What chemicals do You use to clean your acoustic

[FaxMachine]

Seeing what others use as their preferred method of cleaning their vintage gear. The luthier I have used uses 409, I have family members that use dawn and the scrubby side of a sponge, and I have heard lighter fluid and many other things as well. I have a 63 or 64 [or 65 ??) J-45 that is beyond filthy.

[EZYPIKINS]

I like Original formula Windex . bu I wont use Windex on the Ebony fingerboards. They have a dye that can be removed.

Works fine on rosewood boards.

If I don't have to do the fret eraser thing. I'll just use a Meguire's spray polish. W/microfiber cloth or Baby wash cloth.

Fret eraser the frets a couple times per year now.

When I was gigging I would do it much more.

I like em clean enough to eat off of.

[High_Colorado]

I am SUPER careful to AVOID Dawn on a Gibson. If it was on my hands I will rinse them many times because I'm worried about the Nitro finish. Dawn is more powerful than people are sometimes aware, I use it in the Spring to strip the wax off of my cars when it is time for a deep cleaning, clay bar and building new wax coats, and then it is stored away from my other car-cleaning soaps/ waxes because it literally melts the wax off when it contacts the finish, and I don't want my GF using it by accident. (There is a massive car-geek debate on even using Dawn on auto's, you really do need to be careful or you can cause permanent damage to your clearcoat if not rinsed away properly; According to the Materials Safety Data Sheets, the pH level of Dawn dish soap is between 8.7 and 9.3) I am even careful in the kitchen not to use Dawn on my cast-iron pots because it will easily take off the "baked on patina" which is hard to rebuild.

Other than a little water on the occasional coffee dripping at the waist, high quality micro-fiber towels, the only products used on my guitars (even the Chinese ones) are:

[rstaight]

I use MusicNomad F-One products on my guitars. They get a good cleaning and wax every string change. Then once a year the fret board and bridge gets oiled.

[Ed66]

Originally Posted by rstaight

I use MusicNomad F-One products on my guitars. They get a good cleaning and wax every string change. Then once a year the fret board and bridge gets oiled.

I'd second this. I use their products as well and will, every second or third string change oil the fretboard and bridge. I would never use dawn or any type of scrubber. I have used naphtha and a soft cloth for some really grungy stuff I've bought used.

[rmp]

All of the below when needed

• Warm tap water / damp cloth
• Gertliz Smudge Off
• Gibson Pump
• Virtuoso cleaner/polish
• Eternashine Players kit scratch remover
• Frine Fret Polish
• Nomad F1 Oil

[The Bard Rocks]

Enough H2O to dampen a soft cloth, done sparingly.

[Jaxon]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

Enough H2O to dampen a soft cloth, done sparingly.

double ditto

[Mandobart]

Virtuoso cleaner and polish work well for me, not that I use them frequently on any given instrument. I also like F- one fretboard oil from Music Nomad, but I think using it every year on the same instrument is more than necessary.

Some automotive finish products work well. When I changed the tuning machines on my Martin HD-28 I used Nu Finish (automotive product) to polish up the matte headstock to a nice gloss based on advice either here or UMGF.

[Nymuso]

Clean . . . ?

[dnf777]

Great thread!
It really depends on the finish. Vintage tends to be nitro, and I use a damp or dry cloth normally, and virtuose or stewmacs polish when needed. (Never silicone products!)
Satin or taylors water base thin, I use damp cloth only. Never polish.
Polyurethane, anything. 409 or Fantastic is fine.

[Dash_Starkiller]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

Clean . . . ?

Yea I’m not sure I’ve ever actually cleaned my guitar like that. Maybe wiped down.

[DethWshBkr]

Meguires Final Inspection. If I somehow get something greasy or sticky on it, I'll Windex it first.

[Draft Guitar]

dihydrogen monoxide

[Mirosh]

I use some Gibson Guitar Polish from maybe 40 years ago ("works wonders on all instruments") on the body and neck, maybe 2-4 times a year. Sometimes a cotton rag dampened with lighter fluid on the fretboard.