Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi,

What do you guys use and recommend to clean and polish your guitar? I'm talking once it's completed.

THanks!

I only use only polishes which are made for guitars. They will usually say on the packaging "no silicone".
I have a little bottle of Gibson Guitar Polish I bought at a local music store. Works very nicely... Especially if you follow the directions. It easily lifts dried up spit & patina from your hands. (I hope I'm not the only guy who gets spit spots on my guitar when I'm singing...) Cleans finger smudges & even minimizes tiny scratches.There are other, perfectly good brands out there. I use the Gibson stuff, 'cause its available locally. You'll need a soft, (clean) lint free cloth to go with it. Some paper towels are rough enough to scratch a lacquer finish.

One drop of dish soap on a soft square of T-shirt sudzed up and squeezed out, followed by dry T-shirt. No polish. Instruments don't need polish...they are already shiny.

careful with the dish soap - I know that will peal the clear coat off of a car's paint job. maybe you want to try with some hand soap instead, if you want to go that route.

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

If its really grimey ... meguiars #7 .. for light clean/polish, Cory's piano polish .. there is nothing out there as good as this stuff. Just keep it away from strings.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Martin's guitar polish and a soft cloth for mw.
If it's really grimy might take several applications.
Also use it for my Daughter's piano.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Fine Microfiber cloth slightly dampened with water to remove the dirt then a buff with a dry microfiber cloth. If you keep it wiped regularly chemicals should not be needed. On repair jobs it is a different story, I have often had to resort to naptha and fine polishes like #7 to get the gunk off.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I've used Renaissance Wax over shellac and lacquer and it worked beautifully! Here is a link: http://restorationproduct.com/

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com