Re: Polishing guitars....
As far polishes go , I've used and like the entire dunlop 65 system (yeah B2D ... :laugh2: ), Ken Smith polish ... good stuff, AXE Wax (not doctor duck's by the way ..) it's no longer made ... crap! the Martin spray polish is good for light cleaning and polishing. Gibson make's a line of products that they call *Luthier's Choice*, they make a polish, and fretboard conditioner ... good stuff, and a string cleaner, lubricant ... never used that, I'm a Fast fret guy when it comes to that stuff.One of my favourite polishes bar none is 3M Fill 'n' Glaze swirl remover ... works great as polish (not for bare of oiled woods, of course), and with a buffer is great at removing swirls, and small scratches ... plus it comes in those handy gallon like sizes ... :laugh2:
As far as cloth goes, the blitz cloth micro-fibre cloths are what I like best for finishing, and other detail work, good old fender *yellow fuzzies* for general cleaning, and spreading (wash them in plain water, and run them thru the dryer on cool air [no dryer sheets guys], helps to get rid of the lint).For metal, selmer polish cloths (the ones for silver instruments, they have a polish built into them, just moisten them with a spray bottle of plain water, don't spit on them ... saliva contains a lot of acid, and bacteria that can eat at the metal plating.They also make a double sided heavy cloth thats great for miscellaneous (sp?) jobs. General plain soft cotton cloths do the job well.
Also bear in mind that some polishes have cleaners built into them, and some don't ... for separate cleaner it depends ... on polyurethane bodies ... 409, other such cleaners, on laquered tht natural orange oil stuff works good, justmake sure to get it off ... but that's all subjective, when in doubt used a cleaner/polish, then do a wax job on it later (once a month). That dunlop kit is kind had the beat, before polishing the frets though get some of those finger board shields from stew-mac.That's my take on it, from finish to hardware.
