Cleaning Question

[silentbob]

Hi, i was just wondering if anybody had any suggestions for the best way to clean a natural ash body. Any specific products i should be using, and more importantly, any i should be avoiding. Thanks, Rob.

[Big_Stu]

Not sure about your bass specifically but I always avoid the polishes like the UK version of Gibson polish. I admit it was partly my fault when I sprayed directly onto the bass instead of the cloth but the lemon-oil in it made a big round "scorch" mark in the finish of my bass.

I managed to get it out with VERY careful use of metal polish & now have the USA version of Gibson polish sent over by a friend, it has wax & no lemon-oil in it.

[Al Heeley]

how is the ash finished? Clear seal (polyurethane, nitrocellulose, acrylic?) or wax or tru-oil finished? This will determine best products to clean.
How glossy is it? How thick is the coating? That gives a clue as to the finish type.

[evilLordJuju]

[quote name='Big_Stu' post='747946' date='Feb 17 2010, 02:54 AM']Not sure about your bass specifically but I always avoid the polishes like the UK version of Gibson polish. I admit it was partly my fault when I sprayed directly onto the bass instead of the cloth but the lemon-oil in it made a big round "scorch" mark in the finish of my bass.[/quote]

Really? What bass was it? And what finish? Did you use it on the fretboard or the actual body or just the fingerboard?

My lemon oil specifically says not to use on maple fretboards, but i've never really known why.

What is the UK product called please?

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='evilLordJuju' post='748784' date='Feb 17 2010, 06:47 PM']Really? What bass was it? And what finish? Did you use it on the fretboard or the actual body or just the fingerboard?

My lemon oil specifically says not to use on maple fretboards, but i've never really known why.

What is the UK product called please?[/quote]

The bass was my John Birch custom EB3 which has a nitro finish on top of a sunburst. I only did the body & got the shock of my life when I saw a big white edged circle on it. Took a LOT of getting rid of as I said.


Lemon Oil on it's own is used mostly to renovate rosewood fingerboards, but if you use too much it can loosen the frets. Maybe it's even worse to use it on maple?
The UK Gibson product is whatever they call Gibson polish here. It's in a pump spray with an orange label. The US version WITHOUT lemon oil is in an aerosol spray, not a pump.

[Al Heeley]

Theres so many guitar cleaning products out there called Lemon-Oil, and a big variety of ingredients. I have a bottle of "lemon oil" I've specifically used (and recommended by Ernie Ball Music Man) for cleaning maple fretboards and I've not yet lost any frets yet.
Sometimes a bit of lemon oil is added to linseed base for conditioning rosewood fingerboards, sometimes a lemon perfume is added to naphtha (basically lighter fuel) and sold as lemon oil cleaner - its s great degreaser, no lemons were hurt in the making of this product, but it can damage some NC-finished wood.
Just be careful as a lot of lemon-oil products are not necessarily lemon oil, its just become one of those things that are expected in a cleaning product bought by musicians, like a woman buying shampoo expecting there to be pro-vitamin B with grape extracts. ie: 90% marketing bull.
When in doubt, a good soft cloth slightly dampened with soapy water and a bit of elbow grease will do no harm to your instrument.

[silentbob]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='747990' date='Feb 17 2010, 07:51 AM']how is the ash finished? Clear seal (polyurethane, nitrocellulose, acrylic?) or wax or tru-oil finished? This will determine best products to clean.
How glossy is it? How thick is the coating? That gives a clue as to the finish type.[/quote]

I have no idea of the finish to be honest. Infact, it looks like it has no finish at all, as does the maple neck, which also needs a good clean. If it helps, the bass is a limited edition Encore P, like the one here.
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=54743&hl=encore+limited"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...=encore+limited[/url]