Do I Need Guitar Cleaning Products - Guitar Question #14

Описание: So, the question is: Do I need Guitar Cleaning products? Or alternatively, what are the best guitar cleaning products?
There are several ways in which the first question can be answered. Let’s start with the simple one: No, you don’t need any specific guitar cleaning devices or items. You might as well use what you find in you cleaning closet, however, you will have to be careful of what types of cleaners you are using in order to prevent your guitar from getting damaged.
So, let’s first look into what some of my students refer to as home guitar cleaners. What they mean is, any products they can use that doesn’t cost them any additional money, but they will likely already have somewhere at home. For the guitar strings you can use something like Windex. It works great. The only thing you need to be aware of is to not spray the cleaner directly on your instrument. Instead, spray it on a cloth or rag and then wipe down each string one by one. Avoid that the cleaner comes in contact with the fretboard or other parts of your guitar.
Another one of my favorite guitar cleaning household products is Murphy’s Oil Soap. It works great on the fretboard and the body of the guitar. The only issue is that you need to give it time to fully dry. Use these household guitar cleaners sparingly. Less is more!
So, in order to save money, as I mentioned above, you can totally use regular cleaners to use your guitar. With all that being said, special guitar cleaning products do have their place. And I use them too. Here is what I usually share with my students as my favorite guitar cleaning tips if you want to use these special products:
First, get yourself a bottle of Gibson’s Pump Polish. It works great on the body and the backside of your guitar’s neck. Use it sparingly, buff it in until it’s completely dry and you will be amazed how sparkly and shiny your guitar looks. A bottle is less than $10 and it will last a long time. Also no need to worry if you get it in contact with the hardware on your guitar, it doesn’t do any harm.
As far as the fretboard is concerned, I highly recommend Music Nomad Fretboard Oil. It is absolutely amazing. Not only does it clean the fretboard but it also protects it. Again, you only need a few drops and after your down with the application, your guitar will play like butter. Guaranteed!
For the strings, I’m still using the good old Windex instead of a special string guitar cleaning product. And to be honest, at this point I am changing my strings more often than I did in the past. So instead of cleaning them, I just replace them after a month or two.
That’s it. So again, in sum: do you need special guitar cleaning products? No, you can certainly clean your guitar with regular household cleaners. But guitar cleaning products can be very useful and they are actually not as expensive as you may think.