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Posts: 18
Location: Singapore | I'm curious to know what sort of cleaning kit you folks used to maintain the shine and condition of your Ovation? There are so many brands and gizmo out in the market these days. I'd appreciate helpful input.
Also, anybody has suggestion about maintaining/cleaning the hard case or even replacing the parts (esp the handle)? Maybe suggest a place where I could easily get replacement parts for it? |
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February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | I use Dunlop 65 products on my Ovations. The polish on surfaces with a hard finish, and the lemon fingerboard oil on fingerboards, bridges, and oiled necks.
John <>{ |
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Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | HERE 's a recent thread on just this topic. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Run through a Maytag on the gentle wash cycle, no spin dry. |
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| I just leave mine in the back of the pickup when I run it through the car wash - cleans her up real good. |
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Location: out there | The jet clean ot the one with the spinners? |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Use a salad spinner. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Tri-sodium-phosphate will take all that nasty grease off. :p
[be sure to wear gloves!] |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Solid guitar collection Siah ....
The other thread has the info ...
As for the outside of the case clean off the goop with naphtha, and use, one time because I think the more times you use it the more dependant the plastic gets, use Amour All to polish it up. The kind of stuff for car interiors.
Inside the case, if you got bugs, use the kind of spray for closets, like cedar spray. Vacuum it. Or as they say in Singapore ... hoover it. Then just wipe it out with a damp cloth.
Ok lah! |
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Location: Nashville TN. | I use the whole dunlop kit |
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Location: Chapin SC | orange glow makes 'em smell real nice :p |
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Posts: 747
| Originally posted by an4340:
Use a salad spinner. lol
That reminds me of when I was in grade school and boiled my old guitar strings in water so they'd sound new again. |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Wipe down the top once in a while with a slightly damp cloth, particularly if you sweat under the lights and get it all gunky.
Once every couple years or so rub the fingerboard down really good with some 000 steel wool (rub in the direction of the frets) to polish up the frets and scrape off any spooge that's accumulated. If you have a non-varnished neck, hit it while you are at it to "re-satinize" it.
You can put a little mineral oil on the fingerboard if you want it to look shiny, but the wood doesn't need it. Its just for looks.
Or do the Maytag thing. |
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February 2008
Posts: 747
| Originally posted by Omaha:
You can put a little mineral oil on the fingerboard if you want it to look shiny, but the wood doesn't need it. Its just for looks.
So the oil isn't something you have to do then.
Mine is a 74. Never oiled it and no problems so far but I had been wondering if maybe it should have been done so it wouldn't dry out or whatever. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I have ebony fretboards that needed the mineral oil.
If you see some opening of the pores, or what could be the beginning of cracks, an annual prophylactic application will give you piece of mind. Of course, if you don't have a problem or aren't worried, it won't hurt anything.
The mineral oil is not for cleaning, it's for keeping the fretboard, and the bridge from splitting. And like I said, it won't hurt, lah. |
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Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by an4340:
The mineral oil is not for cleaning I moisten the 0000 steel wool with a bit of MO during cleaning, wipe off all residue and then re-oil. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | never thought of that, sounds like it would work
when i clean with the naphtha i use tooth brush |
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| I think I'm gonna get some oil on there before it becomes an issue. |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Oiling a fingerboard will not prevent cracks. Cracks happen because of low humidity, not low oil.
Frank Ford's website (frets.com) is a great resource. Here's what he says on the subject:
Some players talk of "feeding" the unfinished surface of the fingerboard with oil. Fingerboards are not actually hungry and don't really need to be fed, but a light coating of oil gives them a finished and clean look. If you do choose to oil the fingerboard, do it with care. Use a tiny amount of lemon oil or mineral oil on the rag, wipe it on the fingerboard, and then wipe it all off. You don't want to saturate the fingerboard, and you don't want a lot of oil running down into the fret slots. If there are cracks in your fingerboard, consider having them filled professionally, and don't get oil in the cracks. Generally, you'll want to stay away from linseed and other natural vegetable oils, which become sticky and gummy over time:
This kind of fingerboard cleaning should be a once-a-year event, at the most. Too much scrubbing and oiling can easily do more damage than good. |
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| Yeah, OK.
My guitar was in for some warranty work about 10 years ago and I asked the guy that worked on it if there was anything I should be doing and he said "that's about the nicest one of those I've ever seen just keep on doing what you've been doing to look after it" - which at the time was nothing..lol
Since it's pretty much a mint 74 I've been kinda concerned about neglecting it and having something mess up. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | All jokes and funny stuff aside, Alvin...
All you probably really need is to wipe it down with a clean soft cloth...
Or you could try one of those "micro-fiber' cloths. I've got a couple of them to use my Black 1718 with that eBay Scratch Remover... but for general cleaning, I'm not sure if they are any better than an old T-shirt. If you do end-up with a bunch of sweat on hand grease, a warm damp cloth should be good. Just dry it off with a clean dry T-shirt. (Get a clean one outta your underwear drawer, you can always wash it again.)
