Fuddland

I don’t take the best care of my guitars. They’re in very good nick considering they’re both around ten years old, but still: I don’t own any bespoke guitar stands [the nearest wall usually suffices, which means they’ve fallen over a good few times over the years], and I’ve only changed the strings a handful of times. But there’s a good reason behind this.

You know that gunk that accumulates on a [ball-based] mouse’s rollers and scroll-wheel, or on the keys of a well-used keyboard; the gunk that’s essentially human skin-cells and sweat, mixed in with some miscellaneous dust and dirt? Every now and then you need to open up the mouse and remove the gunk with a cotton bud and some nail-polish remover [if you’ve never done this, I’d highly recommend it: the improvement is usually so drastic it’s as if you’ve bought a new mouse].

The same thing builds up on a fret board, and it’s a lot trickier to clean off. I’m wary of applying any kind of chemical to the wood, so it’s a case of scraping away all that dead skin by hand, fret-by-fret, which is made much easier if you’re replacing the strings at the same time, but still a fairly grim and monotonous task. If anyone’s got some top tips to make this job simpler, I’d love to hear them — otherwise I’m considering attempting to play whilst wearing latex gloves in the future.

The following is an entry which follows on from the above:

1. Scrambled Eggs [Fuddland]. Excerpt: When Paul McCartney wrote Yesterday, he was sure that he'd copied another song; the melody sounded very familiar, yet he, nor no-one that he played it to, could tell him exactly where they'd heard it before. Eventually they decided that...

#1

felicity | 2005 / 03 / 20 – 17:30

my ex used to clean the fret board with plain old furniture polish(Mr sheen to name the exact brand)when he changed the strings, but then he did change the strings once a month at least. it was the only household cleaning he took seriously, and with 6 guitars it took some time as well!

[Edited by commenter — 17:32]

#2

Richard | 2005 / 03 / 20 – 22:39

I change the strings on my guitars every few months, but I’ve never bothered cleaning the fretboard. There is some gunk on there, and the fretboard is rather worn - especially on my acoustic - but I don’t worry about it. I think it adds to the character of the instrument. :-)

#3

Lesley Garrett's mum | 2005 / 03 / 21 – 08:47

Re #2 - You must be very clean, I always have all manner of kak behind my frets - at least I did when I used to play a lot.

A smokers toothbrush is the best thing I found - stiff enough to remove the grub but not so much it scratches the wood.

#4

mrtn | 2005 / 03 / 21 – 12:00

only changed strings a handful of times in ten years? to paraphrase you, “I’d highly recommend it: the improvement is usually so drastic it’s as if you’ve bought a new guitar” ;)

re cleaning: yeah, stiffish toothbrush, slightly dampened in warm water, dried off immediately, does the trick…

#5

David | 2005 / 03 / 21 – 14:50

Re #1–4: Thanks for the advice chaps [especially from Ms Garrett’s mother, I’m so touched you’ve continued to visit after all the Red Nose Day debacle], I shall look for a suitable brush for future cleaning purposes. And yes, it does sound absolutely lovely with new strings — remind me never to leave it so long again. :)

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