I just went to my local music store to get some cleaning equipment for my guitar.
I got some lemon liquid for the neck and they didnt have anything for the body in stock. He told me i can just use Isopropyl Alcohol. Is this true.

Who/where was that? Did they bother to find out what type of guitar you have before they told you that? The reason I ask is it will be OK for polyester or polyurethane (most Asian guitars), but if you use Isopropyl alcohol on a nitrocellulose finish (most expensive electrics and acoustics) or a French Polish (expensive classic guitars) it will soften the finish and when you wipe it you'll take the top layer of finish off and leave it damaged. In other words, they should not be recommending it, or they are going to get some very expensive complaints.

Naphtha (lighter fluid) is more commonly used as it's safe on any kind of finish. Naphtha is mostly paraffin oil/kerosene, so you can also use that. It's a great all around cleaner for everything from finish to hardware as it strips any oils, dirt and fats without any damage to even the most delicate finish.

Also, Isopropyl and naphtha are cleaners, not polishes. They'll strip off dirt and grime, but won't fill in/smooth out the smaller cracks and polish the surface, making it shiny and leaving a protective layer the way polish will.

I bet y'all didn't know it was this complicated, didya? ...and I didn't even start on the luthiers' usual rant about silicone polishes.

Tell us about the silicon polishes!

This is a really interresting subject, i'd like learn more about the different types of cleaning, but on personal experience.
thanks alan.

Don't know what Isopropyl alcohol is. I use Methol alcohol, (squatter brandy), to strip finger grunge off my fretboard though.

and I didn't even start on the luthiers' usual rant about silicone polishes

I use standard spray on polish (Mr Min), which probably contains silicone and Isopropyl alcohol, to clean and polish my guitars. Could our resident luthier please enlighten me on the damage I may be causing to my instruments so that I can desist immediately. I just did my bi-monthly clean on my Strat today prior to reading this post :-[

Renesongs wrote: Don't know what Isopropyl alcohol is. I use Methol alcohol, (squatter brandy), to strip finger grunge off my fretboard though.

Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol is a quick evaporating alcohol that draws out and absorbs moisture and oils. It's also sold as contact cleaner or switch cleaner. I use it to clean rosewood and pao ferro fingerboards. Alcohol'll strip out the natural water and oils from these boards pretty quickly though, leaving them too dry and prone to shrinking and cracking, fret sprout and other associated problems. So if you use it, you'd better replace the moisture with a good oil after using.

Lemon "oil" doesn't contain any oils, but is mostly petroleum distillate for cleaning, with a little lemon scent - this is to stop people from overoiling their fingerboards. It doesn't strip out the natural oils, but neither does it replace them. To replace the oil, you need a good formulation of mineral oils like Fret Doctor from www.beafifer.com . If you're using the real oils, applying once a year is enough.

I use standard spray on polish (Mr Min), which probably contains silicone and Isopropyl alcohol, to clean and polish my guitars. Could our resident luthier please enlighten me on the damage I may be causing to my instruments so that I can desist immediately.

Most modern polishes which are used for plastics as well as wood will have silicon oil. Silicon oil never dries and it tends to penetrate through screw holes and older cracked/crazed finishes. It gets everywhere. Once it's there, nothing works to remove it and it causes major problems with any repairwork that requires refinishing or glueing (including refrets), older, thinner or cracked finishes can start to lift too. Mr. Min and Pledge are bad, but the worst stuff is the stuff used for dashboards and fake leather (sometimes guitar cases ). Basically stay away from anything that has silicon in.

Remember, your primary method of cleaning should be a clean dry, lint free cloth and a little elbow grease. Use it regularly after playing and there's very little else you will have to do. When you need a bit more to get rid of some accumulated grunge or want to restore a dull finish, use a proper guitar polish. Only If you have years of grime to remove, do you use a solvent like naphtha to strip off the worst of it, and then follow up with a polish.

Thanks for that Alan - So Mr Min sees the bin. :-[. I noticed today that my fretboard, (rosewood), was looking a little rough, probably a little parched. Lucky I decided not to do the Meths treatment but I better get some Fret Doctor soon ?

