How do I clean the gunk on my fretboard?

  • Thread starter Thread starter post.aux.fader
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I have two Martin guitars and the Care and Feeding booklet says not to oil the fretboard.

Anybody know why not?
 
For unfinished fingerboards (rosewood and ebony, mostly), use a good quality, oil free 0000 steel wool to clean it, and then lemon oil (I use Kyser Lem-oil, but then I get it cheaper than you can) or mineral oil (which is most of what is in any good lemon oil). Be careful with lemon oils, though, as some brands are mixed with other chemicals which can react badly with the guitar.


What you need to look out for in polish, by the way, is wax and silicon, either of which can cause serious long term problems. The best stuff on the market is called Powerchord (made by BioTerra Industries), though the GHS guitar polish is also just fine.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I must admit, some of my guitars have become a little neglected, to the point where the grime between the frets is pretty thick, what I do, is I use the edge of a 6" scale, (metal rule), which allows me to get into the tight spots up against the fret wire really nice, then a little buffing with quad "0" steel wool. followed by a very light wipe down of lemon oil. By the way the all the necks on my guitars are either rosewood or ebony, so I don't have to worry about any "finish".
 
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