How unsanitary does a guitar get sitting out in the open?
It can get pretty gross, actually.
While the idea of picking up an old, beat-up Fender Stratocaster and strumming away on it is a very romantic notion, the reality is that unless it's cleaned first, the entire guitar is a cesspit of filth.
What are the most unsanitary parts of an electric guitar?
In this order:
- Forearm rest area
- Fretboard
- Back of neck
- Back of guitar body
- Tuner keys
- Volume knob
- The 5 and 6-string bridge saddles
Here's a further description of each. All of these go on the assumption that the owner never cleans his guitar (and there are a lot of guitar players like that out there).
Forearm rest area
This is the #1 place where sweat is transferred to the guitar body, so much so that it actually mars the finish even on urethane coated bodies. Sweat upon sweat upon sweat is caked here again and again and again. Yes, it is as disgusting as it sounds.
Fretboard
Every guitar player knows this one. Gunk cakes up and there's just no way of avoiding it. On a maple fretboard you can clean this with a toothbrush and Windex since the finish is sealed (meaning it is the sealant is dirty and not the wood itself). On a rosewood fretboard, use of a cleaning cloth with warm water will usually break up gunk on the wood. If not, you'll have to buy a Dunlop System 65 cleaning kit and clean your fretboard per the instructions that come with it.
In my experience, ebony is the worst for gunk buildup. The wood looks nice, but it attracts finger gunk like a magnet. And it doesn't matter if you wash your hands every time before playing, that stupid ebony board will gunk up so quickly it's not even funny.
Back of neck
The fretboard gets all the finger gunk while the back of the neck gets all the palm gunk. Fortunately this is easy to clean using just warm water and cleaning cloth.
Back of guitar body
On older guitars, "buckle rash" doesn't necessarily happen due to a belt buckle. In fact, most of the time it doesn't. It usually happens from the guitar player playing the instrument shirtless, and/or wearing thin shirts and having sweat come through the fabric and on to the guitar.
Tuner keys
It is incredible how many guitar players don't clean these things. All it takes is a squirt of Windex on a paper towel to shine up tuner keys in less than 30 seconds.
This very specific area is, by the way, the #1 place where you would pick up filth on your hands in the guitar store. You'd think it would be from the strings but it's not. The tuners have a larger flat surface where some greasy, disease-ridden moron put his grubby fingers all over it. To avoid touching filth like that, ask a sales guy for a polish cloth and wipe down the tuners yourself. He'll get one for you, not to worry.
Volume knob
This is always the dirtiest knob on any electric guitar because it's the knob used most, so it's easy to understand why it discolors faster than the others.
5 and 6-string saddles
Many players rest their palm on the bridge, and this can cover the 6-string saddle and sometimes the 5-string saddle as well.
Look at any used guitar that has gold hardware and notice that the bridge will always have the gold worn off on the 5 and 6-string saddle. Now you know why.
How to clean filth off a guitar to make it sanitary again?
This basically involves taking the guitar apart and putting it back together again. And when I say "take apart," that doesn't mean the entire guitar (ex: you don't have to take off the neck.) Just dissemble most of it, clean, then put back together.
On a Fender or Squier Stratocaster, you do the following for a complete cleaning:
- Take off the strings and throw them out.
- Take off the bridge completely.
- Take off all string saddles, clean each saddle, and use a pipe cleaner through the hole where the string goes through to clean that properly.
- Use a pipe cleaner to clean out the bridge block where the strings go through.
- Clean the bridge. Windex and paper towels work here.
- Reinstall string saddles to bridge.
- Unscrew the pick guard and put the screws to the side.
- Wipe down the entire body, front and back, and under the perimeter of the pick guard. You will probably find the most gunk under the guard.
- Reinstall guard to body.
- Reinstall saddles to bridge.
- Reinstall bridge to body.
- Pop off the 3 control knobs, clean those as best you can, reinstall.
- Raise the pickups as high as they will go, clean them, then lower them back to where they were (note: Yes it would be more proper to remove the pickup casing entirely to clean it that way, but this way is faster.)
- Wipe down the neck, front and back. Use either warm water or cleaning solution in the System 65 kit mentioned above.
- Fret cleaning is optional. I would only do it if they're really dingy and/or are showing green, in which case you should mask off the wood and perform light polishing using 0000 grade steel wool (a very fine grade steel wool that feels like cloth.)
- Remove the tuners and clean each one by one. Use Windex and paper towels again. Use a pipe cleaner for vintage style slotted tuners to get inside the slot easily. Reinstall tuners when done.
- Install a new set of strings, tune, get the pickup heights set properly, and you should be done.
How often it is required to do a "total cleaning?"
The general rule of thumb is that if you can see gunk, you need to clean it.
For most people, that means a guitar with regular play needs a complete cleaning roughly once every 3 to 6 months. And that's only if you think it needs it.
What about nitro finishes?
