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Location: Reisterstown, Maryland | A close friend of mine just bought a big baby Taylor and a local shop had a Taylor tech on site for free tune ups and free guitar re-stringings. I met her there and while talking to this guy my friend, who's always willing to learn everything about guitars, asks him whats best to use to clean her guitar. Which polish? I'm standing there listening and expecting to hear some expensive polish Taylor makes or endorses, when I hear him say, "water, just wipe it down with a wet rag."
Well I nearly choked.
What do you all think? :eek:
Anita |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | That is how I clean my Ovations...
For a Taylor, I would recommend a Brillo pad. |
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Location: Brighty in Blighty | I use sand. |
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Location: Reisterstown, Maryland | Come on, guys, water on all wood!?
Anita |
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Posts: 3969
| A urethane or catalyzed polymer finish is impervious to water, so as long as you're not soaking bare wood it wouldn't do any harm. You wouldn't want to do that with a lacquer finish, though.
Any good furniture polish will do. Just don't use anything containing silicone oils. If those do get into the wood they'll play hell with any future finish re-touching or repairs. |
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Posts: 335
Location: Reisterstown, Maryland | I don't know how they finish their guitars, but I think I'd stay away from water, finished or not (unless it was an O :D ) till I was very sure of what I was dealing with.
I used to be a bit of an amatuer woodworker, built 1/2 inch dollhouses, helped my best friend build her house, built decks and stuff.
Anita |
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| I use a damp cloth. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Okay... Use 'Deck-Seal' first. :D
In real life, I usual just use a dry old t-shirt, but if I drool on my guitar, or sneeze, I use a damp cloth and then dry it off.
Even for bare wood that should hurt anything. The tree used to like rain!
If the wood is that dry that it just sucks-up water, something ain't right.
I haven't bought an expensive little bottle of cleaning stuff, cuz I ain't sure what to get anyway.
But I would avoid anything with alcohol, silicon, petroleum distillates, animal proteins, abrasives...
That leaves WATER! |
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Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | For me:
Hardware - dry polishing rag
Wood and plastic - dry polishing rag. If something won't come off I use water, followed by the dry polishing rag
Fretboard - soap and water with a toothbrush, followed by water, followed by dry polishing rag, followed by mineral oil |
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Location: PDX | Micro fiber cloth after playing. If some sweat or oil builds up i put water on the cloth, and buff it out dry.
_____
gh1 |
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February 2009
Posts: 335
Location: Reisterstown, Maryland | Okay, I've learned something today. I guess thi old gal can still learn afew things....now remembering them is something else :D
Thanks everyone.
Anita |
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Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | Ok this may not go over well, but, I have done this since I started playing with NO problems. A barely damp clothe and 1 "squit" of window cleaner. Gets all the oil finger prints and dirty smudges off (glossy tops only) |
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Location: Portland, OR | Naptha (lighter fluid) sparingly with 000 steel wool works really well on fretboards. Follow with lemon oil or somesuch. Body - microfiber rag with just some Dunlop 65. |
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Location: South of most, North of few | I just sell them when they get dirty. |
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Location: Vernon CT | Originally posted by Trader Jim:
I just sell them when they get dirty. Why do I believe you Jim? ;) |
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Posts: 262
Location: VENISE-EN-QUEBEC CANADA | For a Taylor sand blast should work fine :D
for an Ovation the finest polish in the world ;)
Daniel |
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Posts: 1300
Location: Madison, Wisconsin | When you want that "Showroom Shine"
When you want the abalone to sparkle under the lights and pierce the eye,
When you want the guy in the back to say: "That's a beautiful guitar"
It's Dunlop 65 you want.
I use it on Christmas and Easter. It really puts a nice sheen on the face of my guitars and cleans up the drool and sneeze. Lemon oil on the fretboard and a damp rag on the bowl. |
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February 2009
Posts: 335
Location: Reisterstown, Maryland | Originally posted by Trader Jim:
I just sell them when they get dirty. I'm getting that impression Trader Jim. What's your dirtyist guitar right now and how much?
Anita |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | What part of your guitar are you trying to clean? |
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Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | And how do you clean your instrument? |
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Posts: 8
Location: Four Corners New Mexico | I have one of my dogs breathe on it, which melts the finish, and then I smooth it out with a rat-tail comb. :•} |
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Posts: 398
Location: Gig Harbor, Washington | Hey, Lady...here's my process:
First I strip the strings, then I "snug" all hardware (wood shrinks gradually over time - so screws get tighter in their holes, but the hardware they attach is not as snug).
Then I apply Formby's Lemon Oil on all exposed wood surfaces, working into the grain with my fingers and working the grime out of the frets with a soft toothbrush. Then I remove all the grimey oil with one of Dave's dry polishing rags and re-apply another coat of lemon oil and then I go play another guitar for an hour or so while the oil invigorates the exposed wood...
Then I wipe down the enire guitar with one of Dave's rags and then pull a set of fresh strings off the shelf and prepare to install.
Having done so - I finally wipe down the entire guitar - especially the sealed surfaces (the hard-shell polyurethane) with Gibson Guitar Polish on, yes, one of those famous Dave rags!
Once a year or so I'll polish the fretboard and frets with some 0000 extra fine steel wool after the 1st de-grime lemon oil treatment.
Do I sound a little retentive...sheesh!
(p.s. I only poke fun at Dave's rag because I have so much respect for him!) |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | pledge |
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Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by MisterGolf007:
Do I sound a little retentive...sheesh!
I use the same process with two exceptions. I use mineral oil on the fretboard. When I first receive a git, I'll normally remove and polish the tuners also.
HERE"S an example of where polish wasn't enough. |
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October 2005
Posts: 4028
Location: Utah | I use Dunlop 65 cleaner on the all surfaces except bare wood such as the fretboard. Then I use Dunlop Carnuba wax on all those surfaces except the metal ones.
For the fretboard I've been using a spray fretboard cleaner that came with an Alvarez Yairi I bought new in 1977. A little goes a long way! Presumably it is a mineral oil type of product.
Tarnished frets may start to see some dremel action with jeweler's rouge. |
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How do you clean your instruments?
