Untreated Maple Neck

BroKen_H

BroKen_H

Re-member
PREAMBLE: I almost IM'd this to Mutley, but thought if the information was useful, it might as well be here for everybody. I realize (at the risk of resurrecting Victory Pete) that Light and Mutt have real knowledge of woods and how they act and react, so here is:

THE QUESTION: My untreated maple neck (Hamer Californian) is getting really dirty, despite oiling the neck (Formby's lemon oil) when the strings are changed. Is there any way to clean up the look of the frets. It doesn't hurt the tone of the guitar (it's a $200 guitar for Heaven's sake), but I'd really like it if it were cleaner looking.

DISCLAIMER: 1) Please don't flame me for having a $200 guitar and being more interested in appearance than tone. I like the guitar, it plays nice and I could afford it. I need a guitar to perform, and I'd like it to be presentable. 2) Please don't make comments based on your guitar if it has a treated or other then maple wood neck--that will not help me. :facepalm: Thanks for everybody's help! :D
 
You can shift most of the dirt with Naphtha and polish up the frets with something like Goddards silver cloth.

Not sure if you have it over there but you will have something similar. You are using lemon oil so keep doing that.
 
spit works incredibly well for trouble spots.

consider a THIN coat of wipe-on poly after you clean it well..

looks, feels like unfinished wood.
 
Hey, sorry I missed this thread earlier. I have had really good results with vodka. Obviously you want to use the cheap stuff. I put some on an old cotton athletic-type sock. Up against the frets, I use a combination of a toothpick, a guitar pick, or a thin putty knife inside a sock. After I've cleaned it, buffed it and let it dry, then I oil it. Remember to remove the excess oil as it attracts dirt.
 
super fine steel wool cleans boards up nicely , and those erasers that have the 2 compounds the course side usually blue polishes frets well
 
Now that you've got it cleaned up, can we flame you for having a $200 guitar? :guitar: Just kidding - I've got much cheaper guitars than that!
 
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