Best polish for a nitro finished guitar

[dspellman]

Originally Posted by Tone Loco

Interesting. I've used ronson lighter fluid to clean strings and even get gunk off of tolex so I know its a good solvent, but never thought to use it on guitar haze. I'll have to give that a try. I have a 53 L4C that has an area with lot of that stuff and I just sort of rub on it now and then with my thumb, seems to work but its kinda hard on the thumb too..

My very first guitar was an ES-335 12-string ('67) that had been abused a bit. The owner originally bought it to do Byrds stuff and then decided to pull the octave strings off and use it as a standard ES-335. He eventually traded it in for something else (don't remember what, now) and it languished in the used bin for a while and the owner was actually going to trash it. Sold it to me for $75, but wouldn't let me take it out of the store until I was done paying for it (he was cheap, I was broke and even $75 was significant money in those days).

The guitar was covered with gunk including bubble gum and who knows what else, and it had a ding or two (a notable one on the side where the headstock meets the rest of the neck). Naptha helped get all that off, and naptha also helps get old wax off the guitar if you need to do that. Try it out in an inconspicuous place first, of course <G>. Here's the guitar now, missing one E string (the case is gibson, but was essentially cardboard and has fallen apart). This guitar went to Vietnam with me and has been around the world at least twice since then. It's been played like a sumgun, has ultralow action and an arrow-straight neck. There's some mild vertical checking that really isn't visible in these shots. All original.

[dspellman]

Originally Posted by Tone Loco

I have a 53 L4C that has an area with lot of that stuff

Oooh, nice! The old L4C, that is, not the "stuff." I have a '49 (I think) or '50 ES-175 that's nowhere near as nice; one of the old single-pickup P90 versions. It has little collector value at this point, though. This was another pull from the trash bin (literally, in this case) and was a freebie. Someone had sanded it completely down to bare wood when I found it and there was a 1" x 3" hole in the side where the output jack used to be. No hardware, no pickup (eventually found the pickup for it from the guy who'd owned it, but the hardware was long gone), but have the original case, of all things. I had the hole repaired in '77 and the guitar was refinished at the same time in the same burst as the 12-string, above. The guy did a nice job, but lacking a pickup for it at the time, we decided to go with a DiMarzio humbucker. A great player, though there's some significant fretwear at this point. The finish (nitro) on that one's had 33 years of seasoning now, but it's still excellent. I'm sort of proud of the fact that it was saved from the landfill and has had a lot of years as a nice-sounding guitar...

[spence]

Buy some Meguiars #9 Swirl Remover and thank me later........

[tsfullmer]

Redland Music Products has a line of cleaners, waxes and lemon oils that was specifically designed to be safe on vintage guitar finishes. They contain no silicone, solvents, or detergents. Even the lemon oil has had the citric acid extracted.

Use the lemon oil to soften up the grime then use the cleaner to wipe it clean. Works great.

www.redlandmusic.com

[tbonesullivan]

Naptha is good, but kinda flammable. I use the Gibson Pump Polish, and have been pleased with the results. It seems to be good at getting rid of hazing, and also helped really bring the shine back to the pickguard on my Heritage H-535. It also leaves the guitar looking "cleaned" but not "waxed". Also, it has been specifically formulated for nitro finishes.

I'm not knocking the virtuoso stuff, but I don't see what makes it radically better than the other treatments out there. I also use the "preservation polish" from Stew-mac, and while some complain about the smell, I have never complained about the results, which are just awesome. It's a great cleaner, and doesn't leave any kind of coating on the guitar to attract dirt and such.

[MBreinin]

Originally Posted by Azfarrier

Maybe lighter fluid and Johnson wax will do just as well I don't know and don't plan on finding out. I'm always surprised when people will spend thousands on a guitar and then try to save $20 on its care. Doesn't make sense to me but if it works for someone else more power to you.

Always amazes me when someone worries about polishing guitars and treats them like furniture. Play it, wipe it off, let it age.

Mike

[The Golden Boy]

I used to love the old Martin polish- after they stopped making that- I used the Gibson stuff for a while... I'm at the end of my last bottle.

[rmconner80]

The virtuoso stuff is great - but it's literally a polish. The cleaner and polish are like machine polishes - i.e. they have grit and are for leveling the surface by subracting material. I need that once a year, tops. The rest of the year I just need to clean the sweat and any residue from the rehearsal or gig off the guitar. I try to use just a clean rag but usually I need some type of light solvent other than water, for which I use the Gibson polish. I guess naptha would be better but I just never bought any.

[nodata2000]

Originally Posted by MBreinin

Always amazes me when someone worries about polishing guitars and treats them like furniture. Play it, wipe it off, let it age.

Mike

[shadco]

Smiths Pro formula Polish

[SackvilleDan]

Originally Posted by dspellman

My very first guitar was an ES-335 12-string ('67) that had been abused a bit. The owner originally bought it to do Byrds stuff and then decided to pull the octave strings off and use it as a standard ES-335. He eventually traded it in for something else (don't remember what, now) and it languished in the used bin for a while and the owner was actually going to trash it. Sold it to me for $75, but wouldn't let me take it out of the store until I was done paying for it (he was cheap, I was broke and even $75 was significant money in those days).

The guitar was covered with gunk including bubble gum and who knows what else, and it had a ding or two (a notable one on the side where the headstock meets the rest of the neck). Naptha helped get all that off, and naptha also helps get old wax off the guitar if you need to do that. Try it out in an inconspicuous place first, of course <G>. Here's the guitar now, missing one E string (the case is gibson, but was essentially cardboard and has fallen apart). This guitar went to Vietnam with me and has been around the world at least twice since then. It's been played like a sumgun, has ultralow action and an arrow-straight neck. There's some mild vertical checking that really isn't visible in these shots. All original.

Good God that's gorgeous!!!!

[Eric Pykala]

65 for maintenance, Virtuoso once a year. Yeah, naptha and car wax works too.