How To Clean Your Guitar Without Doing

Damage

Keeping your guitar clean is one of the best ways to guarantee its
health, prevent costly repairs, and increase its longevity. While the
relic movement is cool, it doesn’t give you a free pass from properly
caring for your guitar.

But if you clean your guitar improperly, you could end up doing more
damage than you would simply by playing it. So what exactly is
“proper care?” We waded through all of the sales and marketing speak
to get to the real issue – how to clean your instrument without doing
damage.

To answer this question, we enlisted the help of Matt Brooker, a

Technical Advisor for repair shop supplier Stewart MacDonald. StewMac
fields repair calls from all over the country, and many StewMac
employees even run their own instrument repair shops.

Matt talked with us about the best practices for cleaning your guitar’s
finish, hardware, and moving parts.

Polishing Your Guitar’s Finish

How to care for a glossy finish is the main question StewMac receives
about cleaning. We all know that there's nothing like that brand new
instrument look before the glossy finish fades under countless finger
smudges. Once your guitar is a bit too filled with character, it's time to
reach for the polish to bring back that old luster.

But wait – not just any polish will do. It's important to make sure that
you're using the correct product based on your instrument's finish.
StewMac recommends a silicone-free cleaner. They make a product
called “Preservation Polish,” which is safe for all finish types.

Once your guitar is a bit too filled with character, it's time to reach for the
polish to bring back that old luster."
The silicone and micro-grits in aggressive polish restores the shine by
sanding away the scratches in a dirty finish. However, these silicone-
based products add a layer to the guitar’s existing finish, making
repairs really difficult – glues and new finish have difficulty attaching to
the new layer of silicone. Instead of polishing your guitar’s finish, you
should be cleaning the finish.
Matt warns that nitrocellulose finishes are always delicate, so take care
to not be too aggressive with your cleaning. If you have a very dirty
finish of any type, Matt recommends naphtha, which is a denatured
alcohol and the main ingredient in lighter fluid.

While naphtha is safe on tricky nitro finishes, it's important to be extra

careful. Nitro takes a very long time to cure, and Matt estimates that
most Gibsons are shipped with less than 6 weeks of drying time.

As a Gibson owner myself, I use just my breath and a dry cloth to

clean the back of my new guitar's neck for about two years. After two
years, the finish is settled enough to graduate to a damp rag for
cleaning. Matt suggests using Preservation Polish when a more
thorough clean is needed. Remember: nitro is always sensitive, so less
is more in all cases.

Another common question is how to clean a matte finished guitar. Matt

recommends using grit-free polish with light pressure to clean matte,
semi-gloss, and satin finishes. He stresses that satin finishes do not
become glossy if they are cleaned properly. With these finishes, it is
especially important to stay away from aggressive polishes, as the
grits will mar a satin finish and silicone will build up upon the finish
unevenly.

Cleaning Your Fretboard

Fretboards are by far the areas on guitars that require the most
consistent cleaning. Finished maple boards need little more than to be
wiped down with a dry or damp rag between string changes, while
unfinished maple boards are best left alone. For rosewood, the level of
grime determines the course of action.

StewMac Fingerboard Guards

For very a dirty rosewood or baked maple board, Matt suggests wiping
it with a damp naphtha rag before using fine steel wool to remove the
grime. He emphasizes that steel wool can be especially messy around
pickups, so make sure that you’re careful.

Matt also notes that naphtha tends to dry out the surface of the wood,
so it’s best to follow up with a light lemon oil application. Under normal
conditions, this should only be done once or twice a year.

Matt believes that taping off the fretboard to clean the frets is more
work than necessary and recommends using StewMac Fingerboard
Guards instead. For light fret cleaning, 3M flexible polishing papers in
the finest grit are the perfect product.

Taking Care of Hardware

For hardware, Matt suggests using a soft-bristle toothbrush to brush
away most grime between string changes. For heavier grime, Matt
advised giving the parts a bath in naphtha and a few drops of 3-in-1 oil
or Tri-Flow. The naphtha will lift off rust and general grime, and the oil
will add a bit of lubrication to the parts.

It is especially important, Matt warns, to take extra care with the

plating on all hardware – particularly gold. Removing the golden hue
by over-polishing is easier than you think. A damp rag is usually all
that is needed to restore the shine to most plated hardware.

Using the Right Lubricants

Moving parts, such as vibrato/tremolo units and truss rod nuts, are
often neglected until it’s too late, and they’ve become stiff and
corroded. For cleaning and lubing the contact points of Strat and
Floyd-style tremolos, Matt suggests using a tiny bead of Tri-Flow.

Cleaning an instrument is best done sparingly, but proper care will keep it
functioning at its highest capacity for years."
I’ve used 3-in-1 oil to lightly lubricate a stiff Bigsby arm, as well. Also,
a tiny bit of vaseline on a truss rod can save hundreds of dollars on
future repairs – a dab on a Q-tip is all it takes. Always start with a tiny
amount of lubrication before adding more if needed. Be safe, and
always have a rag around in case you miss!

Cleaning an instrument is best done sparingly, but proper care will

keep it functioning at its highest capacity for years. After all, your
instrument should last longer than you do. Be smart, use the right
products, and you’ll never have to deal with rusty parts and cloudy,
sticky finishes.

Matt’s Final Warning

A customer once brought in their original 1959 Les Paul ‘Burst to Dan
Erlewine’s shop. Before Dan could stop him, the customer covered the
guitar in aggressive car polish and polished like his life depended on it.

When he was through, all of the patina was gone, as was the vintage
vibe. The customer had paid $180,000 for this guitar, and his
misguided cleaning attempt depreciated the guitar so much that he
was only able to resell it for $60,000.

The lesson? Always avoid working on a vintage finish.