Do you know how to clean your guitar and its fingerboard? Amalia Ramírez teaches us how to do it through this article and a video from our YouTube channel that we will leave at the end.
How to clean your guitar?
It is very important to be careful with the cleaning of the guitar. For the soundboard, the top, the sides, the back… never use any product that could be abrasive.
Only use products that are specific to guitars, and even then, be very careful about which products are used.
Some time ago, a guitarist came to us with a guitar with a badly damaged varnish he had been using a specific product for guitars, however, it damaged the varnish of the instrument.
When using a guitar cleaning product, use the chamois to spread it out until it is completely absorbed.
We use products that we know work well, such as those from Dunlop, but in any case, it is not advisable to use them frequently, only when the guitar is really dirty.
If the guitar only needs a little cleaning, it is sufficient to use a microfibre cloth, which cleans the surfaces of guitars very well.
Beware of varnished guitars
Never use alcohol on guitars varnished with gomalac. Alcohol should not be used in general, but less so in the case of the die-cast ones, because alcohol is the base of the French polish and if we apply it to them we will destroy the varnish.
How to clean the tuning fork?
To clean the fingerboard of your guitar, you will need the following:
- Neck support.
- String winder to change strings.
- Strings separator.
- Chamois.
Now, the steps you need to take to clean it, in addition to the video, can be found here:
- Place the guitar horizontally on the neck support.
- Place a protective cover over the top to protect it.
- Loosen the strings.
- Separate the strings.
- Move them to the sides of the nut.
- You can place a thin piece of wood in the sound hole of the guitar so that there is enough space to leave the fingerboard free.
- Use a wood scouring pad to clean dirt and grease on the fingerboard.
- Spread the oiled cloth all over the fingerboard.
If the fingerboard is very bad, or very worn, use a specific wood scouring pad. Not just any scouring pad.
The fingerboard is cleaned with a little oil and a cloth. If it is very dirty, a blunt stick can be used to avoid scratching the surface, and the edges of the frets are cleaned. Then wipe with an oiled cloth.
We use a sewing machine or bicycle oil, but there are also specific oils on the market for wood, do not use vegetable oils.
And of course, never use furniture products because they will destroy the varnish on the guitar.
Now we leave you with the video in which Amalia explains the details of how to clean your guitar, and where Cristina Ramírez shows us how to perform each of the steps to clean the fingerboard.