Joe, since yours is a "Mint" 74, and you wanna keep it that way, maybe a bit of mineral oil for the fret-board on rare occasions.
I oil my fret-boards about every other string change, but that is on my older guitars... and they ain't mint!
I did oil my newer O's fret-boards once, but that will be Once for a good while. Not every string change.
I do need to get some of the Dunlop stuff for the top of my finished-top guitars, the get all the fingerprints and such off. Three of my T's don't need that. (But they do need the soft cloth... The texture tops do collect dust outta the air!)
But like I said, a soft rag and frequent cleanings will be alot better than any chemicals you can buy. |
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Location: Warren,Pa. | This will convince you to do something with the fingerboard:
Take a guitar that you've played for a couple of years but done nothing to clean. Remove the strings and liberally apply whatever oil you choose to the fingerbd with your finger. Leave it there for a minute, then gently rub that oooo steel wool across the wood. Use your fingernail behind it to get where the wood meets the frets. Now use tissues (change to a clean one frequently)to wipe off the oil. You will be horrified at the green/brown mess that comes off. You'll also like the way the oiled wood looks now compared to when you started. The effect is especially dramatic on rosewood fretboards.
You do this once and you'll be convinced that you need to do it periodically. John <>{ |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | This is gross, but here's how you know it's time to clean & re-oil your Rosewood fretboard...
When you can look at your guitar from across the room and tell what your favorite chords are...
It is time to even-up the grease! :D
And if you can do that with a Ebony fretboard, you are really in trouble... Wash Your Hands! :eek:
[strange observation-- The 4th fret on my electic is disgustingly clean... No G# or C# :confused: ] |
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Posts: 1558
Location: Indiana | Originally posted by 2ifbyC:
I moisten the 0000 steel wool with a bit of MO during cleaning, wipe off all residue and then re-oil. Be careful with that technique on light toned bare woods. I had a bad experience with that once in that the oil embedded/adhered steel wool fibers in the grain and produced a dirty appearance. |
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Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by Jonmark Stone:
I had a bad experience with that once in that the oil embedded/adhered steel wool fibers in the grain and produced a dirty appearance. Just my $.02, but that would indicate that the FB was not finished or cared for properly. FBs should have not any raised grain to 'catch debris'. I would think that if it catches 0000 steel wool, it would also catch cloth fiber.  |
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Location: Indiana | Keep in mind, OOOO steel wool sheds much more material than than the types of polishing cloth (used T-shirts, etc.) most of us use to care for our instruments.
The fibers steel wool produces in shedding are dark and much thinner in diameter cross section than cloth shedding and would not not require an improperly produced or cared for FB for the fibers to be embedded in the grain of un finished wood.
It wasn't my intention to step on your toes, iffy. It was simply a word of caution about an
actual experience with a well crafted mapel FB. The result was indeed an unsatisfactory grimmy appearance. |
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December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by Jonmark Stone:
It wasn't my intention to step on your toes, iffy. Hey JS, no problem there...
This a good discussion and hopefully we'll all learn from it. That's what counts!
I must say that with my gits, so far I haven't had an issue with the MO/SW, but I'll definitely be more cautious in the future. |
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Location: Cork, Ireland | Is Fast Fret OK on ebony fretboards? |
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October 2005
Posts: 4061
Location: Utah | sycamore, the Fast Fret says it is mineral oil and safe for all instruments. FWIW, it dried up really fast for me. The applicator is also the storage for the oil, and the container doesn't seal very tightly, so it evaporates out relatively quickly.
The instructions do say to wipe the fretboard dry after applying the product to the strings, but if you don't press down too hard during application it won't touch the fretboard.
FingerEase is another similar product but made with silicone lubricants and it is an aerosol. It lasts a lot longer in storage. A lot! I also find that it makes the strings slipperier than Fast Fret. The downside is that I prefer not to spray it onto my fretboards (although it should be inert and harmless), so I spray it onto a cloth and then apply it to the strings.
I do wonder if coated strings like Elixer or Cleartone (sound great on my 6778LX Elite and friend's 1778LX Elite) remove most need for a string lube. |
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April 2008
Posts: 288
Location: New Hampshire, USA | Originally posted by FlySig:
FingerEase is another similar product but made with silicone lubricants and it is an aerosol. It lasts a lot longer in storage. A lot! I bought a small can of FingerEase back in oh, 1976 or so. I'm still using the same can. Honestly. |
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March 2007
Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | When I bought FastFret I actualy wanted a fretboard cleaner and the shop said it would clean frets, fretboard and strings. And it does make the board LOOK cleaner... |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I've never oiled a fretboard, but I do regulate the humidity in the bandroom and I'm not a sweater, so the fretboards remain in pretty good shape. |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I oil my fretboards about once a year and give them a good cleaning at the same time. I just like the looks of a clean shiny fretboard. |
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Maintaining Ovation Guitar