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Who/where was that? Did they bother to find out what type of guitar you have before they told you that? The reason I ask is it will be OK for polyester or polyurethane (most Asian guitars), but if you use Isopropyl alcohol on a nitrocellulose finish (most expensive electrics and acoustics) or a French Polish (expensive classic guitars) it will soften the finish and when you wipe it you'll take the top layer of finish off and leave it damaged. In other words, they should not be recommending it, or they are going to get some very expensive complaints.

Naphtha (lighter fluid) is more commonly used as it's safe on any kind of finish. Naphtha is mostly paraffin oil/kerosene, so you can also use that. It's a great all around cleaner for everything from finish to hardware as it strips any oils, dirt and fats without any damage to even the most delicate finish.

Also, Isopropyl and naphtha are cleaners, not polishes. They'll strip off dirt and grime, but won't fill in/smooth out the smaller cracks and polish the surface, making it shiny and leaving a protective layer the way polish will.

I bet y'all didn't know it was this complicated, didya? ...and I didn't even start on the luthiers' usual rant about silicone polishes.

This was at mercury music in edenvale. I bought my J&D guitar from them. So when i asked them for cleaning equipment for my guitar. they gave me lemon oil for the neck. this worked so good. My neck s so much smother and even feels better. Then he said they dont have anything body equipment in stock, i can just use Isopropyl Alcohol. This is what is mainly in the cleaning stuff. Thats what he told me. Lucky i never tried it. My body is Alder. I use Isopropyl to clean lenses, lasers etc.

I've always used guitar products on guitars instead of Pledge, Mr Min etc. and it really does work better!

IMO the most imortant thing, as Alan said, is to give your guitar a good wipe/ polish with a good polish cloth after playing to keep it looking and feeling good. Doing this just makes it look better for longer. Wiping the strings/ fretboard after playing also helps to keep the strings fresh for longer (gets rid of the oils from your hands) in my experience.

After every second or third string change (I change strings on my main guitar once a month) I lightly Lemon Oil the fingerboard (and occasionally, say every 6-8 months, use Dunlop Fingerboard cleaner and prep), clean the guitar body and all the parts with Dunlop Formula 65 Guitar Cleaner/ Polish and then use Dunlop Cream of Carnauba Guitar Wax and some serious elbow grease to polish it. It fills in scratches quite nicely and revives the finishy of the guitar to make it look sweet!

+1 on the Dunlop Formula 65. Great polish. While not necessary to use it frequently, it's mild enough that you can without buildup of any waxes or other additives.

Rather not - the silicon gets everywhere, even if you don't know it. Your hands pick it up and move it to other places around the guitar, it ends up in the case, on the case, on the strings, everywhere. If you have your guitar worked on by a luthier, it will even contaminate his work mat (explaining why luthiers hate the stuff so much).

I'm guessing you have a high gloss neck? They actually drag more on the hand with more friction than a matt finish, and what you are doing is using a polish that leaves a layer of silicon oil on the back of the neck, reducing friction. If the drag of a high gloss neck is annoying to you, you're actually better off deglossing it with some fine (0000 grade) steel wool, which makes a neck feel really comfortable.

Good one Alan, I have been itching to de-gloss my Jap Strat's neck but have been afraid of being ostracised by luthiers the world over. Don't worry I will be gentle and try not to get steel wool all over the pickups ?

Just stick some masking tape over the ptop of the pickups. When you've finished put another layer over it to trap any steel particles and pull off both together with the particles safely stuck between. If any are left on the poles, use some Prestick to remove it safely.

Something else I've been doing is to mask off the heel and the top of the neck behind the headstock before deglossing so that I get sharply delineated lines between gloss and matt, which looks very cool, IMO.

Awesome - was going to mask over the pickups anyway, (steel wool and I are old friends), but I hadn't considered what I was going to do at the heel and headstock - thanks for the heads-up.

Thanks Alan, will do. I take it that the back of the neck wont need to be polished in future after using the steel wool.
Tony

Other than normal cleaning, no.

What about the jim dunlop guitar cleaning packet?
Is it any good?

http://www.jimdunlop.com/index.php?page=products/maintenance&cat=12

The Formula 65 stuff is good. You only need the polish for general cleaning and the carnauba once a year or so to touch up small scratches.

Hi Tony

I assume the back of your neck is maple (re: steel wool for a "satin" effect) - NB that the finish will shine-up again after some time of playing, so you'll need to "re-wool" the back of the neck from time to time

VV