Cleaning finished (laquered?) maple fretboard

  • Thread starter Thread starter notCardio
  • Start date Start date
Toothpicks, popsickle sticks, and cotton swabs can be your friends for this job. They're too soft to hurt the finish and will remove alot of gunk mechanically. Get as much off as you can before you turn to chemical removal. You'll probably be surprised at how quickly you can make a big difference.
 
Milnoque said:
Toothpicks, popsickle sticks, and cotton swabs can be your friends for this job. They're too soft to hurt the finish and will remove alot of gunk mechanically. Get as much off as you can before you turn to chemical removal. You'll probably be surprised at how quickly you can make a big difference.
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Yes, I even have a stash of shish kabob sticks in my shop.

VP
 
:wtf: Don't you know 0000 is going to rip the top coat of anything off.
Don't touch it with any sandpaper even 000000000 grade.
Try the amonia and water as a start but there are many cleaners on the market.
Go to your guitar shop and spend a couple of bucks ($20) and get some good quality cleaner.
That is unless you want the totally distressed look. However that gets rid of the finish altogether, but hey some folks like that look and even pay big bucks for a replica so you might be onto a winner there.
Happy cleaning???
ciao
Bronwyn
 
preliminary results

I don't know yet if this is going to have any long-term adverse effects (lifting frets, softening the finish, etc.), but the magic cleaner appears to be VODKA. I put some on a rag, applied it liberally (hey, what else would I do?), let it soak in on the gunk for a few seconds, (longer for thicker gunk), and rub it with an old sock. I used a cool brush that I found (meant for cleaning tile grout, etc.) to clean up against the frets. Worked like a charm. Left the finish intact, however it did remove a little of the 'patina', so go easy on the elbow grease. The gunk had caused discoloration in spots, and the vodka did not remove them.

If the board continues to show no ill effects, I'm just going to leave it as is.

Btw, the vodka also cleaned the gunk off of the finished body (probably poly), the plastic parts including the pickguard and pickup covers, and shined the heck out of the chrome.

I used some cheap stuff (Popov) my wife won in a raffle. I can't say whether or not Grey Goose would have worked any better. ;)
 
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