Back of the neck cleaning and silicone..

skunkwerx

What do you guys use? 

Inspired by a recent thread I did some googling, and found that my go to cleaner (Dunlop 65) contains silicones, though depending on where you read its either trace amounts to 5%..

Now I've always heard silicone is a bad thing to put near a guitar. Is this purely because it can make future repairs/glueing/refinishing near impossible, or are there other reasons?


Some guys say it can eat finishes, or if it finds its way into the wood, it can undo the finish or glue joins.. 

I've never been concerned, though two of my guitars have maple fretboards, one a fender with a satin poly finish, one an Ibanez RGD with God only knows what kind of finish. 

Usually on these guitars I'll use the Dunlop 65 to clean both the fretboard and also the back of the neck, as I find through playing the necks gum up a bit in certain areas, and requires more than a wipe down to get slick and nice.. 
Probably my own problem as I have extra dry hands so need to use hand moisturiser, namely cocoa/shea butter, which probably gunks up the neck itself. But theres piss all I can do about that. 

I'm most concerned about the Ibanez, as its a lovely guitar but I'm no finish expert and I don't want to cause long term damage by using the 65 cleaner/polish. 

Its finish appears thin, no where near a thick fender glossy maple board, and almost to me at least feels a bit natural. Surely it must be finished, but with oil? A very thin satin Poly? Its a £700 RGDIX6MPB, the board is birds eye maple and the back of the neck Is maple/purple heart. 


I've emailed Andertons to see if they can advise as I can't find an Ibanez contact for the UK. Anyone got any thoughts?


I wondered about switching to the Fender custom shop polish as they state its silicone free.. Though if the Dunlop 65 stuff indeed contains silicone, I guess its on the guitars good n proper now anyway....

merciful-evans

soap and water

Corvus

Silicone is bad news when it comes to repainting. Won't damage paint, it is in wax after all, but can be a nightmare to repaint. Very hard to remove. Changing to a new wax won't change that.

Andyjr1515

I make guitars and I buy guitars.

And for my bought guitars, I often use Dunlop 65 to keep them clean.  I don't use it on the fretboard, though because of the silicone content.

There's a lot of mixed up understanding about silicones (which I will probably add to rather than dispel   )

With experience from running powder coat paint plants, my understanding is that the problem with silicones is not that they react with cured glues, such as PVA or epoxy.  It is that NOTHING pretty much will stick to them! 

They are pretty unreactive so, in my view and understanding, will not attack cured glues or finishes.  

However, they act like an eternal 'water off a duck's back'.  So if, say, you had some bare wood and that was contaminated with silicone, then it would be pretty impossible to paint over it - even primer just won't bond to it.  Nor will glue be able to create a full strength bond to a surface contaminated with silicone - either with PVA or epoxy.

So as a guitar builder, I don't knowingly use ANYTHING containing silicone.

So why don't I use Dunlop65 on a fretboard?  Well, the same reason.  Most of my guitars and basses have unlacquered fretboards.  So the fretboard treatment soaks in.  So anything containing silicone will allow the silicone to soak into the grain and then it will reject anything else you are trying to use as an alternative unless you scrape it back to bare wood and start again.

So to summarise, I think Dunlop 65 is a good product - effective and very easy to apply and buff off - and I have no problem using it on my lacquered and varnished bodys and necks.  But I would not use it on fretboards or oiled necks and bodies where it might soak into the wood itself.

Just my own view and experience

Sassafras

I've gone WD-40 contact cleaner mad recently. It cleans absolutely everything.
It smells like isopropyl alcohol but I suspect it contains something else that improves its cleaning ability.
Doesn't leave any marks at all.

TINMAN82

Andyjr1515 said:

I make guitars and I buy guitars.

And for my bought guitars, I often use Dunlop 65 to keep them clean.  I don't use it on the fretboard, though because of the silicone content.

There's a lot of mixed up understanding about silicones (which I will probably add to rather than dispel   )

With experience from running powder coat paint plants, my understanding is that the problem with silicones is not that they react with cured glues, such as PVA or epoxy.  It is that NOTHING pretty much will stick to them! 

They are pretty unreactive so, in my view and understanding, will not attack cured glues or finishes.  

However, they act like an eternal 'water off a duck's back'.  So if, say, you had some bare wood and that was contaminated with silicone, then it would be pretty impossible to paint over it - even primer just won't bond to it.  Nor will glue be able to create a full strength bond to a surface contaminated with silicone - either with PVA or epoxy.

So as a guitar builder, I don't knowingly use ANYTHING containing silicone.

So why don't I use Dunlop65 on a fretboard?  Well, the same reason.  Most of my guitars and basses have unlacquered fretboards.  So the fretboard treatment soaks in.  So anything containing silicone will allow the silicone to soak into the grain and then it will reject anything else you are trying to use as an alternative unless you scrape it back to bare wood and start again.

So to summarise, I think Dunlop 65 is a good product - effective and very easy to apply and buff off - and I have no problem using it on my lacquered and varnished bodys and necks.  But I would not use it on fretboards or oiled necks and bodies where it might soak into the wood itself.

Just my own view and experience

Not sure why anyone would attempt to polish a rosewood fretboard (with any kind of guitar polish) anyway to be honest.

Gibson pump polish for me, but only out of the old orange bottle.

Wonky

Sassafras said:

I've gone WD-40 contact cleaner mad recently. It cleans absolutely everything.
It smells like isopropyl alcohol but I suspect it contains something else that improves its cleaning ability.
Doesn't leave any marks at all.

I've got some of that in the cupboard, so I might give it try on something now you've said about it.

HAL9000

For back of the neck? An old tee shirt - no silicones (or anything else for that matter),