How To Clean A Rosewood Guitar Neck

Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes

Cleaning your guitar'south fretboard isn't one of the well-nigh desirable jobs in the world. About of united states of america just desire to get on with playing and when presented with the option of cleaning your guitar or playing, it's pretty obvious which the majority of us would cull. But keeping your fingerboard clean isn't just for cleanliness sake, it does have a practical benefit too.

So what are some bones rules for keeping your fretboard in good nick? Well outset it's best to note that rosewood, ebony or night wood fingerboards should be treated slightly dissimilar to maple fingerboards. More of that later just there are a few other tips nosotros can all practise to aid our cause.

If you look afterwards your guitar's fingerboard, it will look after your playing too. Believe information technology or non a dirty fingerboard tin hamper your technique and in plough your tone. All the sweat, clay and oils released through those hours of playing are transferred to your strings. In turn these make their way onto the fingerboard creating a build-up of nasty crud. If left this becomes pasty over time so sliding effectually the neck and strings isn't as easy or pleasant as it should exist! In some extreme cases it can eventually rot a fingerboard and go in between the frets and fretboard joints – not good! If it's not removed sooner rather than later information technology tin can cause a whole host of headaches over fourth dimension.

Jim Dunlop Polish Cloth

A soft, clean, dry rag ran over the strings after you lot've finished playing will usually suffice. Cotton T-Shirts or cotton wool cloths (as pictured to the left) are commonly the best for these jobs.

If you actually wanted to become a step further you lot can use a dedicated cord cleaner. Something similar Planet Waves XLR8 String Lubricant Cleaner or GHS Fast Fret would be a good choice. Some other neat fiddling bit of kit is The Swipe. After you lot've wiped your clean rag over the tops of your strings, run this nether the strings and this will become rid of whatever nasties that have made their way to the underside of the strings.

If yous really wanted to go one step farther, y'all could slacken off your strings. This volition give you enough room underneath the strings to access the fingerboard and requite this a skillful in one case over with your cloth too.

If you tin can make a addiction of cleaning your strings after playing, not only will your fretboard be grateful, your strings will retain their life and brightness for a lot longer too. Win-Win!!

Rosewood / Ebony and Dark Fingerboards

If your rosewood or ebony fingerboard isn't in too much demand of a complete overhaul, a clean damp (definitely not sopping!) cloth and a good for you dose of elbow grease may be enough to dislodge the grime that's sitting on your fingerboard.
However, if you discover yourself with a particularly grimey fingerboard you may desire to take some extra measures in cleaning some of that muck off. If the dirt has become difficult and stubborn to remove y'all may have to use a defended cleaner to help penetrate the dirt sitting there. We have establish the Jim Dunlop Fretboard Cleaner to be a good choice. The Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes are also a nice production. They come in neat fiddling sachets and are swell for a quick single apply… just don't clean your fingers with them afterward your KFC!

Information technology's e'er best to apply any spray cleaning fluid to a clean cloth first and so to your fingerboard. Directly spraying onto the fingerboard isn't a huge issue, but only avoids you applying as well much.

Now it'south time to get to work and become rid of all that build-up of crap that's been sitting at that place for god knows how long… Rub the board to clean it using a soft, clean rag (once again a cotton fabric or cotton T-shirt will do merely fine). You lot'll often discover that a lot of the dirt will tend to accrue around the edges of the frets and fretjoint (join where the fret meets the fretboard). Something like a toothpick or a cotton wool wool bud is ideal for accessing this tight piddling spot and getting rid of those concluding bits of clay (Not a flathead screwdriver – you know who you are!).

Rosewood and Ebony boards aren't treated or sealed with any lacquer so will occasionally need an awarding of oil to ensure that they stay hydrated. Applying a small corporeality of lemon oil to a soft dry rag and in turn to the board will ensure it shouldn't dry out. It's not essential to do this every time you clean your board, only when it looks a bit dry and has lost it'southward night rich colour. An excessively dry out fingerboard tin fissure and also lead to shrinkage. Y'all'll know if your board has shrunk as when you run your paw up and down the neck you lot can experience the frets hanging over the edge and they feel precipitous confronting your hand. The key heating in our houses can certainly play a big office in drying out the wood in our guitars.

