What can you use to clean my guitar without hurting it?

Question

My dads best friend gave me a fender guitar for a graduation and iv been learning on it but now its full of finger prints.So dose anyone know what i should use on it for cleaning?Mabe some regular old english?

Answer 1

Star,

This is a great question and you asking it means you want to take good care of your instrument.  There are a lot of schools of though about how to clean your guitar.  I have 27 guitars and I use a cleaning kit by dunlop that works great.  For general polish and cleaning, I use Martin Guitar Polish.  As long as you stay with a "dedicated" guitar polish you should be fine, just make sure you clean off the excess.  You wan to wipe the guitar dry.

Also, for very stubborn dirt, muck, sticker glue, etc, good old fashioned naptha (lighter fluid) works wonders.  Just make sure not to get it on plastic parts, it can dissolve it over time.

I have written an article on string changing that covers cleaning and polishing a guitar step by step that you can check out.  It has all the steps to cleaning and polishing as well as the parts and supplies needed to do it.  

You can read the article at:

http://toneslinger.com/main/index.php?op...

Hope this helps,

Cliff

Are You A Toneslinger?

www.toneslinger.com

Answer 2

I've been playing for over 40 years...use regular old "Endust" to clean the finish..it won't buildup like some furniture polishes...it's just as good as all that expensive stuff.

     For the bridge, use small amounts of lemon oil...also inexpensive.  This helps keep rust..etc from building up on the metal parts of your guitar....the nuts and saddles..etc.

     These two items are really all you need.

Answer 3

What you want to use is a carnuba wax solution and a microfiber cloth.  My favorite polish is called Lizard Spit, it works wonders and will not damage any finish. (Note: Don't use car polish, most contains aluminum oxide that will scratch your guitar.

You can also use Dunlop and Gibson polishes.

Use fretboard conditioner on your fretboard, not lemon oil if you can help it.

Don't use string lubricant or conditioner on your strings - it will rob the guitar of tone and sustain.

Don't use the Old English, the lemon oil it contains could damage your guitar's finish.  You can,  be cautious, use lemon oil (not Old English) for your fretboard but test a small spot to check first - it could pull the stain and conditioners out of the wood).