[joepele]

Anything to share with a newbie?

I have an acoustic guitar and have seen some friend's which have dust in some places which are quite hard to clean.

What do you use to clean the surface?
Pledge?

If they are not used for maybe 1 week - 1 month, should the tension on the strings be lessened / loosened?

Any particular cloth for cleaning the strings after playing?

Any other tips?

[allthumbs]

Never use pledge. It has a wax buildup. Use a guitar polish for the body and fretboard cleaner like lemon oil for the fretboard.

[Dewy]

I just use windex on a cloth to clean my guitars... ammonia based window cleaner. No wax and evaporates before it can damage the finish.

On the strings I have a product called "Fastfret" that comes with a string cloth... but it shreds and leave little fuzzies on my strings. Seeking a replacement cloth currently.

[Stratrat]

I just wipe my guitars (and strings) down with a cleaning cloth I bought from a guitar shop....and I've found the same problem as Dewy with the cloth leaving little fuzzies on my strings. Most of my guitars have maple fretboards, so no lemon oil on them - just a wipedown. The ones with rosewood fretboards get lemon oil whenever I re-string.

As far as loosening the strings, there's a thread about that in the "Guitar Tech" sub-forum. Some do, some don't. I definitely wouldn't if it was only going to be a week or so, but that's just me.

[starsailor]

Hi joepele, the general consensus on slackening strings was that it's ok for a few weeks but if you're planning on storing the guitar for a few months or longer it's worth taking the tension off. the thread's on guitar tech, there are lots of good threads on there. I personally clean my guitars once a week and give them a really good clean when I change the strings it's the ideal opportunity.

I clean the tuning keys as well does everyone do this or do I have a bit of OCD going on?

Cheers

Chris