I`ve always used murphy oil soap and it cleans pretty well and dried with fiber cloth . I noticed another player using light soap and water on his rose wood fret board and it was obviously dried out , he stopped doing it and I don`t know how he is trying to re-oil the board or if it can be done .


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## RockinProf (Jul 8, 2019)

If anyone wants to hear about finish tweaking... to a level that's pathological and resulting in a finish that's blinding from 100 meters let me know. My dad was a R&D guy at a major automotive paint company so I took the tricks and optimised them for guitar finishes. Would be an exceedingly long post, so let me know if there's interest of not.


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## RockinProf (Jul 8, 2019)

Okay since this got a like I'll elaborate.

This is a big undertaking if you want to get your guitar to look like it was dipped in glass, but if that's for you it can be pretty satisfying.

Step 1: Expect your significant other to consider having you committed to a mental health facility, once you start down this path it's easy to get obsessive.

Step II: Find out what kind of finish is on your guitar. Typically you'll see one of three types of finish on a guitar: 
a) polyurethane/polyester, typically found on more modern style guitars and on most Fenders (some are finished in nitro-cellulose but they're not the norm). 
This type of finish is almost indestructible and can take a lot of abuse. It's also relatively thick so you don't need to be very gentle in augmenting your paintwork.

b) French polish, not terribly common but can be found on some acoustic guitars. 
This type of finish is pretty durable and between poly and nitro, caution is required with heavy abrasive compounds and polishes, but they're not too volatile.

c) Nitro-cellulose, often found on Gibson guitars and others that are either truly vintage or that go for a vintage experience.
This type of finish is very thin and highly volatile, any work done to shine up a nitro guitar needs to be done with a lot of caution. Also, nitro can get in to fights with certain types of plastics, chemicals or environmental contaminants. If you have a nitro finished guitar it's worth reading up on things that react to nitro - recalling the time I was cleaning my parents pool, went in to play my Gibson and what ever was on my hands took the finish off the neck... 

Step III: Evaluate how far from perfect your finish is at this time. Is it heavily scratched, dull, dull with super tiny scratches everywhere, just not as shiny as you want it...
a) If there are deep scratches that don't hit the primer or wood and it's not nitro, you'll need to start with some heavy cut rubbing compound. You can get this anywhere you find car stuff. Guitar paint is car paint, so it works great. You're also going to need some decent polishing cloths. Poor quality cloths leave little scratches of their own. I like to use the orange Simonize ones that look like eye glass cloths that I get at Cambodia Tire. Take a pea sized bit on the cloth and make little circles with even pressure and regularly change the spot on the cloth you're working with. You should see results in a hurry. Compound until the paint is smooth and there re no scratches that you can see from a few meters back.

b) Next, after you finished the heavy cut compounding OR if the finish was just dull and/or there were a lot of little tiny scratches (these are called swirl marks) (again if the guitar is not nitro) you want to move to a finer compound. I like Maguire's Ultimate Compound. Use a clean cloth like above, pea sized amount like above and the same polishing motion. This will take the dulness away, decrease the swirl marks and get things pretty smooth.

c) Next after the fine compounding, if your guitar should just be a little shinier or you have a nitro finished guitar you want to enhance you want a "true polish". A lot of guitar polishes are actually detailing fluid, so don't expect a watery product, this stuff is like toothpaste in consistency. Here you want to use clean cloths like the above steps, pea sized amount of product and using the same small circular polishing motion. In this step you want to use a good quality automotive polish. I personally like Meguires #7. You can get this at more specialised automotive places. My experience with polish made exclusively for guitars has been lack lustre; however, MusicNomad stuff is impressing me and they might be on to something. After this step you should have a pretty nice shine, pretty much like when it came out of the factory.

d) If you want to take it to the next level, after step c, try Meguires #9, this is a micro polish that removes the tiniest marks that only come out in direct sunlight or with LED lighting, but they do make light bounce odd. Removing these tiny marks gives an ultra smooth finish that shines very bright. Use the same materials and polishing techniques shown above.

At this point you should be able to look at your guitar and think.... daymn this thing is shiny!

Step IV: Glaze, few people do this but it adds huge depth to your clear coat and enhances the wax we'll use in step V. What the glaze does is fill in microscopic imperfections in smoothness. Remember that light reflects funny if there is a defect in smoothness, so filling in the micro imperfections gives even more shine. Here you want to more up to a specialised microfibre waxing towel. Simonize makes nice ones, Music Nomad makes fantastic ones. Mother's from Cambodia Tire makes an MicroPolishing Glaze that's fantastic. Apply this just like a polish but be very vigorous in the final buffing so the surface is as smooth as you can get.

Step V: Wax, only use canubra wax, silicone wax penetrates and makes repairs more difficult. There are lots of great waxes out there. Again, the Music Nomad one if fantastic. Here you want to apply the wax and let it sit until the guitar has a dull haze. After it hazes you want to buff it like a crazy person with the microfibre waxing towels. At this point you should be able to look at your guitar and see yourself like it's a mirror. You can layer wax after letting it cure for at least 12 hours to enhance it further.

Step VI: Detailing fluid. This is your typical guitar polish. This actually enhances the wax and cleans it. After your first application of detailing fluid you're at maximum shine, just use the detailing fluid to keep things clean.

Hope that helps if you want a crazy bright shine.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

RockinProf said:


> Mother's from _Cambodia_ _Tire ..._


Thanks for taking the time to type all of this out for us. 

The above was a good laugh and new one for me.


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## THRobinson (Jun 29, 2014)

Weird, didn't get notifications for this, figured thread died.

Problem I find is that most stuff out there is a Cleaner/Polish, which I don't want. I work with a lot of brush stainless steel, and one thing we learned here is that you want 2 separate products... otherwise we found that what the cleaner didn't 'clean' the polish coated over top and made it even harder to clean. So, if you have a SS fridge at home and wonder why looks crappy, make sure what you're spraying on it says cleaner, not cleaner/polish or polish. 

I grabbed some Dunlop cleaner/polish last night just to make the shipping cost worth it on a parts order... figured use it on the cheaper guitars with good paint. Directions even say don't wipe it on/around cracks, dings, chips etc, because will put the polish in there and look bad. 

That's why looking for something that's just a cleaner only... like Windex. I don't have any nitro guitars or anything, I think just poly. I have a spray bottle with 50% Isopropyl Alcohol and Distilled Water (mixed 1:1) and on a side note, this is a perfect cleaner for LCD screens. No streaks or haze (just make sure you never wash the microfibre cloths... laundry soap and fabric softener usually cause the hazing.

Because it's 'there' on my desk I use it with a microfibre cloth on bodies with good results. Cleans, dries quick, no film or residue because it's just alcohol and distilled water. 

Fret board... The bulk I remove with a razor... few times I've used Simple Green and an old wash cloth with it and used it to clean up the "finger cheese". Also tried with Murphy Oil Soap mixed with hot water. I make sure not to get too much on because don't want water under the frets or anything. Just get a cloth barely damp with it. It worked, but, looking for better options. Not yet tried Zippo/Naptha fluid yet.

When done the fret board, I've been using Howard's Wax'n'Feed... great stuff. That or Walnut Oil.


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## oldjoat (Apr 4, 2019)

straight methyl hydrate for cleaning fridges / granite counter tops ... cuts the oil / finger prints and evaps into the air ... no streaks.

use a glove and straight bleach to clean the sink ( cleans SS ) do not use on ALUM or Brushed Alum!


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