What polish, What neck oil?

[Willabe]

I've been using Lemon Pledge on all my guitars from the beginning. That's what mom had in the house. 

Not sure I want to use it on mt new Gretsch? 

I've always used boiled linseed oil on my rosewood and ebony fret boards, got something better?   


    Thanks, Brad Willy Willabe

[Ritchie200]

Why don't you give the factory a call.  They should come out and polish it for you!  Seriously, unless they are pushing some Gretch secret sauce, I'm sure you could talk to someone in the finishing department who could give you the lowdown.  Don't want to put anything on there that strips the finish!

Jim

[G._Hoffman]

Don't use Pledge anymore - it has silicone in it, which screws you if you ever need to do any finish work.  For polish, anything sold for guitars is probably OK, but I use a product called Reflections.  That will probably be hard to find, but the GHS polish is very good and probably will be available just about anywhere. 

For the fingerboard, any lemon oil which doesn't contain silicone will be fine (I can't think why they would, but always good to be on the safe side!).  But commercial lemon oil is mostly mineral oil (pure lemon oil is highly flammable), so pure mineral oil is good too.  The more traditional thing is boiled linseed oil, but I hate the smell, and it doesn't do any better a job than lemon oil which smells pretty good. 


Gabriel

[Willabe]

They should come out and polish it for you!

 

Seriously, unless they are pushing some Gretch secret sauce, I'm sure you could talk to someone in the finishing department who could give you the lowdown.  Don't want to put anything on there that strips the finish!

Well Gretsch is owned by Fender, so.......

I'm more worried about the gold plate hardware. 

[Willabe]

For the fingerboard, any lemon oil which doesn't contain silicone will be fine (I can't think why they would, but always good to be on the safe side!).  But commercial lemon oil is mostly mineral oil (pure lemon oil is highly flammable), so pure mineral oil is good too.  The more traditional thing is boiled linseed oil, but I hate the smell, and it doesn't do any better a job than lemon oil which smells pretty good.

I like the smell of linseed oil. 

If I start using, say linseed oil, is it all right to someday switch to lemon oil? Can they alternately be used on the same fret board? Or would it be best to stay with 1 always? Just wondering.

[BetterOffShred]

I use good old fashioned "Olde English" lemon oil.  Bought a jug 10 years ago, and there's like 90% left because of how little a well cared for fretboard will actually drink.    You should be fine going to lemon oil having used other oils in the past.  I've put just about everything under the sun on my SG and it's 17 years old now, looking brand  new.

As far as polish goes, Yeah just buy a jug from Guitar Center or whatever and don't look back.   I got a little 3 pack of Gibson sauces a while back, it had a fretboard conditioner (lemon oil) some string cleaner or something (basically rubbing alcohol) and a polish.  Still have the polish, and I still like it, the string cleaner went in the trash, if you need to "Clean your strings".. You need new strings!  Just saying..  And then I've been refilling the little bottle of fretboard oil with the Olde English jug.

And while we're on the topic, I'm not sure how many of you guys are  More of players than builders, but I consider myself about 98% player, 2% builder at this point.  That being said, for $5 put new strings on your guitar once a month    Nothing makes a guitar come to life like a new set of strings, and our fingers really lay down some nasty acidic gnarly stuff that degrades the sound quality pretty fast.  I've been playing the Ernie Ball Cobalt Hybrid Slinkies on my SG and Tele lately.  They sound good and loud and bright for at least a month of daily use, but they are like $10 a pack.   Anyway, I digress from my rant, it just always blows my mind how many guys are not happy with their guitar sound or whatever, and the strings look like they have been under water for a month.  Cheap fix!

-Brett

[MakerDP]

Totally agree with you on the strings! More than once I've been frustrated by not being able to get a good tone on a recording... change to a guitar with fresh strings... viola! Problem solved!

I just HATE changing strings. I've always said the #1 reason I'd want to be a rich and famous guitarist is so I could afford to pay someone else to change  my strings for me!

[Willabe]

I was able to get some Martin polish, they should know a thing or 2 about guitar polish.

And I bought some micro fiber cloths too. 

[G._Hoffman]

I like the smell of linseed oil. 

If I start using, say linseed oil, is it all right to someday switch to lemon oil? Can they alternately be used on the same fret board? Or would it be best to stay with 1 always? Just wondering.

It's fine to go back and forth.  The mineral oil in lemon oil is pretty much non-reactive, and once the linseed oil is dry it isn't going to react to much of anything. 


Gabriel

[Willabe]

Thanks Gabriel.