Guitar Maintanence

OK so I got my guitar a few months ago, and it's coming that time of the month where i should probably do a few maintenance things. The guitar itself is working awesome, and the strings are fine.

what do i do to clean the fretboard, do I oil any parts like tuners or the bridge (it's tunomatic, not a whamy bridge), is there anything you use to polish a guitar (it's a Matte black guitar)?

Also, cable maintenance? My guitar cables aren't cheap but they are already starting to screw up (i'm kinda voilent with my cables), is that just a fact of life or are there any tricks?

cheers

Originally Posted by: suicidalmooseOK so I got my guitar a few months ago, and it's coming that time of the month where i should probably do a few maintenance things. The guitar itself is working awesome, and the strings are fine.

what do i do to clean the fretboard, do I oil any parts like tuners or the bridge (it's tunomatic, not a whamy bridge), is there anything you use to polish a guitar (it's a Matte black guitar)?

Also, cable maintenance? My guitar cables aren't cheap but they are already starting to screw up (i'm kinda voilent with my cables), is that just a fact of life or are there any tricks?

cheers

If its a rosewood fretboard a little lemon oil will clean it up nicely, if its maple, scrape any crud off with somethin blunt (end of a plastic ruler) and give it a wipe over with a damp, NOT WET, cloth, you don't need to oil anythin just give all the hardware a wipe over with dry lint free cloth, there are numerous guitar polishes on the market, your local guitar shop should be able to advise you according to the type of finish on your axe, with regard to your cables the only advise i can offer is, look after them, the wire inside eventually breaks down, basically the cheaper the cable the quicker they break down, hope this helps dude :)

Originally Posted by: suicidalmoose... is there anything you use to polish a guitar (it's a Matte black guitar)? ...

Polish is probably not a good idea for a matte finish. I think a damp soapy rag is good, followed by a cloth dampened with clear water.

Whatever you do, avoid furniture polish, or car-care products! They often contain silicone, which can contaminate any shop that works on your guitar. A paint job on a silicone-contaminated guitar turns into a mess of 'fish-eyes' because paint will not grip on silicone. And there's no such thing as a solvent that will get rid of the stuff!

one of my biggest problems is just dust, there is a lot of dust in my room, and although i play my axe every day (and i play it standing up and pretty wildly :)) for a couple of hours, dust still settles on it and is really annoying.

It's an ebony fretboard ... do i still use lemon oil?

i get dust on my guitars a lot. i just gently slot a handkerchief (just a plain cotton one) under the strings and pull. that usually clears that for me then use an old t-shirt to wipe the rest of the dust off. its soft so it wont hurt the finish.

as for your cables, do you put them through your strap when your playing? i used to break the connections all the time before i started doing that. helps a lot if you stand on the cable while playing. can save your input jack too ;)

It's an ebony fretboard ... do i still use lemon oil?

No, i believe lemon oil should only be used on rosewood

How do you do an ebony fretboard? One of my basses has that and I've never advanced beyond giving it a rubdown with a dry cotton rag.

Ebony's a tough wood, for sure. The usual choice for a fretless bass because the strings will dig into the fretboard to a greater degree... especially with those fat jazz guages that are the norm.

A lot of times... Ebony is dyed with a black fgrain filler... to give it an extra black look... and also to fill in the grain so that it doesn't soak up as much moisture... So... I would say treat ebony as though it were maple... It wouldn't hurt it if you applied lemon oil... it just most likely will not help. But most guitars under the $1000 range that have Ebony fretboards are dyed.... Because they don't use a choice cut of the wood for lower priced instruments....

Originally Posted by: aschlemanA lot of times... Ebony is dyed with a black fgrain filler... to give it an extra black look... and also to fill in the grain so that it doesn't soak up as much moisture... So... I would say treat ebony as though it were maple... It wouldn't hurt it if you applied lemon oil... it just most likely will not help. But most guitars under the $1000 range that have Ebony fretboards are dyed.... Because they don't use a choice cut of the wood for lower priced instruments....

I know it is dyed because it's a limited edition ESP LTD that's supposed to be pitch black all ova, not sure if it's a bad quality wood, seems ok to me :P btw is there anything i can use to polish the fingerboard so it maintains that awesome black look or am i just gonna have to grin and bear it as it slowly because ordinary looking?

Originally Posted by: suicidalmooseI know it is dyed because it's a limited edition ESP LTD that's supposed to be pitch black all ova, not sure if it's a bad quality wood, seems ok to me :P btw is there anything i can use to polish the fingerboard so it maintains that awesome black look or am i just gonna have to grin and bear it as it slowly because ordinary looking?

Ebony is Ebony either way... But, there's really nothing that you can do to keep your fretboard from fading. If it truely is dyed... it will start to wear after time. That's why higher priced instruments get the high priced Ebony that won't fade as much.. or at all. You kind of just have to deal with it. You can still clean it and what not. But the fretboard itself will end up fading in color as you play it more. I like the look of a worn in fretboard personally. haha. But I like beat up guitars too... Just something about a guitar that's been around nad has a ton of battle scars.

See my pics link below to see a pic of two of my Strats... the black one carries more stories with it than I can even remember.