Cleaning your acoustic guitars requires time and effort to disassemble and reassemble their parts, including the fingerboards or fretboard, guitar strings, and the guitar’s body. Keeping your acoustic guitars clean will ensure their longevity and maintain their best quality and shape.
In this post, you’ll learn some of the easiest and effective ways to clean your acoustic guitars.
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Best Way To Clean Your Acoustic Guitar
You can easily clean your acoustic guitar with some of your household items. This basic guide will help you easily clean your acoustic guitars at home, not only to look good but to preserve their good sound quality.
Here are the best and effective ways on how to clean your acoustic guitars:
1. Prepare Your Tools And Materials
On a table, prepare your cleaning materials such as dry and soft cloth, guitar polish, soap, soft brushes, cotton buds, water, tissue papers, screwdrivers or pliers, and other tools for your acoustic guitar.
2. Remove The Guitar Strings
Loosen each string by rotating the nuts in the tuning heads. You can use a string winding tool to help you remove the pins from the bridge. Gently pull out each pin of the guitar strings.
3. Wipe Off The Dust
Get a dry and soft cloth to remove the dust from your acoustic guitar. Wipe around the neck, body, and side of the acoustic guitar.
4. Apply Grease
Using guitar grease, remove the remaining dust from the areas of the acoustic guitar. The grease will help to eliminate hardened dust around the pickguard and bridge easily.
5. Clean The Guitar Tuning Keys
If the guitar tuning keys are a bit oily, spray liquid soap or detergent water, then wipe off using a soft cloth. Gently remove the dirt. You may also use household cleaners like window cleaners to clean the guitar tuning keys.
6. Start Cleaning The Frets
Get a pointy object such as screwdrivers or a pen. Wrap around a piece of cloth to wipe along the frets of the acoustic guitar. Start scraping from the base of the headstock down to the bridge.
7. Apply Few Drops Of Guitar Oil
Put a few drops of oil or lemon oil on your soft cloth. Start applying it on the fretboard in a circular motion. It will help to remove the dirt stocked in between the frets easily.
8. Apply Oil In The Guitar Bridge
Using another piece of cloth, apply lemon oil to the guitar bridge. Do this in a circular motion. The wood of the guitar will absorb the oil. If there is any excess, wipe it off with a dry cloth.
9. Use Detergent
Spray some detergent water or liquid soap to the cloth. This will lessen the damage to the wooden parts of the acoustic guitar. Avoid direct spraying liquid or any chemical to your guitar.
10. Apply Guitar Polish
After wiping the guitar with detergent or soap, put a small amount of guitar polish of your choice. Be sure to check what type of polish is recommended for your acoustic guitar.
Guitar polish is used depending on the finish of your acoustic guitar, such as unfinished body, matte or satin finish, or gloss finish.
You can simply use water and a soft cloth for guitars with a matte, satin finish, and raw or unfinished bodies to wipe off all dust and dirt. This will preserve the vintage look of your acoustic guitar. Do not use wax polishes or any other heavy cleaners for acoustic guitars.
For guitars with glossy or shiny finish, you can use any guitar polish solution in the market. Most of the guitar polish for gloss types of acoustic guitars are safe and excellent.
11. Wipe The Guitar Using A Microfiber Cloth
If you want a glossy acoustic guitar, wipe it with a microfiber cloth or buff cloth. It is a type of cloth with a softer texture to finish the surface. Do this in a circular motion.
12. Clean Strings Or Install New Strings
If your guitar strings are already fragile, you can replace them with a new set. Push each pin while pulling the guitar strings to put it in place.
But if the existing strings of your acoustic guitar are still good, it is better to clean the strings first before putting them back on your guitar. This will let you save money on buying a new set of strings.
13. Tune Your Acoustic Guitar
After inserting all the guitar strings, start to retune the guitar. You can utilize an electric guitar tuner to ensure the right sounds of the guitar strings.
14. Put The Guitar In A Case
After cleaning the guitar, keep it in a case when not in use to avoid the build-up of dirt and dust. If you want to keep your acoustic guitars safe and protected, a high-quality hardshell guitar case is the best one you should opt for.
If you own multiple acoustic guitars, avoid stacking them one on top of another regardless if they are inside their cases.
How To Keep Your Acoustic Guitar Clean?
Caring and cleaning for your acoustic guitar are no different from an electric guitar. Keeping your acoustic guitar a dust-free instrument is one of the effective ways to maintain its good looks and condition.
Below are a few simple tips to keep your acoustic guitar clean:
- Always wash your hands before and after using your guitar – This is the simplest hack you can do to keep your acoustic guitar clean. It will save you from changing and replacing guitar parts.
- Keep your guitar strings clean – Every after use of your acoustic guitar, use a soft cloth to wipe the guitar strings. Simply wiping the strings will help to remove dirt from your fingers. While you wipe the guitar strings, you are also cleaning the fretboard.
- Keep the guitar in a case – Dust particles might just be a small one, but it affects the totality of the instrument. Keeping your acoustic guitar in a case or any covered box will prevent it from dust build-up.
Importance Of Keeping Your Acoustic Guitar Clean
Taking care of your acoustic guitar does not have to be very expensive. Unlike other musical instruments, you don’t need to spend much on tools and other equipment to clean acoustic guitars.
Owning or having an instrument is not only for creativity but also requires responsibility. Regular cleaning of your acoustic guitar will prevent it from having damages such as cracks and dents in the guitar’s body.
It is important to keep your acoustic guitar clean to keep its best condition, too, and will last longer than others. It will minimize your chances of replacing it with new ones that cost much more than cleaning it at home.
Some Final Words
Proper cleaning and maintenance of acoustic guitar become one of the best long-term investments for every musician for their love of music.
A clean acoustic guitar sounds right and good if it is properly maintained and cleaned. You would be amazed, and you will love your acoustic guitar more once you learn the basic steps of cleaning and maintaining them.
