Your guitar care ritual?

Gritstone

Historically I've neglected my guitars and never given them any regular TLC barring new strings, setup tweaks as required and the very very rare application of car polish to the body. They've never seen a drop of lemon oil or similar... 

I'm looking to rectify the situation and start giving them the attention they deserve, but baffled by the array of products out there.

So curious what other do to keep their guitars in tip top condition, what you use and how often?

stickyfiddle

Guitar Honey for fretboards, micro mesh to polish frets. Spit & elbow grease for bodies. That's about it tbh!

JD50

Rub the body with an old t-shirt and scrape the gunk off the fretboard with a bank card when I change strings.... use dunlop lemon oil every couple years.  That's about it.

Tenebrous

The only thing I'll go out of my way to do is use a humidifier for my acoustic.

prlgmnr

When I feel the need for some care I buy myself a guitar.

fastonebaz

I lay mine down on a flat surface and lovingly massive polishing cream into the front side, then flip over and massage further, paying particular attention to all the cracks and crevices. 

Oh wait,  guitar you say

terada

New strings every year or so 

Cols

Strings off first obvs.  If the frets are tarnished or pitted, cover the fretboard and pickups with masking tape (apply first to a piece of fabric to take some of the bite out of the adhesive).  Polish each fret with 600 grit sandpaper, followed by 800 grit, then 0000 steel wool, and finally Brasso wadding.  Polish the Brasso off with a clean cloth and remove the masking tape.

If the fretboard has a buildup of gunk, I use a straight edged razor blade (very carefully, not keen on the idea of a scalloped neck) to remove it.  Whether or not you use lemon oil depends on the fretboard material.  Unsealed materials like rosewood and ebony need a spot of lemon oil every now and again to prevent drying out; maple, on the other hand, is sealed and doesn’t require anything more than a damp cloth.

For lacquered bodies, a wipe and polish with Dr Duck’s Axe Wax.  I have one guitar with a plain neck and body (Washburn N4).  It gets a wipe down with a damp cloth, a rub of 0000 steel wool on the back of the neck if there’s any buildup, and an annual coating of tung oil.

Any friction points (nut slots, saddles, etc) get the tiniest squidge of Big Bends Nut Sauce.  Not cheap, but one tube lasts forever.

grungebob

When I first get Them I oil the  boards but after that I pick up play and put back as is. 

skunkwerx

I do mine as and when. I get them set up one time and usually they play fine for years lol. 

Every few months I'll tape the pickups off, and rub 0000 steel wool to smooth and clean the frets, lemon oil the rosewood board or use dunlop 65 polish for maple boards, string up, clean the body and back of neck with the same dunlop 65. 

Realistically any polish to the body will shine it up for a little but it will quickly be worn off where you contact the guitar. You could put a wax layer over it to protect it like a car, but meh, its a guitar, they dont see the elements as much unless you gig.

Cols

On the other hand, if you’re into that relicing shit:

Give the guitar a damn good thrashing with a length of motorcycle chain.
Rub soot (steal a bag from your local chimney sweep) into any bare wood.
Corrode the metal parts with muriatic acid.

But seriously, don’t do this.

robgilmo

Guitar care? Wassat  then?

JDE

1) Do not let eldest son touch it.

That’s it. 

The apple-of-my-eye has trodden on two acoustics (going through to top and back!), broken the headstock off a Tokai, snapped a few machineheads off and caused a substantial amount of “heavy relicing.” To everything I own but very often guitars.

Now all I have is a maple boarded poly finish guitar, so I dust it if I have to and wipe the crud off the frets if I have to. 

JerkMoans

Rub walnuts on rosewood/ebony fretboards. Messy fun

axisus

Some of mine have a case. Some of them.

Roland

I change strings every couple of gigs, at which point I might wipe off fingernail dust. Everything else is as and when required. Neck relief and action change with the seasons, and necks get adjusted twice a year, but only on the guitars which are currently being played. I never polish guitars.

SNAKEBITE

Wipe down and fastfret the strings after every session.

Every other session I use a paintbrush to get rid of dust, it doesn't build up then.

Long term I give them a polish, never use lemon oil though. Instead I use the fret oil, much better.

Musicwolf

For me re-stringing is like painting the Forth Bridge.  My sweat is so acidic it's like the creature in the Alien movies.  If I have a new set of strings on before a gig then, by the time we're packing away, they're like rusty barbed wire.

Strings off.  If it has a trem then I'll wedge something between the back of the trem and the body before slackening the strings (beer mat or a piece of rubber depending upon the clearance),  Clean the crap off the neck.  Lemon oil if required on a rosewood neck, just wipe with a cloth for maple.  Whilst the strings are off I use a duster and elbow grease (no polish) to clean the bits that are normally difficult to reach and I use a 1/4" paint brush to get any debris out of the bridge.

New set of strings, maybe some nut sauce, stretch the strings, tune up, wipe over the body (still no polish) and I'm done.

prowla

My ritual is pick it up, play it, put it down.

A quick wipe with a cloth if it's a bit dusty, and that's it.

thegummy

To those who use nut sauce - when exactly do you put it on?

I find if I put it on the nut and then thread the strings through and tune up, the part of the string that was on the nut moves up and I wonder if it leaves enough behind in the slot.

Also, those who use it and also are less frequent string changers - do you still only put it on at string change or more often?

thegummy

prowla said:

My ritual is pick it up, play it, put it down.

Hate that last step.

Also known as having to go to bed or work.