Cleaning an acoustic

robwright

I've just bought a very lovely Kinkade acoustic that looks like its previous owner has slowly disintegrated while playing it! It has a fairly disgusting build up of gunk on the fingerboard and the body (everywhere, in fact!). It is an oiled finish (no lacquer) so my question is, how do I clean the various parts? I recently bought an old Lorenzo acoustic in similar disgusting condition for my daughters to learn on and I used diluted malt vinegar (as I wasn't too fussed about a £25 guitar) but is that too harsh for my beloved Kinkade???? If vinegar is OK, is it malt or the clear stuff and what is a safe dilution ratio?
Ta

RaymondLin

Lemon oils perhaps? I would not use water!

richardhomer

Don't use lemon oil on an oiled finish.

Get a warm damp cloth, rub it on some ordinary facial soap and gently rub the guitar clean.

Use another slightly damp clean cloth to wipe the gunk off.

I would deal with the fingerboard in exactly the same way and condition it with lemon oil when it's dry.

jollytunes

Ugh. Sounds pretty disgusting. Probably going against received wisdom but if it was mine I'd be tempted to re-oil after stripping the crud, which sounds like a horrific combination of the finish and natural body oils, which will have softened the original finish. Naptha (lighter fluid) is a popular choice for fingerboard cleaning, what effect it would have on the guitar body is open to experimentation. Decorator's sugar soap also makes an effective degreaser on oiled finishes. Don't forget all degreasers will also strip your own natural oils, so keep covered and ventilate well/wear a suitable mask when using solvents.

Some people use a linseed-based oil for finishing, like Tru-oil, but tung oil appears to be what the pros use.

Paul_C

Dan Erlewine used to recommend lighter fluid (naptha) for fingerboard cleaning - I've used it, and it certainly does the job (though I have also scraped gunk off fingerboards with a stanley knife blade).

viz

Uncooked rice for the inside.

bobblehat

richardhomer said:

Don't use lemon oil on an oiled finish.

Get a warm damp cloth, rub it on some ordinary facial soap and gently rub the guitar clean.

Use another slightly damp clean cloth to wipe the gunk off.

I would deal with the fingerboard in exactly the same way and condition it with lemon oil when it's dry.

+1  "Simple" brand soap ,unperfumed  etc works a treat . Also good for cleaning  Leather! 

robwright

Thanks guys - I feel confident enough to have a go! Will report back : ))