1977 Telecaster just delivered. Do I clean or leave it as it is?

Wolfetone

I have just taken delivery of a 1977 Tele and it's in good order. 

It certainly needs a clean but it looks quite good with finger gunge around the frets and a bit of crap in the ashtray. My inner OCD is insisting upon complete disassembly and assembly.

What's the protocol? Clean or leave?

koneguitarist

Clean!

Iamnobody

Clean! I have guitar OCD they don't make it into the house from the garage until I've cleaned em...

camf

Dirty!

koneguitarist

Part of the fun of an old guitar is to take it apart and mess around cleaning it etc!

VimFuego

clean. IIRC, it was through dirty fretboards that the black death was able to kill almost 50% of Europe. .

Deadman

I'd clean it and fettle it. Who wants to handle other people's gunk?

ICBM

Clean, always.

Unless the dirt belongs to someone very famous.

… no, even then I'd still clean it.

breadfan

Clean it, you filthy dirtbag! 

richardhomer

Clean - anything else is insanitary.

xmrchi

Pics or it didn't happen :-)... Def clean, let the natural wear do the talking not somebody else's bodily cast offs :-)

Evilmags

Clean it. Guitars covered in smeg are horrid.

Adam_MD

Clean it.

Travisthedog

Leave

jd0272

My go-to's are absolutely fckn minging. But that's ok as it's only me and the kids that rattle 'em, and it dissuades others. And I'm bone idle.

mart

Clean, and use pedals to make it dirty.

meltedbuzzbox

clean, clean and clean some more. 

You dont want all that gunk on your fretboard

stonevibe

Urinate on it and mark it as your own.

The proper Alpha Male way to deal with any situation really.

Wolfetone

Thanks for the advice guys. I think that it'll be in bits by this time tomorrow.

The guitar has had a refret and the lacquer has obviously been disturbed on the fretboard edges. What's the opinion? Do I very slightly re-lacquer the ends and take down with flatting paper or just leave and put it down to the life of the instrument? Anyway, some very dimly lit photo's;

ToneControl

As well as leaving someone else's dirt being disgusting,
it will play better when clean - use lemon oil, polish the frets too - plays smoother and faster

They didn't make them covered in fillth, so there's nothing authentic about muck, unless it's your own

ICBM

I would re-lacquer it to stop any chance of flakes lifting and acting like little razor blades as you slide your hand down the neck.