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10/12/2004 1:24 am
I just bought a new acoustic guitar and forgot to ask the salespeople. How do I clean it? I'd imagine the fretboard my get kinda of dusty/dirty after I play it for a couple months? So what is the proper way to clean a cherry wood guitar? Can I use a damp cloth? Or will that ruin it?
10/12/2004 1:44 am
An old 100% cotton tee-shirt will work fine. Old as in when it's clean but really soft from use. You can cut it up into squares and use one piece for wiping down the strings - using your fingernail to get the cloth under the string - and then inserting it crosswise between the strings and fingerboard and using a sort of back and forth sawing motion, like shining your shoes - parallel to the frets - to get the finger oils and whatnot off the fretboard.
You can devote another piece of cloth to gently wiping down the top and sides (especially where your strumming forearm rests on the upper-rear bout), the back and the back of the neck.
Once in a great while - like maybe every six months or so - during a string change (not to say you should only change them twice a year, but it's just more convenient), you can apply a little lemon oil or some other type of fretboard cleaner to the fretboar, let it stand a little (five-ten minutes), and then wipe it off. You don't want to get lemon oil on your new strings (or any strings) because it soaks into the windings and deadens the string prematurely.
Other than that, you can sometimes spray a little guitar polish on the body and the back of the neck and polish it that way. Usually, if you remember to wipe the guitar down after every playing session, it'll stay nice and shiny.
You can even put another piece of that cloth in your guitar bag or case to wipe the strings down if you're at rehearsal or on a gig.
Hope this helps.
Take care. :)