Guitar Cleaning Myths Answered

Everyone today we are going to debunk some rumors or

myths

about

guitar

maintenance maintenance. This all comes from questions I received on get to know your team on gmail.com. You can click the link below if you want to send me the question and the first one was can you clean your

guitar

with water? and the answer is yes, yes you can. The trick is you want to make sure you use a clean cloth, clean water and when you pour it over the cloth you want to wring the cloth until it's just damp and you can use it to clean the body of the guitar if it has a finish and you can use it to clean a finished or unfinished fingerboard again, very slightly damp to the point where it has enough moisture to maybe move a little bit of dust or dirt now keep in mind there are two things: one, after using a damp cloth, you want to make sure to use a dry cloth to dry anywhere there is moisture and unfortunately water is not very efficient at removing oils and the dirt that gets into oils so although it works in a pinch it won't be your best option .

Can you use vinegar to clean your guitar? Yes, as long as it's distilled vinegar, that's very important. It should be distilled vinegar, it won't hurt. the finish of a guitar, if it is refinished every time you work with unexposed acoustic guitars, like unexposed and unfinished woods, you don't want moisture around, don't use too much and use it sparingly and I would also clean it once that you have finished. Can you use olive oil? This is actually a question I've been asked many times and the answer is absolutely no, you can't. First of all I wouldn't use it because it's going to rot, it's actually going to break down over time it's not good it also gets sticky and dirty it's just not very good and I wouldn't use it on any part of the instrument can you use it well Windex?

That falls into a whole category Windex 409 Pine Salt and the answer is no don't. I don't use any of those cleaners or cleaners because they usually contain abrasives or chemicals that can react badly with some of the guitar finishes, but the most important thing is that the abrasives in them will damage the finishes on the guitars so I would stay away from Pine Sol 409 when you use almost all those all purpose cleaners to stay away from them guitar polish goes bad and this is a yes/question no and what I mean is that it can go bad, but keep in mind that guitar polish is basically made up of water, alcohol, fragrance and sometimes silicone, and it depends on the type of polish it is, but most The important thing is that those things don't spoil, but they can't be separated from each other, so if you ever open the polish and see floating pieces in it or what looks like maybe it's going bad, just shake it or mix it better again, sometimes you can just mix it, stir it or shake it, what I will tell you is this, if you are doing that and you have stirred and shaken the polish and it still looks a little weird separated.

I would go ahead and throw it away. It's not a good sign, but it shouldn't be ruined. It will separate, although silicone is bad for the finish of your guitar, especially the lacquer finish of your guitar, and the answer is no, in fact, yes. It is sometimes used to apply those finishes or already on those finishes, so it won't hurt at all many times the repairman will tell you that it is bad because it can cause problems when they repaint the work on your guitar, it causes what is called fish eye , but there is a product called fisheye flux, this additive can be added to the finish and it will fix that problem, so although it is a small problem, I don't think you should worry too much about it, even if you think that one day your guitar will need something.

Repainting work, the main thing you want to focus on is making sure you don't have a buildup and that happens as a kind of wax buildup and the way you stay away from that is very simple, use a cloth, a clean cloth. and. what you want to do is apply the polish to the cloth, either by spraying it or by rubbing it on there, make sure you put enough where it feels like the cloth is wet so that it has enough friction to pick up the dirt and material and then just wipe the finished that way and then what I recommend when you're polishing a guitar is to use what's called ten to one;

