How to Clean a Guitar 

Dan Erlewine Saliva in 2 oz bottles: $76.82

my dudeski went from talking about the life of the strings to cutting them off

Thank you for taking the time to share this .. much appreciated 👍🎸

I always do a general clean up (including checking the electronics and wiring too) everytime i change my strings, it helps to maintain your sound too.. Stay clean ♥️

Where can I get some "Elbow Grease"?

Thank you! I’m changing my ways and this has a lot of great information ☺️

Any time y'all use a steel or brass wire wheel or brush make sure to wear glasses. As unlikely as it may sound, the wires will sling out while using. They seem to have an almost uncanny ability to zero in and go right in your eye. I've worked in the ER for over 20 years and we get several patients a year with wire bristles from wire wheels and even hand wire brushes impaled in their eye.

Great video This will be so helpful to so many people I like to brush off the dust first with a shaving brush instead of using a cloth It prevents you from making fine scratches in the finish due to rubbing dust particles into the finish

Thanks for debunking the pine-sol myth and making a simple guide for beginners as well as tried and tested methods for experienced players.

Thanks for the video, i was looking to clean a guitar i haven't used in one year. The body has some kinda film on it, probably cigarette smoke? I think i'll try warm water and micro-fiber towel first

He did a good job. He summarized an entire book chapter in a 5 minute free video. Please fix your butt if it hurts

Thanks for the tips .

Helpful tips! And a good reminder that I should probably clean my guitars...

This young man did a fantastic job!

Great video Steve!

This is very good advice!

Anyone know the most effective way to clean dark discoloration on binding? This question was asked on the Les Paul Forum.

Wow! Great tips!

Help! I have a 25 year old Takamine guitar with a cedar top and I think a satin finish. I haven’t cleaned it for about 20 years and the top has a thick layer of smudge. What is the best way to clean off the smudge and restore the finish?

What if I want to clean the decorative tape on the side of a Danelectro? I have a 60s Silvertone 1448 body, and I don't want to accidentally remove the tape with water. Then again, I already got it pretty wet; it was painted over, and I sanded the non-original paint off.

Excellent video 👍

I have been cleaning LOTS of dirty guitars over the past few months and appreciate this video. 👍🏻 I use a warm water/vinegar mix to wipe down the guitar. Seems to work great to neutralize funky odors and remove dirt.

Excellent!!! 🌟

Great video

Can I use surgical spirit and/or witch hazel to clean guitars with?

So Ok to use a small amount of water on a sponge to clean the fretboard?

Anyone knows which guitars were used in the video?

Always have a cloth to wipe strings from above and below. Whenever I do it, the strings remain shiny, and when I don't the strings corrode pretty fast. I have sweaty palms.

What is the best way to clean gold plated pickups without taking the plating off?

Spit is a good cleaner. Nice electra, BTW

Did that red one even have a finish?

Hey what guitar is that at 0:26? It's beautiful

Best guitar polish? Spit and elbow grease. Maybe bit of boiled linseed oil on fretboard very occasionally.

If you're a little low on spit, will snot do in a pinch?

What about cleaning deep dirt in the cracks in the finish? How do you get those out without further making the situation worse?

That Electra was a wonderful surprise!

my strings are coated in dirt and grime and my pickup where I palm mute is absolutely coated as well rip

A new 4” paint/chip brush does wonders for cleaning and dusting.

Oh boy! The question mark tone!

When u play a very long concert live such as Nightwish live in End of An Era. the band get really sweaty and that sweat could land on their instrument making them very dirty and messy. So I always wondering how do u clean up instruments? Like the Guitar. it has an inside that u not really get access to, and if u want to clean the guitar how do u get inside of it? Are u forced to get off all the strings and use some spray or vaccum, coz I dont think u can fit ur fist inside the guitar in order to clean it. It feels it needs some kinda technic and skill to do that. And then what about the other instrument. A piano may take a long time coz its very big. Drums may take times coz there so many stuff on it u have to take off and clean from inside out.

i’m just trying to find a video about cleaning my guitar and this beautiful ass dude shows up wtf

I love Stew Mac. I just bought a gallon of saliva and a 10 pack of used credit cards from these guys

On the dremel, will the bras brush leave scratches?

Silly question, can you use the credit card method on a maple fretboard? I'm assuming no, because it's abrasive.

I hate watching people who cut guitar strings when they could give them to the the poor, homeless and buskers. Bad move. Else this is one of the better ones about guitar maintenance that I've watched today. Thanks

How about Murphy Oil on an unfinished neck?

