Do you have an old acoustic guitar that’s been sat on the guitar stand for too long? Maybe you’ve brought a second-hand model or got your old friend out of storage. If so, it’s important to know how to clean an old acoustic guitar. Leaving a guitar untouched for a while can cause it to gather dust which settles down creating a sheet of thin gritty dirt on the surface. Along with dust, other unwanted gunk can age your guitar such as skin oil, spilled drinks, food crumbs, and much more. Here we’ll show you how to clean up an old acoustic guitar. Let’s go!
How to clean an old acoustic guitar
Many guitarists just wipe their guitar with a cloth and think the job is done. What they don’t realize is that the dust creeps into all the nooks and crannies of the guitar which cannot be wiped off with just a simple brush of cloth. You also need to clean old guitar strings too. You need to sit down for a good hour or so and thoroughly clean your guitar till it shines like a new car in a showroom.
Steps to transform an old dirty guitar into a brand new masterpiece
Step 1: Gathering all the materials
You might not consider this step as being that important but this allows you to sit down in one go and clean your guitar without procrastinating as you have all the materials in front of you. Therefore, start by gathering everything and then sitting down and cleaning your guitar. You will need a cloth, a spray bottle with the mixture of detergent and water, any drying oil (linseed oil, walnut oil, etc.), guitar polish, and last but not the least, a buff cloth if you have a guitar with shiny finishing. Before starting to clean your guitar, you could remove the strings as that would make the process easier and quicker.
Step 2: Dust the guitar
Start cleaning your guitar by gently dusting the neck and body, and then dust off the front, sides, and back. It is recommended to thoroughly dust your guitar every 1 to 3 months.
Then move on to dusting all the tight spots on your guitar which includes the area around the pickguard, the bridge, and the area that joins the headstock with the neck.
Step 3: Cleaning the tuning keys
To remove the oil and dirt from the tuning keys, spray your cloth with detergent water and rub off all the gunk.
Step 4: Deeply clean the fretboard and bridge
This is where you start paying attention to the small crevasses. Take a semi pointy object such as a pencil and wrap it with a cloth and use that to clean the edges of the fret where dust settles and piles up becoming hard to clean.
You could also use a Q tip to reach the hard places. After this, you can take your drying oil and apply that on a cloth and over the fretboard in circulation motion allowing it to rehydrate. Do the same thing for the bridge. Oil using circular motions until the wood absorbs it all up. If there is excess oil wipe it off with the cloth.
Step 5: Cleaning the body of the guitar
Spray the detergent water onto the cloth and never directly on the guitar as that’ll make the wood damp. We want to damp the cloth and use that to clean the surface of the body.
Step 6: Polish
Finish off cleaning your guitar and making it look new as ever before by polishing and buffing it out. There are three main types of polished you could use; water-based, creamy polish cleaners, and lastly the fine abrasive ones. You can use any type of wool cloth to polish your guitar. Depending on the age of your guitar and what type of finishing it has, select an appropriate buffing compound that doesn’t over remove the finish.
There you have it, a few steps that can make your dusty old guitar looking all new again.
The do’s and don’ts of cleaning a guitar
When cleaning your guitar there are a few important tips to keep in mind that’ll prevent you from ruining it.
- If you have a guitar with satin finishing never buff or polish it as it will end up making your guitar look uneven and blemished.
- Do not use glass cleaners or any other abrasive solution that contains ammonia. It’s recommended to stick to solutions that are specifically made for guitar cleaning to be on the safe side.
- If your guitar has a nitro finish and vintage, keep in mind that it’s a normal thing for it to age and lose its color and develop a shine. You want to stick to just dusting it and only removing the bare minimum as the natural patina adds to the value of the guitar.
- You could buy guitar-specific cloth for polishing but if you have a 100% cotton shirt, that’ll work as well and get the job done.
- When cleaning your guitar, remember the idea is to have minimal moisture. Therefore, stay away from spraying directly on the wood of the guitar.
How to clean an old acoustic guitar – FAQs
Is polishing your guitar harmful?
It is believed that cleaning your guitar is more beneficial than polishing it. This is because a lot of the finishes on a guitar do not benefit from polishing or waxing it. It’s more of a cosmetic option rather than a functional one. The polish gathers and eventually dulls the sound of the guitar over time. Moreover, if your guitar has cracks in it, there are chances that the polish tarnishes the wood.
Is using lemon oil okay for cleaning the guitar?
This has been the debate for years, whether lemon oil is good or bad when it comes to how to clean an old acoustic guitar. The truth lies in what you mean when you say lemon oil as that is usually used as a generic description. The answer all likes in the strength and purity of the oil you use. Using 100% pure, full-strength lemon oil which has been extracted from the peel of lemons is a BIG no. On the other hand, you can use lemon oil products that have a very tiny amount of actual lemon oil.