what do you use to clean your guitar?

[Cowboy Dan!?]

i was just wondering what kind of things are good for cleaning guitars and what might damage them. on my acoustic bass i cleaned the whole thing with pledge wooden furniture cleaner/polish and it made it look way brighter and nicer and after i wiped my fredboard down with it the strings sounded way less duller too. are things like that ok to clean guitars or did i pull a stupid?

[Gearjoneser]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

I just use Martin polish, but on guitars that really need the top shined up, I use liquid Turtle Wax on a polish cloth. You just have to be very careful to keep it off the fretboard and away from all the hardware and screws. It does a nice job taking out swirl marks and pick marks.

[Rich_T]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

dunlop 65 on the Les Paul. Nothing on the strat, it got no finish!

[ArtieToo]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

i was just wondering what kind of things are good for cleaning guitars and what might damage them. on my acoustic bass i cleaned the whole thing with pledge wooden furniture cleaner/polish and it made it look way brighter and nicer and after i wiped my fredboard down with it the strings sounded way less duller too. are things like that ok to clean guitars or did i pull a stupid?

HeeHawww . . . another Floridian.

I think that Pledge is basically wax-in-a-can. Just keep that in mind as you spray it around.

I usually handle cleaning chores with Simple Green and use Gerlitz Guitar Honey for thr fretboard. However, its not like i'm an expert in these matters. Those two things seem to work great without causing any finish harm.

[Curly]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

I use Smith Guitar Polish for general polishing, Dunlop Formula 65 for areas with built up crud, and Gerlitz Number carnauba guitar wax for a showroom polish.
Once a year I put a couple drops of lemon oil on the fretboard.

[Duncan]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

A pair of panties I got from my first groupie when I was 18...

Sentimental value but they are starting to get a bit ragged now (probably like their original owner 20 years later!!!)

[Norman_T]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

A pair of panties I got from my first groupie when I was 18...

Sentimental value but they are starting to get a bit ragged now (probably like their original owner 20 years later!!!)

....and smelly if she wore them first

[Cowboy Dan!?]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

lol

alright, thanks a lot guys

[JALIN]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

Whatever you do, don`t use a polish with silicones. I prefer Virtuoso Polish. I use their cleaner first to remove whatever is on the finish, you can`t really polish a dirty guitar. Then shine it up with thier polish.

[Alvin Lee Fan]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

+1 on the Virtuoso stuff. I use the cleaner if it's really gunky, otherwise the polish works great on a not-too-dirty guitar. The Virtuoso cleaner took off 25 years of forearm smudge from my LP Pro, looks like a new guitar now.

I also use 3M Scotch Brite microfiber cloths.

[Ken]

Re: what do you use to clean your guitar?

If it's the Pledge polish like what you use for your furniture when dusting...

DON'T put it on the fretboard. The wax will build up and gum up the unfinished wood.

For body cleaning, if I'm not doing it at work I just get an old t-shirt with no print on it and spray a little Windex on it. That takes care of all sorts of marks, then I use a little Pledge on the finished woods only to give it a little polish and seal.

For fretboard cleaning, I use Formby's deep-cleaner (the green stuff) and lemon oil.