Can you use naphtha on ebony fingerboard?

Hommie said spit on it!! 😂

Please be my guitar-tech but no saliva use haha 🤣 Thank you soooo much for this!!

Have strings in a box from thirty plus years ago. never throw strings away. Use Gibson Guitar polish, use your deep method on old basket case guitars. After every use, focus on the fret board and neck, strings and pickups and bridge. I just make a lot of racket, organized noise within the scale..........Thanks.

Well shit, glad I watched this video *after* I wiped down my guitar with Windex lol

Never hurts to put some latex gloves on so no prints get on the guitty.

Do one on how to tune a guitar.

hey man i like your hair

Seems like an add for cleaning agents

So no carbunaea wax?

If you need just a tiny bit of a gentle but effective solvent to remove a bit or grime or adhesive from a label or something, here's what you do? Rub your finger in that little corner where the side of your nose meets your cheek. It will pick up a bit of oil which seems to be similarly effective to naptha. Then use that finger to rub out what's bothering you.

Saliva

I dont play in smoky clubs, im not good enough.

Saliva? Haha

This guys looks like James Blunt and Andy Samberg had a child haha

I will never mess with the body whatsoever. Last time i cleaned the body it lost its character on my 62 reissue. Ill rub out major issues but will never polish that guitar again. Plus I like the look and feel. I know I'm wrong but I don't care. And hey... what about PLEDGE on a fingerboard? Asking a question...don't try and sell me a product unless you can give me pros and cons. After 25 years of playing and owning and still own damn near every guitar I have I just don't feel comfortable taking advice from someone whos probably younger than my newest guitar. No offense. Im stubborn in my ways. Thank you.

I wasn't really reday for that Sal-lai-va

Where i can get a saliva

Deoxit

How to properly clean your wood guitar.

He says he wants to give it a shot making buff & polish videos to put on RU-vid. I told him, I can't subscribe to that. What will the neighbors think?

Need to vacuum that guitar good before anything else lol

I cringed when he started rubbing the steel wool directly on the rosewood. D:

Whoops, i havent cleaned my guittar in 2 years :$

let me guess you have some product to sell about cleaning a guitar

With those awkward gestures I wonder if the lad dropped out of mime-class :D

I almost always wash my hands before playing even at the guitar shop and wipe the guitar down after I play

Erick Coleman son?

1:51 wtf?

dont use lemon oil

#neverclean

Folks, don't let this video fool you. I dare anyone to find a dedicated brand name guitar polish these days that contains silicones. Virtually every Guitar Polish on the market say on the bottle "Does Not Contain Silicones" or "Silicone Free". It's practically a mantra for a polish maker to quote this somewhere on the bottle, even though silicones haven't been used in good, brand name guitar polishes for decades now. This SM Preservation Polish is very good for certain instances where normal guitar polish isn't doing the job on a delicate nitro finish, but it's undoubtedly overpriced for most applications. Consider the StewMac Clean & Shine for most general cleaning or better yet, Tone G' Wax (virtually impossible to get) Aerosol Polish. A can of G'Wax will literally last you many years. It is the last aerosol guitar polish available in the USA. It is made by the same company, ChemPak, that unfortunately brings you Finger Ease (crap), but the poilish is truly excellent. I have used it on literally thousands of guitars over 4 decades. It's great polish that when used with a COTTON polish cloth, like the StewMac cloths (NOT Microfiber) works incrediblly well. I buy it buy the case! Guitartec Repair.

1:52 Uh....

I’m never the guy who dislikes a video but cleaning your guitar with saliva is disgusting I rather leave my guitar build dust for 5 years

I never play without washing my hands first. 😑

good video but , i don’t leave my guitars outside so there isn’t any dirt on them

I would never use modern lemon oil on a fretboard as its a petroleum based product. Linseed oil is fine and is far better for the environment and the instrument than synthetic oils.

saliva, seriously? disgusting. I use rubbing alcohol, but always cautious with different surfaces

You need another guitar to clean urs lol

Stomach

This kid looks like he smokes to much smoke

He cut the strings!!!!

Saliva?????????????!!!!!!!!

Dont use spit.

👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👊🏼🥋

Come on dude please dont use lighter fluid

I'm sad that this video had to be made.

That 'finish' on that red guitar is hella ugly. It looks like it was stripped from an old leather couch after being farted on for a few decades.

Why the hell did he think including saliva was a good idea for pro instructional video. If spit is all you have, you better just wait till you can find water and not be a gross savage. That guitar is so beat it needs a paint job not just a cleaning and polishing.