As you play often, your guitar is likely to accumulate sweat from your hands and body, dust and dirt from the environment, it therefore needs proper cleaning from time to time. When cleaning or polishing a guitar, a soft cloth is the ideal best thing to use. Guitar manufacturers usually provide special cleaning cloths for guitars but if you cannot afford that, a 100% cotton cloth would work just fine. Its a bad idea to use paper towels, tissue or baby wipes because it can scratch and cause weird markings on a guitar’s finish and also leave a lot of lint/fiber. While cleaning, some particular spots or stains like fingerprints might not go off completely with the ordinary 100% cotton cleaning cloth, the solution to this is to do the exact same thing you would do to a blurry mirror: blow some breath closely on the exact portion of the blurry surface, then wipe off with the clean cotton cloth. The purpose of doing this is to add a little moisture to the surface, you can also mix a little detergent and water and dip the cloth in it (don’t make it too soapy), after cleaning thoroughly, use another dry cotton cloth to wipe off extra moisture on the guitar.

There are different types of cleaners available for guitars in the market, before you use any one, ensure you have sufficient details about what type of cleaner it is, also take a look at the type of polish you have on your guitar, so you can determine the best possible cleaner for it.

BEFORE YOU CLEAN YOUR GUITAR: –
? Clean your hands thoroughly – It’s important, especially if you have sweaty palms or have just come in contact with dust, grease or dirt. You can use soap and water  or just drop a blob of hand sanitizer in your palms and massage.

? Carefully remove the strings – This is optional, it’s not compulsory, but doing it will make it much easier to clean the body and fretboard without the strings posing as blockades or obstacles.

? Thoroughly clean the fretboard  Use a damp, soft cloth to clean the fretboard, you can use lemon oil to re-hydrate.

? Brighten the guitar body with a guitar polish – Your guitar’s finish may be gloss or matte. For gloss finished guitars, apply some guitar spray polish onto a soft cotton cloth and clean thoroughly. For matte finished guitars, there’s no need for a guitar spray polish, a soft dry cloth will suffice.

EXTRA TIPS
* Wipe the bridge, strings and neck often with a fiber-free cloth.
* Clean metal parts clean with a soft, dry 100% cotton cloth.
* Clean the body of your guitar with cleaning agents made specially for guitars; avoid using any other harsh cleaners on it.
* Avoid using glass cleaners, cleaners with ammonia or cleaners that contain abrasives or silicon in them. Use cleaners that are strictly for guitars.

How do you clean your guitar? Let me know in the comment section below⬇⬇⬇

0 Shares:
1 comment
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like