Hello All,

I have been researching and found a huge dilemma about the right cleaning product for maple fingerboards.

I own a 1993 American Standard Strat with MAPLE FINGERBOARD, and would like some expert advise on what to use to clean it.

Thank you in advance!
Keep Rocking.

Hi midnight.bluesman: how filthy is this maple neck? And does it have a nice glossy lacquer on it? If so, ordinary guitar polish is a good tool for the job, or even better just a dry cloth, a bit of warm breath and plenty of elbow grease are ideal.

You could also try spit. You may think I'm being facetious but I'm not. In the world of old master paintings one of the principle cleaning agents is human spit, because it contains certain enzymes which are good for loosening dirt. If you go to a big art museum and take a look at a Rembrandt, Monet or similar which has been cleaned that painting will have been simply smothered in spit (in thousands of small stages).

Strange but true.

I expect the "huge dilemma" you refered to concerns the use of lemon oil, right? The only point about that is that maple fingerboards are nearly always sealed with lacquer of one sort or another so oil is pointless as it won't penetrate and feed the wood. It is used (sparingly) on rosewood and ebony to help stop them drying out too much, since they are usually unsealed. No such worries on maple - and if the latter were unsealed it would simply become horribly dirty very fast, an issue that lemon oil would only exacerbate. Which is why that lacquer is there.

Retrospectively, thank you too!

I shall - C

_________________

Ceri wrote



Its not true that for the really big old masters they brought a caravan of camels in to help out!

I just bought my first maple necked Tele and now I need a camel It is just amazing what I keep learning from the forum.

In my significant experience of camels (seriously) the place to be is in the middle. Not that it's so clean there (and it certainly is uncomfortable), but that either end is so amazingly filthy and stinky those bits are where the flies rush to, so in the middle you get left alone, comparatively.

But in all my time riding camels (again, seriously) I never tried cleaning a maple fingerboard with one. I consider that a failing in myself.

One day I'll try and put it right.

Cheers - C

_________________

Would it be wrong to now post this emoticon?





Cheers

Nutter

Er, I think this is the one, no?



Cheers - C

_________________

Ah, why yes, the more drool the better cleaning!

Cheers

Nutter

OK. But this is too much, right?



And this is just impolite:



I do hope Mr midnight.bluesman is appreciating all the useful input he's getting on this thread.

Cheers - C

_________________

Good stuff! I'm sure we're talking acids now, not enzyms?

Possibly. That's odd though, isn't it - I would imagine that fingerboard filth would tend towards the acidic rather than alkaline, so you'd want the opposite substance to shift it.

...At school I did physics and biology but not chemistry. I suspect my knowledge is shaky on this stuff.

Huh. Now you've got me thinking on this enzyme spit thing. So happens I'm having a drink in an hour with someone highly expert in that field. I'll do some asking.

Cheers - C

_________________

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Not really, all you need is a stronger acid to remove weaker acids! But anyhow: Chin Chin!

Nutter

Okely dokely: well now I've got the lowdown. I just was chatting with a chappie who set up and ran for many years one of the world's leading art conservation departments. For this we needed the correct liquid sustenance, which came in the form of this BNJ (Bailie Nicol Jarvie) Scotch whisky. Nice:



(Mr midnight.bluesman is new to the Forum and probably won't quite understand our need for drink photos here... )

Anyroadup. Seems it absolutely is the enzymes in human saliva that are the desirable substance. There are artificial versions but in the art conservation world nothing is felt to do the job quite as well as the real thing. So that's what they use, in addition to other solvents such as toluene and similar.

Interestingly (depending on what you find interesting I 'spose), apparently human spit can vary either side of neutral pH, and some people's saliva is better than others for cleaning purposes, though that has to do with the enzymes, not the acidity.

I was told an amusing story: a lost Massacre of the Innocents by Rubens was rediscovered in Austria in 2001 and sold at Sotheby's in London in 2002 for £49.5m / $79m (making it the most expensive work of art ever sold to that date). It then spent several years at the National Gallery in London during which time it was cleaned, before moving to its current location at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

It was cleaned by a conservator named John Bull and the unusual bit is that the hefty legal contract for the job specified that his and only his saliva could be used for the work. It is believe that this may be the only conservation contract so far in history to so require only the spit of one named individual to be used in this way. That man has internationally prized goo in his mouth!

So there ya go, it's official. If you want to clean your maple fingerboards to the finest level - lick them clean. Or if you can afford it, send them to Mr John Bull in London to lick them for you. That’s the ultimate.

Mmmmmm – dirty fingerboards! Yum.



Cheers - C

PS: you get more added value on the Fender Forum, compared to certain other guitar forums - huh?

_________________

Ceri,
You always have the most interesting liquid refreshments on hand.

Jeff