Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hey All,

Thought this would be the best place to ask what to use when cleaning up old guitars. I have some with scratches and others with sticker marks. Is there a type of cleaner/ polish that will work for both
types of issues?

Naptha -- a type of lighter fluid -- is good for removing adhesives gently from guitar finishes, even nitrocellulose lacquer. A tiny amount on a soft, cotton cloth should work.

There are a few good cleaners and polishes out there ... Virtuouso is a good choice, Petros makes a good kit for cleaning, polishing and oiling the fretboard. Collings recommends Novus polishes for its guitars. Others swear by Meguiar's car detailing products, as long as they do not contain silicone.

I have also used this system and it works well:

http://www.guitarscratchremover.com

The thing to remember is, these compounds are removing scratches by taking off a small layer of the clearcoat finish, so you want to be very gentle and not go too far with it.