Mineral Oil for Maintenance?

[Jeff Mando]

Working at a vintage guitar store for a number of years, you end up using what works, not what some novice thinks is best for their instrument. Truth is, we used WD-40, Windex, Pledge, Old English, generic lemon oil, alcohol, Meguiar's cleaner/wax, as well as plain water, spit, and every guitar brand polish known to mankind. Regular old WD-40 removes stickers from instruments without damage, sure it stinks, if you follow it with Windex you won't smell the WD-40. It works, but certainly not what any manufacturer would recommend. During my work history at the store, and out of curiosity, I checked the UPS book and calculated that we had sent over 5000 instruments by UPS, this doesn't include those sent by FedEx or USPS, or any in store sales -- NOBODY, repeat NOBODY ever complained that WD-40 ruined their instrument. It is safe. There is a somewhat sound logic that says when you spend $10K for an instrument that you want to use the best for it, and I completely agree with that logic. I'm just saying nobody will tell you what goes on behind the magic curtain -- except me -- and of course, I would never do anything that would harm an instrument, FWIW.

[Larry Simonson]

from Sblock above "Naphtha is a DOUBLE RING of carbons, two hexagons joined by a single side, attached to hydrogens."

I'm sure you meant 'Naphthalene' and not 'Naphtha'

[sblock]

from Sblock above "Naphtha is a DOUBLE RING of carbons, two hexagons joined by a single side, attached to hydrogens."

I'm sure you meant 'Naphthalene' and not 'Naphtha'

Well, err, YES, Larry! Too true. Napthalene is a well defined chemical, consisting of two hexagonal carbon rings. "Naptha" is not so well defined; it is often a heterogeneous mix of fairly light hydrocarbons obtained from steam cracking petroleum or coal tar. Napthas can be further subdivided. "Light naphtha" usually has chains of 6 or fewer carbons per molecular unit, including aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, whereas "heavy naptha" has usually more carbons in (say, 7-12), but not so many as to become oily/greasy or waxy (like paraffin). But some "heavy napthas" are used as light lubricants. Heavy napthas usually contain both benzene and napthalene, and also many types of aliphatic hydrocarbons.

Anyway, naphtha is not benzene (which was one of the questions posed earlier). And neither is napthalene.

Naptha is a pretty ill-defined term, in fact. Commercial solvents/fuels called "petroleum spirits, "white gas," "painter's naptha" and so on, are all examples of napthas.

When someone says "light aliphatic hydrocarbons" or "naptha" they are often talking about the very same thing. This confusion, I suspect, is partly deliberate, to keep manufacturers from having to specify the actual chemical mixtures in their products. It might also be historical, since in times past, it was harder to specify exactly the petrochemicals in complex mixtures obtained by refining crude oil. But today, it's pretty trivial to do it wih mass spectroscopy. But the laws are loosely written for MSDS's (Materials Safety Data Sheets) to help obscure "proprietary" mixtures. Such a joke.

[soliver]

So yea... mineral oil works pretty well

[Ron McMillan]

I use mineral oil to 'recondition' the Fast Fret applicator when it gets too dry. I turn it upside down, poke some holes with a toothpick or heavy needle, and let a few drops of the oil soak into the applicator. Extends the working life of the Fast Fret thing by years. (Cheap Scotsman trick).

[Steve Ostrander]

Or Red Green "Any tool can be the right tool"

Or his classic: "if it moves and you don't want it to, use duct tape. If it doesn't move and you want it to, use WD-40."

[Inklings]

Murphy's Oil Soap if a fingerboard is really grungy, with a Scotch pad. Polish the frets with micro mesh when you're done. Orange oil is nice as a final clean-up / polish. Not sure I would use anything else.

For a rosewood/ebony board, of course. For maple fretboards, wipe down with a clean rag, maybe a bit of water on it.