Christmas is coming!  That time of year where you spoil your loved ones rotten with questionable sweaters and assorted bathing products.  But what about that other love of your life, your guitar?  Well, maybe this is the time of year where you spoil him/her/it (if you're not into anthropomorphism).

The best present you could give it is a good old re-fresh - new strings, fretboard clean, fret and body polish, maybe even a wax to take some of those nasty pick scratches out of the bodywork.

Here at Rose Morris, we stock many of the most popular cleaning products, and they all tend to be much of a muchness in terms of quality, so you shouldn't be too intimidated by the choice.  However, here's a rundown of the things you could ask for as stocking fillers this year.

Guitar body polish - Comes in many shapes and sizes, but Jim Dunlop, Taylor and Kyser are our best-sellers.  Use this to get the greasy finger prints off the body, headstock and back of the neck, but try to avoid getting it on the fretboard.

Fretboard conditioner/lemon oil - Again, many different brands, but they all do the same thing.  Put a little on a cloth and wipe over the fretboard, leave for a couple of minutes, then wipe off.  You only really need to do this once every couple of months just to keep the fretboard clean and moisturised.  If there is an excessive build-up of grime, you can remove this first using super-fine steel wool, making sure you always brush in the direction of the wood grain.

Fret cleaner - There are two ways to do this.  The first is using a product such as D'Addario Fret Polishing Kit, which comes with a fretboard guard and cloths impregnated to take the grime off the frets and make them shiny and new.  The other approach is...

... Body Wax - Cream of Carnuba wax is great for the guitar body to take out surface scratches.  It works in much the same was as T-Cut does for cars, just rub on, leave to dry, then buff off.  It is also excellent at cleaning hardware and making it gleam like new.  The same goes for frets.  Mask off the fretboard to avoid getting any on the wood, impregnate a clean cloth with a little of the wax and buff the frets to a high shine.  I wouldn't recommend using it on gold hardware however, as the colour is just plating, and it can wear it off.

We have an extensive selection of guitar-care products in store, and a tech to answer any questions you have.

Go on, treat your instrument this Christmas to a 'spa day'.

 

Ed Cox
Tagged: Guitar Tech