Polishing guitars

  • Thread starter Thread starter Insaneogram
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Insaneogram

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A mate of mine uses ordinary wood polish (Mr. Sheen, I believe) when he wants to clean his guitar. I've always been kinda cautions since my SG is still pretty new so I thought I'd ask you guys before I took to it. So is Mr. Sheen Gibson friendly?
 
NEVER use wood polish on a guitar. Most of them contain silicon, which can cause irreprable damage to the finish.

We use a product called Powerchord, made by Bioterra Industries, but any good guitar polish will be fine. The Kyser stuff is good, as is the GHS stuff, both of which will be easier to find than Powerchord.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
"Clean, wax and polish as you dust with Mr Sheen..."

Not sure if Mr Sheen's an Aussie thing at all, but as soon as I saw the post I suspected an Australian was involved.

I used to polish my first two guitars regularly with Mr Sheen. The first was a Burns electric with a fibreglass finish (I assume), the second was a Takamine acoustic with gloss finish. Don't think the Mr Sheen hurt the electric, but over the years the Takamine has not fared well.. cracks, greying of the finish etc.. could just be age, but..

I wouldn't do it again... listen to the Light!

Cheers
 
Actually my first post may have been misleading sorry light. By "wood polish" I actually mean furniture polish, and it turns out I don't have any anyway so I may as well get a proper little guitar cleaning kit when I get some new strings today.

For the record though, is furnature polish a good or bad idea?
 
Furniture Polish is the same thing. Most of them contain silicon. Avoid them at all costs.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
you're supposed to polish a guitar?

I just play the fuckers
 
jimistone said:
you're supposed to polish a guitar?

I just play the fuckers
Click to expand...

or, as pete townshend said when he was asked about the dozens of guitars he had wrecked on (and off) stage : "i'm not in love with them, i just fucking play them!"
 
I don't know if this is to be recommended, but I once used carwax on an electric bass that I bought used and needed serious cleaning. It worked a treat! I've also used 0000 steel wool on the frets where they were starting to show some corrosion (after removing the strings and putting some masking tape either side of the frets). They now look like new!
 
Is that what the young'uns now adays are calling it? 'Polishing your guitar'? I was a bigger fan of 'polishing the rod'.

Refering to waxing and polishing techniques for classic automobiles, of course.
 
pennylink said:
I don't know if this is to be recommended, but I once used carwax on an electric bass that I bought used and needed serious cleaning. It worked a treat! I've also used 0000 steel wool on the frets where they were starting to show some corrosion (after removing the strings and putting some masking tape either side of the frets). They now look like new!
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No need to tape the fingerboard before you use the OOOO, that is what we use to clean fingerboards. A little mineral oil, or some lemon oil, and your fingerboard is clean and well protected (on rosewood or ebony boards, not on maple). And car wax shouldalso NEVER be used on a guitar. It also, frequently, contains silicon. Automotive polishes are usually abrasive, and though we use them while buffing out a guitar, they are not something you should use for polishing and cleaning at home.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
No need to tape the fingerboard before you use the OOOO, that is what we use to clean fingerboards. A little mineral oil, or some lemon oil, and your fingerboard is clean and well protected (on rosewood or ebony boards, not on maple). And car wax shouldalso NEVER be used on a guitar. It also, frequently, contains silicon. Automotive polishes are usually abrasive, and though we use them while buffing out a guitar, they are not something you should use for polishing and cleaning at home.


Light
Click to expand...

Light - a couple of questions:

- Is 0000 steel wool available from hardware stores, or where do you get it?

- generally speaking, how often is it recommended to perform the steel wool treatment? I bought my used PRS in '98, and the guy at the store gave the frets a steel wool treatment, but it hasn't been done since. I haven't noticed any buildup of anything, though. And I hit it with lemon oil occassionally.

Thanks
 
Hey Light,

What would you use to clean about 25 years of accumulated club induced nicotine off a guitar? The so-called "cleaning polishes" are not even in the ballpark.

Thanks.
 
jfrog said:
Light - a couple of questions:

- Is 0000 steel wool available from hardware stores, or where do you get it?

- generally speaking, how often is it recommended to perform the steel wool treatment? I bought my used PRS in '98, and the guy at the store gave the frets a steel wool treatment, but it hasn't been done since. I haven't noticed any buildup of anything, though. And I hit it with lemon oil occassionally.

Thanks
Click to expand...
You can probably get 0000 at any hardware store, but you need to make sure it does not have any oil in it (much of it does). You can get good 0000 at any woodworker’s store, such as Woodcraft, or Rockler Hardware, both of which are national chains. You should do this no more than once or twice a year, but every two years is also just fine. Basically, when it is dirty.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Frank Story said:
Hey Light,

What would you use to clean about 25 years of accumulated club induced nicotine off a guitar? The so-called "cleaning polishes" are not even in the ballpark.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Bioterra Powerchord (see link above) and a lot of elbow grease.

I would use my buffing wheel, but you don't have one, and you are not familiar with its use. It is very dangerous for the inexperienced. It can throw your guitar to the ground and break it in two before you even notice it is happening. And I promise you, that sucks.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
If the SG has a gloss finish I would suggest going to your local music store and buying a bottle of Dunlop's Formula 65, it is a little bottle with a pump sprayer. You don't need too much, but use a soft cloth and work it over the surface, with patience it brings a gloss finish up to a mirror shine.

:cool:
 
ausrock said:
If the SG has a gloss finish I would suggest going to your local music store and buying a bottle of Dunlop's Formula 65, it is a little bottle with a pump sprayer. You don't need too much, but use a soft cloth and work it over the surface, with patience it brings a gloss finish up to a mirror shine.

:cool:
Click to expand...
You know, we tried that, and a bunch of other products, when they changed the formula of the Kyser polish (which was great, until they changed the formula), and none of them (not even the old Kyser formula) were as good as Powerchord. But you are absolutely right about the work and patience. That is what it takes to get rid of all that crud, or, as they call it on the side of the Powerchord bottle, skank. Around the shop, we call it Skank Off, or Skank-be-Gone.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I haven't found the Powerchord available locally, so a couple of months ago when we had a number of recently imported guitars to clean (prior to selling them), I tried out the Dunlop and was very pleased.

:rolleyes:
 
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