How To Clean Your Guitar - Beginner's Guide To Cleaning Fingerboard, Frets, Body & Hardware

Sam gives us a crash course on how to give your guitar a deep clean, so it looks and feels like new again!

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Intro: 00:00
Cleaning Products & Preparation: 00:45
Fingerboard & Frets: 01:57
Body: 04:44
Hardware: 07:10
Keeping Your Guitar Clean: 09:23

In this beginner's guide on how to clean a guitar, we take an in-depth look at how to give your guitar a complete deep clean to bring it back to looking it's best. We show you how to clean the neck, fingerboard and frets, offering advice on what products (such as lem-oil) are safe to use on various types of woods and finishes.

We offer advice on the best polishes to use and the best methods for cleaning polyurethane, nitrocellulose, satin and matte finishes, and show you the easiest ways to rejuvenate your guitars hardware. Plus, once you've cleaned your guitar, we'll give you a few tips on how to keep it that way!

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[jaredgijoza]

As someone who’s recently purchased their first guitar, and a dirty guitar at that, this video was a complete lifesaver man. I appreciate it, keep on the good work.

[cmoxe]

*GUITAR MAINTENANCE*
What we need
- Microfiber Cleaning Cloths
- Soft Paintbrush
- Steel Wool
- Guitar Polish
- Fretboard Conditioner
- New strings
- Winder/Cutter aka Tools

To start make sure to put guitar on a firm surface
Put mat, and neck holder.
Take out strings
Make sure to wash hands
Cleaning fingerboard and frets
Can use steel wool to take out guck on fretboard, slight pressure. Polish frets. Wipe off any dirt with cloth and water
Dark fingerboard use lemon oil, rub it in fingerboard. Let it soak in and take off excess oil.
Maple fingerboard can use steel wool ligjt pressure or wet cloth
Lacquered fingerboard use a dry or slightly wet cloth.

Cleaning body of guitar
Plyurethane.
Dust off with paintbrush
Use guitar polish. Put a couple squirts and rub body. Use dry side to buff polish in guitar.
Nitrocellulose lacquer use little polish and use light pressure
Satin and matte finish use a clean dry cloth, you may use damp cloth and rub it.

Cleaning hardware
Bridge most important area. Brush off dust. Use guitar polish abd wipe off afterwards. For rusted area can use wd40

[CR-zhxj]

This is the most concise, informative video I've seen for cleaning my acoustic guitar. I wasn't too sure about tackling this project, until I watched your video. Thank you so much!

[SammyBones]

Conditioning fretboard is the one thing that many people miss. As a guitar tech, I condition fretboards pretty regularly.

[lastgrungestand]

I remember the first time I went to England... I was more excited to see PMT and other guitar shops rather than the tower of london or any other tourist attractions haha. At that time it was very rare to see in my country any top line guitar as Custom Shop or Gibson custom, so I was in heaven haha

[jamesweber]

Little emphasis to a really important point--your HANDS. Just ate, especially greasy, messy foods--wash your hands. Just woke up, wash your hands. Extended playing/practice, wash. Be careful to not over wash your fingers, fretting & pick. Care for those callouses!

This one of the most comprehensive tutorials. Thank you!

[donlessnau]

Sam is really superior to most everyone else out there. Regardless of the topic, he presents great info in a clear, concise presentation without all the idiotic bullshit and yelling from so many other assholes on the Youtube. Great job. Well done. Thanks Sam.

[gedwalls]

Invest in graded abrasive cloths to polish the frets. When bending notes you'll notice a huge difference to playability. It's time consuming but worth it.

[xaviervansteen]

Now that`s quite the "workbench" you`ve got there!

[percythrower]

Fantastic vid! Really helpful. I'm so inspired I'm off to my local PMT first thing tomorrow!

[TheRetronator]

I would suggest avoiding steel wool. I've heard many reputable sources say that fine steel wool particles can potentially destroy pickups.

[Chaseki]

Probably the best video when it comes to cleaning your guitar. Good job!

[xavierg]

Recommend covering the pickups with masking tape when using steel wool. Particles of the metal can stick to the pickups and the magnetic properties can screw up the pickups

[xxcxpl]

One of those days I'll also be casually refering to an Orange amp as a workbench ... One of those days 🤘Good vid, thx

[RollingPunches]

GREAT instruction. Everything I was looking for. Thank you!

[johnholloway]

Howdy from Texas!...Great tips, Sam! We could all use this!

[sudan]

Best guitar cleaning video on YouTube!!

[kryptic]

thank you for this. many people focus on a single type of guitar and do a simple job on the video. you covered almost, if not all finishes. great video

[kmil]

Great video, so much useful information! I wish I saw that earlier.

[e-man]

I have heard that wd-40 can be used in place of Fast Fret. Keep in mind the cautions given in this video about getting wd-40 on your finish. Anyway, my Fast Fret would dry out even with the lid on, and we know it's very expensive. So I spray a little wd-40 on my used Fast Fret applicator, let it soak in, and then apply to strings. It has worked great for lubrication and preventing rust, and I haven't had any problems with the finish on the fret boards. Remember to only use a little to keep it off the finished parts of the guitar.