and too clean a fretboard you can try a number of things. if you want a great book and in my opinion a must have for the diy'ers out there it is simply called "how to make your electric guitar play great"... creative name.
anyways this book gets down to the t about everything and this guy says he uses salive (spit) first and see if that works.... i'm assuming not in excess and this is for the REALLY dirty fret boards. you can also try mineral spirits or naptha (lighter fluid), with a cotton rag. it says to let the solvent (whatever you choose) to sit for a little while to let it loosen up the grime, then wipe it off.
you can also use an old credit card or whatever to scrape it... just don't scrape too hard.
but first just try breathing on it and then wiping it off... kind of like when you were a kid and you'd exhale on the window and write your name on the glass.
but if it is out of control you can try scraping it with a razor blade... but take heed. you have to understand how fragile that wood really is, and the smallest thing can completly destroy a nice neck.
but yeah, i'd advise against using water. and if you do use spit don't use it in excess.
lord that is alot of information, but hey... all the stuff works. or you can buy the stuff from guitar shops which will work just as good obviously.
good luck and be carefull with that guitar :)
