Mandolin care??

[Joeyvino]

New here, thanks for having me.
Do I need to clean my mandolin? Light water? Oil? Windex? Help!

[Doug Brock]

What mandolin do you have? What finish is on that mandolin? (To me, the best answer is from the maker of that particular instrument and the specific finish used.)

[JeffD]

I have never cleaned my mandolin. Before I put it back in the case I wipe the instrument and strings with a microfiber rag, and every now and then I might use this, mostly because I got it as a gift and its kind of nifty.

But beyond that I haven't seen a need to do a cleaning. Besides which, cleaning cuts into my pickin' time.

[CES]

When I change strings i’ll Wipe down with a microfiber cloth, but otherwise, no...

Edit: Unless I’m playing outside and sweating, I let a kid play around with it (at least 60% of the time their fingers are sticky, lol), or someone spills a beverage on it, in which case I will wipe clean. But, I’ve never used any of the polishes out there. I also don’t subscribe to the Adam Steffey practice of wiping down the strings with WD-40, but he plays way more than me and is an absolute beast of a player, so what do I know?

[David Lewis]

Breath and a cloth 95 percent of the time. Maybe once a year if it’s needed, after checking the finish will take it, a wipe down with naphtha (Shellite in Australia). Possibly less often, depending on the finish, polish with guitar polish. Don’t use furniture polish. Oil the fingerboard with lemon oil about once or twice a year. Clean the frets with a jewellers cloth and then polish them with a strip of leather maybe every second string change.

I like keeping my instruments pristine.

[Randi Gormley]

I dust it off when I change strings. and of course if something is dropped on it (very, very rare but it happens). That's about it.

[EvanElk]

I scrub mine with a wire brush and a mixture of Comet and Mr. Clean!

[LadysSolo]

I occasionally wipe a little dust off under the strings with an old sock turned inside out, and the fretboard when I change strings, but since they live in their cases, they don't get very dirty.