Get Rid of that Grungy Rubbish!!

[phil_the_bassist]

Morning All!

Ok, so as I'm procrastinating learning some Michael Buble tat, I've decided to service and clean my Sub5, as it's still got the same strings as when I bought it...in about 2003


I was just wondering whats the best way to remove all the crap from the fingerboard and hardware? It was my main gigging bass for about 2 years, and has since just been used for motown (the strings are Hellishly dead, it's awesome )and livingroom plunking, so the sweat, grease, skin and muck has had some time to work it's way into the bass. I would like to avoid overly harsh chemicals, but I was thinking that a mix of bicarb.soda, lemon, vinegar might be enough to cut thru the crap...

Whatcha recon/suggest?

[small_lump_of_green_putty]

Howabout a damp jeyes cloth rinsed out in water and a bit of detergent. Don't overdampen the wood?

[lemmywinks]

I've always just used standard lemon oil on rosewood boards, is that what yours is or is it pau ferro?. I remember when i cleaned my acoustic bass for the first time in about 3 years, the formerly bronze strings were green! Most of the fretboard was covered in the green stuff but the lemon oil did a great job, i forgot how nice the wood underneath was!

[YouMa]

Napatha in otherwords lighter fluid is the best thing on fingerboards then make sure you lemon oil it.Dont get the lighter fuel on the finish though.

[leonshelley01]

Most of what I do has already been mentioned, apart from the first step.

Use the edge of a credit type card to scrape the board first to remove most of the debris (especially near the frets), then use the naptha to clean and lemon or bore oil to freshen the wood after.

[budget bassist]

yeah, if it's really thick, use a credit card to scrape the majority of the finger cheese off, then lighter fuel to get rid of the rest and then give it some lemon oil, good as new

Don't leave it too long though, one of my friends has a gibson explorer that should have been treated to this about ten years ago, the fretboard is pretty much rotting under the finger cheese, seriously, the wood has started coming away around the frets. Shame, it's such a nice guitar too.