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Thread: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

  1. #1

    Question What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    Hello!
    My english language is realy poor so, can gibson pump polish clean the frets and the neck or should buy something else? What means pump?

  2. #2
    Registered User sblock's Avatar
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    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    Yes, you can use the Gibson instrument polish, but I would instead recommend using a soft cloth, slightly dampened with water and perhaps a drop of a mild detergent. For the cloth, you can use a cotton chamois, polishing cloth, or microfiber cloth.

    "Pump" simply means that the Gibson polish comes inside a pump-spray bottle, rather than in a squeeze bottle. Some luthiers clean up the gunk found on frets, and the fretboard, with an application of a drop or two of naphtha (this is the main ingredient in lighter fluid: it is a volatile petrochemical) and a soft cloth.

    You can also use naphtha, if you wish. Still others use a commercial furniture polish, like Lemon Pledge.

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    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    I would simply use a green 3M scotch brite like you would use to clean pans when you do dishes. A new one preferably as opposed to one you have used to do dishes
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    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    Aerosol furniture polishes such as Lemon Pledge are not suitable for use on instruments. Many of them contain silicone, which should not be used on varnished or lacquered surfaces.

    A drop or two only of lemon oil on a rag is ok on fingerboards occasionally, but it won't cut through deep grime.

  5. #5

    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    The fingerboard is usually treated with mineral oil after cleaning to keep it from drying out, and that might work for scrubbing any dirt off of it with a rag. A green Scotchbrite pad (if available where you are) is a little course for this job and grey Scotchbrite will leave a finer finish. An auto finish supplier will have what you need. Otherwise 0000 steel wool will do the same job. I'm not familiar with "Gibson pump polish" but suspect it's made for the finished body, not the fingerboard.

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    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    I suggested the green Scotchbrite because the grey is harder to find and didn't know how easy it would be to find there. I like them better than steel wool as they are much less messy. If there is a lot of grime a credit card can be used as a scraper first on the fingerboard to get some of the grime off before using the Scotchbrite.
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    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    The green ones are pretty harsh though - might leave scratches
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    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    I second the 0000 steel wool and lemon oil. Been using it for years.

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    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    I have not noticed the green Scotchbrite leaving scratches on ebony or rosewood fingerboards. Polishes frets well, sometimes I use the grey, but there are times when you need the green.
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  10. #10

    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    When a rosewood or ebony fretboard is really dirty with gunk built up along the frets, I scrape it off with a razor blade, then I cut a fret sized slot in a hotel key card and buff the frets with steel wool, then I run the steel wool up and down the fretboard. I happened to have a bottle of lemon oil with an inch left in the bottom I’ve been using for decades. Don’t overuse the oil.
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  11. #11

    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    A green Scotchbrite pad (if available where you are) is a little course for this job and grey Scotchbrite will leave a finer finish.
    If you live near an Ace hardware, a Menards, a Lowes, or a Home Depot - you can find ALL the colors of Scotchbrite from super fine to rough as a wad of wood shavings. Don't bother with the green. Maroon and light gray suffice for most jobs.

    Otherwise 0000 steel wool will do the same job
    NEVER use steel wool - it's the devil. Steel wool breaks down into tiny crumbs that find their way into every crevice, and contaminate every surface. The crumbs can hurt your fingers. Steel wool will rust in a New York minute - and we don't need that around an instrument. It's also magnetic and conductive, and we don't want it near anything electrical in nature, or even a fine timepiece (if you're into that). I say again - STEEL WOOL IS THE DEVIL. If you must use metal - use brass wool. It doesn't rust, and isn't magnetic.

  12. #12

    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    I'd agree, steel wool seems like a really bad idea! I didn't know you could get brass wool though, might have to try that.
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  13. #13

    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    Steel wool has always created more mess for me so I avoid it. I use the fret erasers (I think this is what they are called). Before Ive use gargomyte (spelling this wrong). And I use a fretboard spray that I spray on a cloth, then rub the fretboard. Dont spray direct to the board or you will overspray and make a mess.

  14. #14

    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    These are what I mentioned. I only use the 4000 grit dark grey. It works great for polishing. And at 4000 grit I dont have to worry about messing anything up. I do this on every string change quickly.

    https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tool...t_Erasers.html

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    Registered User sblock's Avatar
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    Default Re: What should i'l buy to clean the neck and the frets?

    Yow. It strikes me as overkill to take an abrasive (4000 grit) to the frets and fingerboard every time you change the strings! Of course, if you only change your strings every year or so, that's one thing. But many of us change our strings every few weeks. In the latter case, it is simply unnecessary to take some abrasive to the instrument that often, when a simple rubdown with a soft cloth moistened lightly with a mild detergent, or some naphtha, or some instrument polish (or lemon oil) will do just fine. Abrasives should only be used when it becomes necessary to remove material that's deeply ground-in or very tightly adherent. Finger/playing residues (consisting of dead skin cells, natural oils, sebaceous secretions, etc.) don't really fall in that category, unless they've accumulated for some years and oxidized.

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