cleaning the tele..?

can anyone recomend a good cleaning routine, and what products to use when cleaning, what about the selector switch and pots.???:confused:

i dont clean mine often but when i do i use dr ducks ax wax

Clean a guitar?

What?

Take a soft clothe and wipe it down. Need more than that use Martin guitar polish. Best stuff I have ever tried.

Bill

I use the hot breath method. If you got layers of gunk, hit it with some naphtha first.

Dan

After playing at home I pretty much just wipe down the strings each time, just to make them last longer.

After a gig the guitar can be pretty grotty from four hours of leaping about under the hot stage lights, so my cleaning routine is to give the guitar a thorough clean on the Sunday after the weekend's gigs, which means it gets a thorough clean usually once a week unless I've had a weekend off from band work. I clean the sweat and grottiness off with a damp soft cloth and then immediately buff and dry it with a good polishing cloth. No cleaners, polishes, or chemicals of any kind - just plain water. I clean and dry each area in sections so nothing stays damp for long; eg. I'll do the face of the body, then the back and sides, then the neck and headstock.

If you have a guitar with layers of caked-on grot then some kind of stronger cleaning solution would probably be required, but the question was about routine cleaning and for that I've found that a damp cloth is enough.

In years gone by i rarely cleaned my guitars, even after gigs. I started being a bit more particular about it when I bought a new Tele in Jan '05, and it's amazing how much some regular care and attention contributes to the guitar looking great for a long time - on my previous "unclean" guitars the paint and hardware deteriorated much more quickly. Of course, there are people out there who prefer that!!...

I also use Martin's Guitar Polish. For the pots and electronics I use an electronic's cleaner spray when the pots get noisy, For the bridge, saddles and tuning gears I use a q-tip with WD-40 on it. Never had any problems. I like a clean and well lubed axe.

Use a credit card to scrape it clean...a chisel if the dirt has fossilized ;-)

a damp (not wet) cloth or if its pretty nasty, some naptha on a cloth.

as far a martin polish... i was at the martin factory a few years ago on some business, and was told, confidentially, by one of their distinguished affiliates that nitro-cellulous laquer finish, as on newer martins, does not need any polish... just a damp cloth.

and when i said "but you guys sell this stuff," they said yeah, but dont use it!

innerestin'

rand z tropicalsoul.net

It depend on what I'm doing. I have about five different ones I use for different purposes.

cheers folks i,ve been giging for 3 yrs now playing about two sometimes three gigs a month in some hot sweaty caverns and like me old tele to look her best been doing the damp cloth for a while but was getting a bit worried bout the gunk on the frets i kind of scrape it away using a pick but this naphtha stuff sounds good can i get it from most good guitar shops?

i,ve also started using servisol super 10 on the switch and pots but i,m worried any gunk will form an abrasive paste.

cheers folks i,ve been giging for 3 yrs now playing about two sometimes three gigs a month in some hot sweaty caverns and like me old tele to look her best been doing the damp cloth for a while but was getting a bit worried bout the gunk on the frets i kind of scrape it away using a pick but this naphtha stuff sounds good can i get it from most good guitar shops?

i,ve also started using servisol super 10 on the switch and pots but i,m worried any gunk will form an abrasive paste.

Naphtha is lighter fluid. Ronson or Zippo are some brands that come to mind. I don't know if you would want to use it on your fretboard though. Most would recommend some kind of lemon oil or equivalent so as to restore some moisture.

Dan

lemon oil ??

Here you go: I guess it is ok to hit the fingerboard with Naphtha and then follow up with Lemon oil

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/Catalogue/ViewProduct.aspx?productId=152

thanks for the link

Damp or dry cloth with occasional bursts of Dunlop Guitar Polish & Cleaner. The cleaner does help with not being sticky when sweaty, but I only use moist cloth on the maple fret board. Q-Tips for cleaning tight spaces.

Fender of course suggest their own products that were a little more than the Dunlop.

Fender resells the Meguiars car finish products, so, if you have those lying around the house already...

For mine I use naptha (got a can from Lowes) to clean off the gunk. Then if I want to polish out some built up haze, Meguiars #7 to get rid of the haze and make nice and shiney. Lemon oil for rosewood and ebony finger boards (dont think it hurts maple, but probably not necessary as those are usually finished). If you want to wax, have at it. Good grade car wax is ok. I don't like the feel of a waxed guitar, so I just deal. Most of the original Fender finishes were automotive finishes on the surface (shot over wood finishes). That is why there are colors like Shoreline Gold. It was already named. So, on unexposed wood (that is painted finishes) car products work fine. On exposed wood, wood products. For necks that are oiled backs, lemmon oil or if it needs touch-up what ever oil was used originally (tung or gun or what-ever).

This is not saying that the Dunlop or other products are bad, just that you don't have to spend extra money on extra packaging for your guitars care products if you have car and wood cleaning products already in the house.

:wink: Jimi Hendrix used Naptha on his guitar.:twisted:

:wink: Jimi Hendrix used Naptha on his guitar.:twisted:

Did I forget to mention away from open flame:roll: , oops, so sad:cry:

I thought he got good results. One heck of a "relic"

for the neck, fretboard, body and chrome....

I hit it with naptha when the goop looks like toe jam on the fretboard.I clean the strings with naptha too.I have never waxed a guitar.

for the neck, fretboard, body and chrome....

MR SHEEN - [or any furniture polish]


Ouch! :eek: Isn't that stuff chock full of silicone? You don't want to be putting that on your guitar, silicone builds up layers which you'll find makes life very difficult and are subsequently VERY hard to remove. You'll be building up layers of shiny and stubborn residue over the grime.

For anyone wanting to thoroughly clean their guitars may I recommend either of Dan Erlewine's excellent books which start off with moist breath, water, and napatha techniques and then go further with polishing should your instrument need it. Great books to have around.

...I had my luthier wet sand and buff my old Tele, which had lots of grime worn into the finish. The old guitars from the 70s had lots of paint on them, so a de-greasing worked-out OK, and brought the finish back to life.

http://imageigloo.com/images/524NewAvatar.jpg

I had bought a can of Naptha from StewMac, until I realized you can buy it at the hardware store for 1/4
the price! Same stuff. Ace, HomeDepot, certainly a
paint store, as well.

I had bought a can of Naptha from StewMac, until I realized you can buy it at the hardware store for 1/4
the price! Same stuff. Ace, HomeDepot, certainly a
paint store, as well.

I just read the Stew Mac catalog and I thought the price seemed high. I usually get it at the supermarket in the larger cans but I will be going to Lowes today and will check it out. Thanks for the tip.

Dan

beware that the rag or whatever you wipe it down with is whitish or at least ligltly colored or complentarily colored. i was not a happy camper in my younger days when i rubbed my light-yellow strat with the proper polish and a red bandana. it became pink around the edges. i guess you could call it cherry-vanilla.

I found myself the perfect cloth to wipe down my guitars.
been using old t-shirts & stuff before, well it works if you work hard...
but the best was a Microfibre cloth for kitchen purpose.
Not the fine green one, but the rougher (off )white one, (I know it needs to see a washmachine - sorry)
It works on pick guards, neck & body and even on my chrome resonater guitar, where you see every finger mark.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/open-g/Tele%20Projekt/Microfibre.jpg

Like many of those above, I wipe mine down after I play it.
Every string change I use Dunlop Formula 65 on everything using a microfiber cloth and a small paint bursh to get the dust out of the bridge.
I don't have a rosewood fretboard guitar now, but when I did I used Old English lemon oil on the fretboard.