At present's the time to buff upwardly those frets!…

To bring the shine dorsum to your frets, many people will use soft wire wool. The 0000 grade stuff is the only steel wool to utilise here as anything else is just besides abrasive! Some luthiers will actually employ the 0000 wire wool to clean a rosewood fingerboard also. This grade of wool is actually quite gentle and won't damage the fretboard if used sensibly.

All the same, if you are using this to simply bring that zing back to your frets, nosotros'd always recommend using a low tack (less gluey) masking tape on your fretboard to avert making whatever unnecessary marks in the fretboard.

Planet Waves Fret Polishing System

Planet Waves make their own fret polishing textile which I personally apply (come across correct). In the package they besides provide a neat trivial template that you tin can use to finer frame your fret and prevent yous from rubbing your fretboard also. Definitely a good time-saver over using using masking record.

If you can't be faffed with all this malarkey, you may exist interested in a product called Gorgomyte. This Fret and Fingerboard cleaning and conditioning cloth tin exist used to clean your frets and your fingerboard. It was developed by The states luthier Jimmy Johns. It makes the job so quick and considering it's dual purpose (cleans both fretboard and frets) there's no need to mask off your board when you want to make clean your frets. Non to mention, it can exist used on maple fingerboards too…

Maple Fingerboards

There seems to be a lot of products out on the market tailored to looking after fingerboards made of rosewood or ebony but inappreciably anything for maple so we're often asked by our customers how they should clean their maple fingerboard.

Maple fingerboards are typically lacquered and this acts as a seal so essentially we just demand to be concerned with doing away with all that dirt. They shouldn't be scraped or rubbed with 0000 wire wool as this can remove the gloss finish. Lemon Oil is not recommended to exist applied to maple fingerboards either.

Depending on the corporeality of dirt built upwards on your maple fingerboard, you may merely demand a lightly clammy (not sopping) clean rag and elbow grease to dislodge the dirt. If the clay is a piddling bit more than stubborn (or the one-time tennis elbow starts to give you some jip) yous can dip a soft dry rag in something a lilliputian stronger. Famous Us repair man Dan Erlewine recommends lighter fluid (naptha). Information technology'south a not bad degreaser for your fingerboard but use sparingly and be very careful of this making contact with your skin or eyes. Don't exercise what Jimi did… he went a chip bananas when cleaning his fretboard…

Jim Hendrix Monterey

Another culling would be servisol foam cleaner. Apply a pocket-size amount to the fingerboard to permit it loosen the clay, and so simply wipe it away. Simples!

Smoothen also is used to clean maple fingerboards. If you exercise use a smooth exist sure to avoid anything that contains silicone as information technology really isn't all-time friends with lacquered finishes.

Once yous've given your lath a good clean you can movement on to the frets (as directed above). When you lot polish the frets upwardly, if yous are using 0000 wire wool it'due south always a skillful idea to ensure the wool doesn't make contact with your maple fingerboard. Every bit mentioned previously, the wool can remove the gloss stop. To avoid this, it's best to use a template (like in the Planet Waves Fret Polishing System) or mask off the frets using a low-tack masking tape. Ensure it'south low tack you use equally annihilation with a bit more tack can damage the lacquer when being removed.

Over again, if all this sounds like a bit too much piece of work, the Gorgomyte Cleaning fabric is always a great option. It'due south non-abrasive and can exist used to make clean your maple fingerboard and frets making it a super quick task!

Gorgomyte Fret and Fingerboard Cloth

We hope that this has given you some insight into looking after your fretboard a bit more. It might seem a bit of a boring job but something that shouldn't be overlooked when looking after your guitar.

As always if you're always unsure of how to make clean your guitar or desire any advice, just drop united states of america a line and we'd always be happy to assist where we can.