Cleaning your guitar strings or the whole guitar itself is quite easy! Also, it can extend their life as well as be much more relaxing to play. Nevertheless, there is one particular question that many of us really want to know!
Can I use Orange Glo on my guitar? Is it okay, or will it damage the guitar for good? Cling to this guide to find out more details about this topic! Let’s dive into more details below!
Orange Glo is an excellent quality product, wood polish, as well as conditioner. It consists of natural oranges oils. It can be good on stainless steel, ceramic, and fiberglass to clear grease, dirt, and sticky stuff. It has a fresh orange aroma, quite striking and pleasant. And yes, you can use it on your guitar.
Table of Contents
Steps of Cleaning a Guitar 101
As you read this guide, we’ll discuss everything you might want to know in detail. Yet, if you want to continue, follow these quick steps to make your guitar radiate like it’s brand new!
- First, make sure that your hands are clean: It’s evident, but it’s also an elementary thing.
- Release all the guitar strings: This will make your cleaning process easier. Also, it will make the core of the guitar and fretboard a lot better.
- Scrub the guitar fretboard: Use fine steel wool to cleanse persistent leftovers from different fretboards. After that, use lemon oil to rehydrate. Use a moist textile to clean Maple fretboards.
- Polish the guitar’s core: For poly-finished (glowy) guitars, spray guitar polish onto a delicate textile and wipe it down. Use a dry part to buff out that polish. For matte and satin instruments, use only a dry material.
- Refresh that hardware: If you wish your hardware to be shiny, use a smooth material. Also, you need a tiny bit of guitar polish to clear dirt or dried sweat. WD-40 is great for the removal of thicker leftovers or rust.
Tip: You can truly notice if your guitar is plywood by seeing if there is a tiny smudged part. If you are able to spot those small piles of wood, that is a layer.
What Is the Cause of a Dirty Guitar?
The amount of soil your guitar accumulates will rely a ton on the conditions, and how long you play your instrument. For example, are you a person who plays on most weekends?
If that is a yes, you’re definitely used to 1000-degree steps. Playing an hour set under quite harsh stage lighting makes you sweat, which is the most dreadful thing for your guitar!
Playing like this compels you to sweat buckets, by all means. That is definitely like an Achilles heel for your guitar. Sweat and oil on your guitar’s exterior not only look rather bad. Also, they can wear away the color and drive irreparable harm to the fretboard.
It can also harm your guitar’s electronic and hardware, yielding rust and even more issues. If you play between 1-2 hours a day at home in a well-ventilated room, your guitar will probably not need cleansing quite often. It’s all about the circumstances and the needs.
Prepare the Guitar for Cleaning
It goes without saying that your guitar will need cleaning at some point. Notably, you can cleanse your guitar without removing the strings. Nonetheless, a thorough clean may make this critical — not to say a lot more manageable! You can organize the cleaning of your guitar when a string change is needed.
First and foremost, wash your hands and set up a place to put your guitar. It is highly advisable to scrub it in a well-lit area so that you can spot all of the flaws that need the most awareness. You can set up the guitar on a workbench or any desk in particular. Or you can even hold it on your lap if you like.
Keep the Guitar Clean
Before we get into the essential steps, it’s worth citing some methods that you can try to stop your guitar from building up the soil in the first place. It’ll save you lots of time and work in the hereafter. Be conscious of this matter! Let’s hop into these steps below!
Note: It’s good that you know this, do not play the guitar or any other instrument in a thunderstorm. Never overlook all the safety tips and advice!
#1 Wash Your Hands
Before you touch the guitar, always first wash your hands. That’s elementary in general, not just playing the guitar, by all means! Honestly, lots of players already do this!
Regardless, you’d be very surprised by the number of players who have picked up their guitars after consuming greasy dinners and then pondered why their axe is covered thickly in filthy fingerprints. Also, the strings produce terrible sounds in this case.
It’s such an effortless thing to do, not only keeping your guitar neat but also letting your strings live longer. This saves you both time and money. Truth be told, you won’t have to keep buying new strings and spend ages modifying them. Simply wait approximately 5-10 minutes for your hands to fully dry, then play away.
Tip: Do you play the violin? If so, did you know that the strings of a violin are not as sharp as guitar strings?
#2 Wipe those Guitar Strings
Products such as Jim Dunlop’s Ultraglide 65 are fantastic for prolonging the life of guitar strings. Just use these oils on the strings after each session to release any grime.
Evidently, you will convey sparkly-sounding freshness, for sure. Likewise, you will get quicker playing, and feel ready the next time you pick up your guitar. These products also help to clear fingertip stains and filth from the fretboard. This is the unwritten rule!
Tip: Please know that tuning up a guitar is not always bad if you honestly know what you are doing.
#3 Maintain the Guitar In its Case
You may not want to hear this, mainly if you like to show those glowy guitars on the wall. Regardless, the major downside of leaving your guitars without a case is that dust will stash on them.
Dust isn’t indeed as big of trouble as sweat. Try to keep this in mind. Yet, it can build up in the gaps of your guitar and impact its electronics and their performance over time.
You know that crackling noise you’ve heard when moving the guitar’s picker or volume pot? By and large, dust is rendering that. This can be somewhat easily resolved by removing the cavity plate on the rear of your guitar and blowing that dust.
Still, if you own a Strat or a comparable guitar where the electronics are affixed to a scratch plate — this is more of a concern. So, positioning your guitar back in its case is advisable, by all means. It will keep your guitar primarily dust-free and assure that it stays firm and crackle-free.
What Is Orange Glo & Can I Use It to Clean My Guitar?
Orange Glo is a high-quality product, wood polish, and conditioner. It is from natural oranges oils. It can be useful on stainless steel, ceramic tile, and fiberglass to remove grease, dirt, and sticky things.
Orange Glo has a fresh orange scent, very striking and pleasant. And yes, you can use it on your guitar.
Note: It’s an interesting fact that guitar makes some people sleepy. Even if it is not anticipated, this does happen sometimes.
What Natural Oils Can I Use to Clean My Guitar?
To maintain the guitar, you can use various types of natural oil such as olive oil, peanut oil, canola, or walnut oil. Take a soft clean cloth and gently rub the wooden surface of the guitar.
Apply only a little of the product and let it sit for a few minutes. After that, simply wipe it with a soft cloth.
Can You Use Household Polish on Guitar?
Now, there is one particular question that troubles many people. Is it really possible to use household polish on your guitar? Do not use water, polish, or cleaners if your guitar has a natural finish. That way, you can damage or scratch the surface of the guitar. These natural finishes give the wood only a basic level of protection.
Note: This is one relatively interesting fact. Numerous guitar players consistently use a sock as a fret wrap.
How to Clean Guitar Strings?
We have talked about cleaning the guitar in detail. Now, let’s focus on how to actually clean those guitar strings. If you want to clean guitar strings, use microfiber cloths.
This material is ideal for cleaning guitar strings as it leaves no residue or lint. It is also important that, besides wiping the instrument, you wash your hands every time you play guitar. This goes without saying!