Many students ask me which products they should use to clean their acoustic guitars. Some of them have tried commercial guitar cleaning kits or polishes—or even (gasp!) Lemon Pledge. Don’t do it! Polishes build up on the finish of your guitar, dulling the sound of the wood. Instead, simply take a warm, damp cloth and wipe the wood down, and then dry it immediately with a soft, dry cloth. Micro-fiber cloths provide a soft, clean touch for drying. Your finish will look as good as new.
While you’re at it, you can clean those dusty hard-to-reach areas like your tuning head and the area under the strings in front of the bridge with a small (1- to 2-inch), clean, dry paint brush.
[photo: Geishaboy500]
I learned this lesson early in life through the experience of a friend. He left his beautiful Martin acoustic guitar in its hard-shell case on his bed with the case unlatched. Then his mother decided to move the guitar. When she picked up the case by its handle, the top flew open and the guitar fell out and smashed into the case top, destroying the exquisite spruce face of the instrument.