In other words, you should clean your guitar at least 10 times at a time. you polish the guitar, so what does that mean? When you finish playing guitar at a gig and you're sweating all over the guitar, take a dry, unfinished cloth, either cotton flannel or microfiber, and wipe the guitar dry. and clean with the finish, think of it like dishes when they are dirty when you just have something you put fresh in the sink, it has everything but it comes off easily with water and just a little bit of abrasion when it has dried. and caked in your pantry, think of your guitar like this when you're playing, when you stop, that's when you take a dry cloth and wipe everything down, you're going to get most of the dirt, oils, and material off the guitar, off the finish. removing the strings from the neck and polishing is something you are going to do as maintenance, in fact if you do it right you will rarely have to polish your guitar, too much lemon oil will ruin your fretboard, well the first part not talking about oil of real lemon, we are talking about fretboard conditioners, there are some here, this is lizard saliva, it has orange oil in it and a lot of times when they talk about orange oil or lemon oil, they are talking about a scent like specifically lemon oil , they are talking about a scent added to the conditioner and it doesn't actually have lemons in it, sometimes with orange oil like what is in this lizard saliva, it does have real orange oil in it and it used to be like the abrasive.

When removing dirt from conditioning, a fretboard conditioner is a bit like removing dirt from the fretboard and then moisturizing it, so the question is whether this will damage the fretboard, especially if you use the first one too well. The answer is important: Martin Guitars recommends that you not use lemon oil on their guitars, so you should definitely check each guitar manufacturer's specifications on what they think you should and shouldn't use for that particular guitar. think that when used in moderation and in the correct way it does not damage anything and what do I mean by that you should not condition a fretboard such as rosewood or ebony more than twice a year and you should not use it on maple at all you can use lighter fluid or wd-40 to clean a guitar and the answer, believe it or not, is yes.

Both guitarists and guitar luthiers around the world use lighter fluid to clean frets, it is a very common practice, so you can use lighter fluid to clean your fretboard and also wd-40. I wouldn't put it on your fretboard, but I can tell you what I use it for. I have been using wd-40 for years to remove all the sticker residue. I found it very, very easy to do and I use it to remove the same thing, like you have the plastic when you remove the plastic from the pickguard and the clear plastic and sometimes it leaves a residue.

Again I used to be 40 The way I do it is pretty simple now again, you'll notice a theme here that I will always tell you to do it this way. This is D ox it, but I needed to illustrate it so I knew what would do. spraying just a little bit on a cloth and that's how I apply it to the guitar. If you notice, the reason I keep saying to apply things to the cloth is because I want to control how much of the chemical is on the guitar and where it is applied. -40 works perfect you can use it to clean the guitar some people asked can you use w4t to lubricate or clean the electronics can it be done I don't recommend it I definitely recommend if you are a guitarist buy a can of dioxide I have been using dioxide for years it is very expensive If it's something you think is too expensive for you, you can go to auto stores and get an electronic component cleaner, it works just as well, it's a fraction of the price.

I have also used it for many years, but there is something about the Ox that I trust, so I will always recommend the Ox. What do I use to clean strings? There are three ways to clean a guitar string, first, using strings. cleaners with isopropanol this works great and there is nothing wrong with this you put it on a clean cloth and wipe the strings you can also use isopropyl alcohol it works just as well and I never had any problems and you can boil the strings that's it That's exactly it, just You put them in boiling water and clean them too.

Some musicians boil the strings before putting them on the guitar. I'm not a big fan of that, but of course I have no problem with it. It does the same thing as string cleaners, it eliminates it now the question arises why you would clean your strings well. There are a couple of reasons, believe it or not, one because your strings get filled with oil, dirt and grime, they muffle the acoustic sound. So some musicians like shiny strings, some strippers like dead strings, but believe it or not, a lot of musicians clean their strings because they don't like the smell their fingers have when they play the guitar.

I know this sounds crazy, but it's true. If you play guitar and feel like your hands smell like garlic, believe it or not, it's actually more common than you think. Many musicians complain that their hands smell like garlic after playing the guitar strings and if they smell like garlic. your hands from the ropes wash your hands then rub them on anything stainless steel like a stainless steel sink or countertop or even a spoon or civilian tableware and then wash your hands one more time and that should alleviate the smell and it's one of those stuff Right now, many of you think that you have never heard of such a thing and some of you will say that it is so and of course some of you have actually had the problem so I thought I would share it. one that is out there for sure and as always I want to thank all the returning viewers for coming back and watching the channel and as always I want to thank you for your time and of course remind you that you know your team.