Cleaning your Instrument

Pickups, Pots, Caps, Wiring

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foal30
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Cleaning your Instrument

Post by foal30 »

Advice and recommendations for the following woods please:

Maple
Wenge
Poplar
Rosewood
Swamp Ash

Preferences for Chrome Hardware (Old Fenders)

Thanks.
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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by Starfire »

I bought some of this stuff for rosewood fingerboards about 15 years ago. Just getting to the end of the small bottle now — though admittedly there was a time when I only had guitars with maple fingerboards.

https://beafifer.com/boredoctor.htm

There's a lot of waffle on the site, but it makes rosewood really nice and dark. Couple of drops will do the whole board.

That said, I wonder if this stuff from the RS does the same thing:
https://www.rockshop.co.nz/music-nomad-bore-oil

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by Slowy »

Rosewood, use Lemon oil, PROPER Lemon oil, not Pledge. Available from guitar stores. For everything else, spit on it and buff it out.

Tip for new Parents:
Debating whether to use disposable or re-usable nappies? Go the re-usable. Your kid will be potty trained before you know it and you will have a lifetime stash of wonderful, soft, lint free guitar polishing cloths. :thumbup:
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by JHorner »

Slowy wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 8:59 pm Tip for new Parents:
Debating whether to use disposable or re-usable nappies? Go the re-usable. Your kid will be potty trained before you know it and you will have a lifetime stash of wonderful, soft, lint free guitar polishing cloths. :thumbup:
Combo.

Disposables when you're out of the house or the reusables are in the wash.

The reusable bamboo liners are fucking awesome for soaking up apple juice / chocolate milk / bodily fluids.

I only polish the guitars if they start getting tacky.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by GrantB »

My soap, my instrument, I’ll clean as fast as I want.
"Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible god and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that this nature he's destroying is this god he's worshipping." - Hubert Reeves

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by Slowy »

GrantB wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:41 pm My soap, my instrument, I’ll clean as fast as I want.
Hair conditioner is less harsh.
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by Slowy »

Slowy wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 8:59 pm Rosewood, use Lemon oil, PROPER Lemon oil, not Pledge. Available from guitar stores. For everything else, spit on it and buff it out.

Tip for new Parents:
Debating whether to use disposable or re-usable nappies? Go the re-usable. Your kid will be potty trained before you know it and you will have a lifetime stash of wonderful, soft, lint free guitar polishing cloths. :thumbup:
IMG_4539.JPG
IMG_4539.JPG (847.76 KiB) Viewed 2474 times
Before and after lemon oil.
As an aside, this guitar used to belong to Graham Brazier of Hello Sailor.
It's a total piece of crap.
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by NippleWrestler »

Nice. I did the photos for Hello Sailor last time around. They're a good bunch of dudes.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by Bg »

cleaning - use naptha on everything, scrape off gunk with an old loyalty card.
for conditioning rosewood - don't fanny around buying special oils, buy a bottle of raw linseed oil from mitre10, it will last a lifetime - probably two.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by NippleWrestler »

Lemon oil is mineral oil with lemon scent added. You can buy mineral oil in litres pretty cheaply from Bunnings etc and make it smell however you like with a few drops of essential oil.

If it's been forever the Dunlop 65 stuff is good. I think they call it "deep nourishing" or something along those lines. It comes in a black bottle and I use that when it's been a long while on rosewood or ebony boards.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by Wairarapajack »

I start by using a dry old, soft toothbrush on fretboards, tuning machines, bridges and any hardware with angles to trap dust & grime. With a bit of elbow grease you'll get rid of 99% of the gunk they collect. Soft bristles are fine with human gums, so they shouldn't damage anything.

After that, a quick wipedown with a damp cloth works for finished areas like the back of the neck and most of the body.

I did quite a bit of research around oils for fretboards a couple of years back. As a result I bought a bottle of food-grade mineral oil, usually used for wood chopping boards. It's safe, non-scented, lasts forever and doesn't go rancid like vegetable-based oils. I think most "lemon oils" are just this + scent.

I bloody love isopropyl alcohol for cleaning amp and pedal bits, but don't use it on guitars.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by NippleWrestler »

This stuff is primo for regular cleaning/polishing:

https://coproducts.co.nz/shop/polishes/ ... oil-300ml/

Nitro, poly, oil, it makes everything look better.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by Jay »

When faced with quality, I recognise it every time.

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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

Post by foal30 »

Thanks everyone👍🏿
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Re: Cleaning your Instrument

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