I am amazed constantly when I see beautiful guitars smeared with dirt and gunk. My guess is players fear they’ll damage the finish, so they use conventional guitar polishes that do not clean anything really. Those polishes tend to attract more dirt than they repel, and you end up with a hazy coating that looks like your aunt’s end table layered with lemon Pledge.
If you have a transparent finish, it should be clear enough to see the grain as if you are looking through glass. Quit wasting your money on overpriced guitar polishes and try some inexpensive products that I’ve used with great success.
Before polishing, remove the built-up crud on the finish first. Lightly dampen a clean cloth in warm water that has a little dish soap added to it. Wring out the excess water and scrub the guitar, wiping it off with a dry rag.
How To Get A Glossy Guitar Finish?
If you have any stubborn dirt remaining, use Naphtha (available at your local hardware store). It’s pretty effective, but you do have to be careful with this stuff. Apply a small amount to a clean cloth. Work quickly because Naphtha will evaporate in a matter of seconds. When it is about half-evaporated, clean the guitar and wipe off with a damp cloth.
Keep in mind you are cleaning and polishing a finish that doesn’t react any differently when it’s on top of guitar wood or car metal, so there is no need to use products “made especially for guitars.”
I am a big fan of Meguiar’s car care products. You may have these in your garage already, or you can pick them up at any auto parts store. I’ve used all of these products effectively on lacquer and urethane bodies without worry of damage. I wouldn’t recommend using them on necks though, or you may end up with sticky neck syndrome. As always, follow the directions on the bottles.
Best Guitar Polish For Removing Smudges/grime?
Simply spray some on a rag, wipe it on the guitar finish, and wipe off with a clean rag. This product works really well for removing fingerprints, smudges, sweat and fresh dirt on the finish, but it is great for plastic pickguards and cover plates, too. It leaves a deep shine and doesn’t streak or smear.
This is a great product if you want to restore the shine on a neglected guitar that needs more than a light cleaning. Cleaner Wax contains a very fine abrasive that does a great job of removing buildup without leaving scratches. The process is like waxing your car: wax on, let dry to a haze, and wax off with a clean cloth. A little bit goes a long way.
This is an efficient, easy-to-use scratch remover for deeper scratches. It’s grittier, making it more aggressive than the Cleaner Wax, but it’s fine enough to remove scratches without damaging the finish. Afterward, restore luster by going back over the finish with the Cleaner Wax.
Guitar Polish... Meguiars Bodyshop Products
I was introduced to Meguiar’s as a teenager working in a body shop. My boss, Barney, gave me a hard time after seeing one of my “filthy” guitars that I had been cleaning with an expensive product and had eventually given up on. He clued me in that I should treat my guitar finish like a car and polished it up just like I described above. I was sold! And the products come in big bottles that will last forever, so it was and still is an economic bonus for players.I dislike satin finishes, to me they look cheap, so I buffed my 000-15SM to have a dull shine a few months ago.
Nice. It certainly looks better than my 000-15m, where the only buffed part is on the main bout where my right arm rests. You can really tell that I play wearing flannel shirts.
No, those satin finishes hand-polished by their owners to be semi-glossy don’t stay especially shiny, not in my experience, anyway. There isn’t enough finish material on them to achieve a high gloss, and all that I’ve ever seen get kind of smudged and grubby looking with use.
Music Nomad Mn101 Guitar Polish Pro Strength
This includes the one used buffed-up satin finish guitar that I bought DESPITE the home buffing job. What little shine that can be achieved needs to be maintained or it starts to dull down as the guitar gets handled and used.
I’m sure some folks will chime in to tell us that their home-shined satin finish guitar has a mirror-like gloss that doesn’t give away its humble origins and looks like it came from the factory with a shiny finish, but I’ve never observed that in real life.
As the owner of a Martin 000-15sm that I buffed out, I can attest to Wade's assessment 100%. In hindsight, I wish I had never have buffed the guitar to begin with.
Guitar Shop 101: Safe Ways To Clean Your Guitar's Finish
I've always thought of bluegrass players as the Marines of the music world – (A rock guitar guy I once jammed with)
Beatcomber either got lucky or is much more skilled than I am (probably both). My 000-15sm definitely does not look this nice, and I think it really depends on the individual guitar. I did meticulous research for months before attempting the job, and had read every single post about this topic that had ever been made on this forum.
Yes, i can still get mine to have that nice-ish sheen in the picture when I polish it up, but it'll stay like that for a few days and revert back to what Wade once described as the look of worn corduroy pants. I have yet to come across a better description that captures the look these guitars take on when buffed out.
New Guitar Just Arrived With A 'ding'. Would Some Clear Nail Polish Keep It Together?
I suppose that the technique and materials utilized can either make or break it. As you can see, I used NuFinish, lightly applied with rags cut from old teeshirts, and Q-Tips for the tighter spaces around the bridge, fretboard edge, etc.
Some have said that using NuFinish is not safe for guitar finishes, but their website says that it contains no woodgrain-clogging wax:
Neither Nu Finish Liquid nor Nu Finish Paste Car Polish contain carnauba waxes. No other liquid or paste products can make that claim. Nu Finish is made up of a series of zinc cross-linking polymer emulsions that help it last longer than any other polish on the market.
The Steel Guitar Information Resource
I've been safely using the stuff for years on my nitro-finished vintage guitars, and have detected no negative side effects from using it on the Martin either.
The success or failure of buffing a satin finish really comes down to knowing when to stop, and in having realistic expectations for the final result. You won't ever get a high sheen and will likely expose bare wood when attempting to do so.
It is totally dependent on the type of finish and whether pore filler has been used. Trying to get what I've achieved on the 2 Epi Masterbilts as opposed to the Martin finish on your guitar isn't going to happen. I got a real gloss because the satin finish was of a type that allowed such. Again here it is... the reflection shows what is achievable.
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