Cleaning / protecting exotic woods

[edstraker123]

I have a few guitars with satin Ziricote finishes which do tend to show marks and fingerprints. What would be best to use to clean the wood and potentially protect it ?

[Dan Dare]

Unless the wood is raw (unlikely), it depends on the finish applied. Satin seems particularly prone to show up finger marks, etc. You won't prevent or protect against that unless you don't handle the instrument or only do so with clean gloves on.

 

The finish is already protecting the timber (that's its job). So anything you clean it with will clean the finish, not the wood itself. If the finish is poly, that's impervious to most things. Obviously, you don't want to soak it, but a wipe with a cloth dampened with white spirit should do the trick.

 

You can, if you choose, jump down the rabbit hole of special guitar polishes, etc, but all they really do is cost a lot and make the instrument smell nice.

Edited Wednesday at 15:13 by Dan Dare

[Musicman666]

i'm no expert but i find a beeswax spray polish on my natural wood finishes always works well without causing any harm.

[Burns-bass]

Whatever you use, try it in a non visible place and (on the back I guess) and only do a little bit.
 

I say this as someone who didn’t do it and regret it.

[BlueMoon]

If you use any commercially-sourced product it is worth studying the ingredients/contents list on the container first. My advice would be to stay away from anything containing silicones, since they don’t always play nice with other cleansing products or in areas where painting/re-finishing might take place. Polydimthylsiloxanes (dimethicone) and aminosiloxanes (types of silicones) are pretty common in auto and household polish formulations.

[Shaggy]

On 29/01/2025 at 19:07, Musicman666 said:

i'm no expert but i find a beeswax spray polish on my natural wood finishes always works well without causing any harm.

 

Problem is. this will soon turn the satin finish into a gloss finish.   Also I found out to my cost; never use beeswax polish on French polish finishes, the solvent in it (traditionally turpentine) dissolves the finish.   In the OP, it's likely to be a polyurethane or (less likely) an acrylic lacquer; a wash with a gentle soap and warm water would do the job.  As said; try it on a small area first.

 

11 hours ago, BlueMoon said:

If you use any commercially-sourced product it is worth studying the ingredients/contents list on the container first. My advice would be to stay away from anything containing silicones, since they don’t always play nice with other cleansing products or in areas where painting/re-finishing might take place. Polydimthylsiloxanes (dimethicone) and aminosiloxanes (types of silicones) are pretty common in auto and household polish formulations.

 

 

Agreed 

[deepbass5]

Someone on here put me on to this. Used by National Trust and the Royal household apparently. it puts a hard coat on things antiques etc. Rub in and polish off. seems to work well. Better than the Warwick wax for a hard ware coat with out the finger prints. 

 

 

 

 

[TheGreek]

I've found that a soapy sponge is as good as anything....as little water as possible. 

[Dan Dare]

12 hours ago, deepbass5 said:

Someone on here put me on to this. Used by National Trust and the Royal household apparently. it puts a hard coat on things antiques etc. Rub in and polish off. seems to work well. Better than the Warwick wax for a hard ware coat with out the finger prints. 

 

May be fine for a solid guitar, but putting a hard coating on an acoustic instrument (as in the photo above) won't do its sound any favours.

[Steve Browning]

53 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

 

May be fine for a solid guitar, but putting a hard coating on an acoustic instrument (as in the photo above) won't do its sound any favours.

Might make it better for metal. 😄