Guitar care advice needed

  • Thread starter Thread starter CrystalSky
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thisguy said:
Yes. Something like that. A light pass once in a while can really help.
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I am just a little bit hesitant to use moist/wet solutions to be honest.

JackBootedThug said:
I hit mine with my dremmel and some metal polish. I prefer the liquid to the rue that came in my dremmel kit.
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I have the dremel too, but that is a nightmare for me to sand the fret more than needed. I won’t find peace if I did that lol
 
rsm said:
Ernie Ball microfiber polish cloth. I use cotton rags (old white undershirts) with the polish, and only use the polish on gloss finishes. The polish cloth I use to wipe down the guitars after playing, satin and gloss finishes.
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Gotta get myself some proper polish cloth too. Just to get an impression of what I need to look for, because there are different microfibers present at the wholesale market.
 
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CrystalSky said:
I am just a little bit hesitant to use moist/wet solutions to be honest.


I have the dremel too, but that is a nightmare for me to sand the fret more than needed. I won’t find peace if I did that lol
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just use the soft buffing wheel attachment....works great on glock's also....
 
CrystalSky said:
I couldn’t find a nice thread on this topic and decided to start one.

Where I am at we don’t have the luxury to try a lot, so tell me what you guys use on a regular basis and can recommend.

Last year my brother got me F One fretboard conditioner/oil from Music Nomad and it seems everybody likes it too.

This year the problem of polishing frets hit me, and after some research I decided to just get 3M polishing sheets which are yet to be found, as I can’t find anything close to 8000 grit among what they offer here. Micro Mesh seems to be a little bit questionable with their grading and much more expensive. Any thoughts on this?

I also stumbled on some string lubes, bot on Music Nomad and Lizard spit. Anyone uses these? Does one actually need them?

Talking about lubes, there are also nut lubes from both companies. I used pencil to do this, as it is that same graphite and always at hand, but want to hear your experience.

I need to decide what to ask my brother to bring me this time. Would be very glad if you help me.

All other product suggestions and experience are welcome here. Thanks in advance to anyone who chimes in.

P.S.- what above the nut string dampeners you use? Need to get myself one.
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Lemon oil and pencil lead/Vaseline mix for nut lube.
 
thisguy said:
This isn't wet. It's a dry cloth that you rub with to polish. No chemicals added or anything.
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Really? Miracle cloth has some kind of oil, so you might be talking about something else then.

JackBootedThug said:
I use a special gun lube when I remember. It is the greatest shit ever....
this is the company but apparently they have 3 different products now. Whichever one they sent me a sample of but it is killer for nut lube. best shit ever. I used their products in my diesel when I had it.
https://www.all4shooters.com/en/shooting/accessories/archoil-lubricant/
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You like guns it seems. I would love to have some too. No handguns and ARs for us sadly.
 
For polishing frets I use a piece of 3000 grit sanding foam pad I got at the auto parts store. I have a set of metal fret guards to protect the fret board. I then hit the frets with Nev-R-Dull, about $8 a can and it will last you for a decade. My frets are SS and they end up looking like Tiffany's jewelry when I'm done and they are a slick as an ice skating rink.
For the fretboard I use gerlitz guitar honey about once a year. My fretboard is ebony so I don't need to give it much oil that often, I just like the way it looks after a light application of oil, but I know it's not actually doing anything healthwise to the wood.
 
I run a dremel with a small felt wheel and some jewellers rouge. Does and amazing job!
I do this daily for customers guitars and they come out like mirror shine.

You have to be very cautious doing this as the frets will heat up. You develop a touch for it when you do it a few times.
I use the Music Nomad fret shields as well. No taping needed.

Any way I can do my job better with more efficiency and great results is what I strive for.
Must be doing something right because I am never not busy!
 
CrystalSky said:
Really? Miracle cloth has some kind of oil, so you might be talking about something else then.


You like guns it seems. I would love to have some too. No handguns and ARs for us sadly.
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Looks like the Miracle Cloth has coconut oil. Sorry.

I looked on Amazon and some silver polishing cloths have chemicals added and some are just dry cloths. Mine is just a dry cloth. It works well if the frets aren't real bad and you just want to do regular cleaning.
 
I heard lemon and other "food" based oils can get rancid and start to stink in time?
 
rsm said:
I heard lemon and other "food" based oils can get rancid and start to stink in time?
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Are there any food based products at all? What we call lemon oil is flavored mineral oil. But natural organic oils ofc can get rancid.

Unacceptablenorm said:
For polishing frets I use a piece of 3000 grit sanding foam pad I got at the auto parts store. I have a set of metal fret guards to protect the fret board. I then hit the frets with Nev-R-Dull, about $8 a can and it will last you for a decade. My frets are SS and they end up looking like Tiffany's jewelry when I'm done and they are a slick as an ice skating rink.
For the fretboard I use gerlitz guitar honey about once a year. My fretboard is ebony so I don't need to give it much oil that often, I just like the way it looks after a light application of oil, but I know it's not actually doing anything healthwise to the wood.
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Yeah, I want to get sandpaper/polishing sheets. Easy, no mess, can’t break anything.

It has been years since I applied any oil to my ebony fretboard. So far so good, but I decided why not if it doesn’t hurt?

PBGas said:
I run a dremel with a small felt wheel and some jewellers rouge. Does and amazing job!
I do this daily for customers guitars and they come out like mirror shine.

You have to be very cautious doing this as the frets will heat up. You develop a touch for it when you do it a few times.
I use the Music Nomad fret shields as well. No taping needed.

Any way I can do my job better with more efficiency and great results is what I strive for.
Must be doing something right because I am never not busy!
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You got the skill for that. I don’t. Got to play safest for now. But I believe it works like a charm, as I used to polish others things that way.
 
I think Miracle Cloth has coconut oil plus some volatile refined oils; it smells like Pina Coladas in a machine shop.
It's impregnated with just enough to get the job done but does not feel wet to the touch.

For polishing guitars the commonly used microfiber cloth is not ideal, especially for nitro finishes.
It can hold grit and cause scratches so fine you only notice them later when you look closely in bright light.
A poly finish is much more durable, but IMO leftover scraps of soft old T-shirts are the best for any finish.
 
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rsm said:
I heard lemon and other "food" based oils can get rancid and start to stink in time?
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Yes, I wouldn't advise using any food oils on a fretboard, especially not lemon oil.
It contains limonene which is a penetrant and can weaken the lignin that makes wood solid.
As mentioned above, 'lemon oil' made for wood is actually lemon-scented mineral oil.
 
eclecticsynergy said:
I think Miracle Cloth has coconut oil plus some volatile refined oils; it smells like Pina Coladas in a machine shop.
It's impregnated with just enough to get the job done but does not feel wet to the touch.

For polishing guitars the commonly used microfiber cloth is not ideal, especially for nitro finishes.
It can hold grit and cause scratches so fine you only notice them later when you look closely in bright light.
A poly finish is much more durable, but IMO leftover scraps of soft old T-shirts are the best for any finish.
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Thanks for clarification.

What about string lubes, strig fuel etc? Tried them?
 
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