Cleaning gunk off fretboard

lincolnblue · May 2023

I have some Montys wax I want to put on some guitars but, from lots of playing, some have gunk stuck to the fretbords. Are razor blades the best thing or is there a safer way to scrape the gunk off?

SimonC · May 2023

An old credit card is a bit safer than a razor blade, both for fingers and fretboards.

bertie · May 2023

smokers tooth brush

BillDL · May 2023

I always start by trying naptha-based lighter fluid, but on a heavily gunked board that sometimes would need a lot of fluid and a lot of rags and rubbing because it evaporates quickly. Some people use fairly netral degreasing domestic cleaning products and a nail or tooth brush, and wipe it off before it soaks into the wood, but I generally don't like water-based products near exposed wood on my guitars. A safer scraper than a metal razor blade would be to try first with something like the sharp edge of a bank card or similar, but it's hard to get a sharp edge in close to the fret edges - often where most of the grime accumulates. As long as you keep a razor blade vertical or leaning slightly so that the sharpe edge is dragging rather than pushing, there isn't a significant risk of you digging into the board. If you have a board with some "patina" from age that you want to preserve, but need to remove actual gunk, then there would be less risk of scraping the patina off and taking it down to fresher wood with a plastic scraper. Always use the blades with the rounded metal protector over one side. A Stanley blade would work and has a safe side.

elstoof · May 2023

Cut the credit card so you’ve got a nice sharp point to get into corners

Sarge · May 2023

a toothbrush with the bristles cut short and mineral oil /lemon oil.
always works beautifully for me, the oil dissolves the gunk while "renovating" the board.

GuyR · May 2023

elstoof said:

Cut the credit card so you’ve got a nice sharp point to get into corners

There will be the added benefit of preventing you buying another bloody guitar

GuyR · May 2023

GuyR said:

elstoof said:

Cut the credit card so you’ve got a nice sharp point to get into corners

There will be the added benefit of preventing you buying another bloody guitar

Sorry, wife found my log in details

imalrightjack · May 2023

0000 steel wool does the job well.

OilCityPickups · May 2023

imalrightjack said:

0000 steel wool does the job well.

But mask your pickups on a non removable neck guitar - steel wool plays absolute havoc with them.

GoFish · May 2023

Step1) Create controversial thread

Step 2) Wait for vigorous debate

Step 3) Purge the heretics

Step 4)Profit?

In cae it was actual guitars you were talking about, credit card, toothbrush, naptha, water, oil, - all do a job. Do not use milk or oats or isopropyl or hand gel or Fairy liquid. Personally, unless it's the jungles of Vietnam out there I'll just use damp cloth and elbow grease with a good album on in the background. The frets themselves do benefit from polishing etc.

Mask your pickups in any event when using steel wool imo - magnetic pickups and flakes of ferrous material go together like....

elstoof · May 2023

Out of curiosity, how does tiny bits of steel wool stuck to a pickup affect the sound?

p90fool · May 2023

bertie said:

smokers tooth brush

Do you ask if you can borrow it or just sneak into their bathroom?

GoFish · May 2023

p90fool said:

bertie said:

smokers tooth brush

Do you ask if you can borrow it or just sneak into their bathroom?

Wait until they're done with it of course!

elstoof said:

Out of curiosity, how does tiny bits of steel wool stuck to a pickup affect the sound?

Dunno. Hardly at all I'd think. Neither would tiny specks of shite, but I'm not going to stuff the pickup cavitites with excrement and do a double blind test.

GoFish · May 2023

Someone totally should do this and report back. Youtube goes mad for this type of "scientific" content. Does anyone know Jim Lill?

bertie · May 2023

GoFish said:

elstoof said:

Out of curiosity, how does tiny bits of steel wool stuck to a pickup affect the sound?

Dunno. Hardly at all I'd think. Neither would tiny specks of shite, but I'm not going to stuff the pickup cavitites with excrement and do a double blind test.

https://www.lollarguitars.com/blog/2016/03/pickups-and-steel-wool-an-amicable-separation/#:~:text=This can result in shorting,in the close proximity altogether.

Bod · May 2023

I use this stuff, it's great.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/liberon-wax-polish-remover-clear-500ml/5854f

BillDL · May 2023

GoFish said:

Mask your pickups in any event when using steel wool imo - magnetic pickups and flakes of ferrous material go together like ....

...... rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong, Shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom, Chang chang changitty chang, Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo, Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy shooby doo-wop she-bop.

axisus · May 2023

Ahhh ... there was me expecting a thread about getting rid of annoying members. As you were ...

ICBM · May 2023

elstoof said:

Out of curiosity, how does tiny bits of steel wool stuck to a pickup affect the sound?

If they also touch the strings, they make a highly annoying crackle as the strings move.

hollywoodrox · May 2023

A thin regular razor blade if you can find one with some cardboard wrapped around it
I had a particularly gunky neck & the credit card wasn’t sufficient . I found that the flex of a thin razor enables you to remove it without digging in , as said above you just hold it at the right angle

A stiffer Stanley blade or card is more likely to dig in while the flex blade can just scrape off that annoying layer . Mine had got like it after heavy playing through the summer months

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Cleaning gunk off fretboard

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