The old "secret" to cleaning a nitro finish is to use Meguiar's products. Namely, Meguiar's M7 Show Car Glaze followed with Meguiar's M34 Glaze Final Inspection. Yes, car stuff. Works well. Those two used one after the other is a longstanding standard process to maintain nitrocellulose lacquer finishes. In fact, it almost works too well. After cleaning with those two solutions you won't even want to put so much as a fingerprint on your guitar finish. I'm not joking.
As for how well it Meguiar's works on checked nitro finishes, that I don't know. Maintaining a checked finish is a weird animal because you have a finish that has visible deterioration, so... how clean should you go? That's an uncertainty. Personally, on a checked nitro finish I would just use warm water and a cleaning cloth. But on nitro that hasn't started cracking yet, then oh yeah, give 'er the Meguiar's treatment for a better-than-new shine.
Should you use Meguiar's on urethane finishes? You can, but it's total overkill. Because urethane doesn't check and is much tougher than nitro, you can use Windex and then apply regular car wax for a super shine on a urethane coated body. As for the neck, I wouldn't wax that because that can lead to gunk which can be difficult to clean off. That, and a waxed neck just feels weird to the hand.
Fender Mustang Faded Mocha Special Edition
Sometimes it's the simpler special edition Fender guitars that make for the best kind, and this is one of them.
Take the Fender Mustang in a special faded mocha finish. Its price is the same as a regular Fender Mustang such as this one in Olive (which is a standard finish option), meaning you don't pay any extra to get this particular guitar.
If you have played the Squier Bullet Mustang HH, a dirt cheap guitar, and wanted another Mustang that is more upscale with some pizzazz to it, getting this mocha Mustang is actually a really good deal.
Obviously, this Mustang patterns after the mocha color options of the 1970s, where at the time you could get this finish on Stratocasters and Telecasters. Seeing it applied to the Mustang actually works very nicely because of its decidedly woody appearance. Grain lines are easily seen on both the body and neck, the black-on-black pickup covers and pick guard work nicely (and yes the guard does have a white outline stripe to give it better definition), and the chrome isn't overdone at all. What you get is just a really nice look.
This is an example of my favorite type of special edition Fender. It's subtle, not overblown, no crazy gold, no crazy stripes, no crazy colors. You get a limited run instrument that's outside of the normal Fender catalog that you're proud to own. And again, it does not cost any more than a regular Mustang.
I honestly think this should be a standard color option for the Mustang because it works so well.
If you have the cash, grab one of these.
Older Squier guitars worth getting
There are a few older Squier models out there that are actually pretty cool if you can find them in good shape...
...with emphasis on if. Most Squier guitar owners do not treat their guitars well. Most do either a) beat the crap out of them or b) not play them for months or years before finally parting with it. However, sometimes you'll come across one that's in decent condition.
At this point in electric guitar history there's now a whole swath of guitars from when Squier reinvented itself (more or less) in the 2000s. In '04 the Vintage Modified Series was launched and in '08 the Classic Vibe Series came into existence. Those two series of guitars that still exist to this day is what make guitarists - myself included - take notice.
Here are a few that are no longer made that are worth picking up if you can find them.
Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster Special
Top-loading Jazzmaster with no vibrato system at all, concentric controls and a Stratocaster "football" output jack. 25.5" scale length. Decent guitar to own if you want an uncomplicated Jazzmaster that has the tone without all the extra electronic and vibrato bits.
Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Special
I regret not buying this new when I had the chance. It's a Tele with a Jazzmaster neck and a Jazzmaster front pickup. This is one I actually played in person. It played and sounded very nice.
This only came in butterscotch with the black guard. No other color was ever offered.
Squier Vintage Modified Tele Custom II
This is another I regret not buying. Love the headstock treatment and love the big P90 single-coil pickups. I'm not a fan of the skirted amp knobs but that's forgivable here. And the vintage white (looks yellow) looks simply amazing.
Squier Simon Neil Stratocaster
This is basically a Squier Classic Vibe '60s Stratocaster with one exception. It's Fiesta Red. It is as far as I know the only Classic Vibe Strat (arguably the best Strat Squier makes) to ever come in this finish, and that's what makes it worth getting if you can find one in good shape.
To note, this is not an easy Strat to locate. It was a very limited run and I've never seen one in person. But it did exist.
NOT out-of-production, as it's still being made new at the time I write this. This is the only Squier Strat made that has the satin urethane neck finish just like the Mexico and USA made Fender Strats. It's also the only Squier Strat that has the modern 2-post bridge with brushed saddles.
Want to know why you never see this model in a guitar store? It's because it sells real quick. Guys who know Squier Strats know this is one of the best out there. It has almost every appointment that a USA Fender model has at a bargain basement price. Is this "the ultimate sleeper Squier Strat?" For the moment, yes it is.
This is an older model but totally worth getting if you have the cash for it. You won't be disappointed.
Fender Classic Player Jaguar Special makes an appearance with the pau ferro fretboard
The Fender Classic Player Jaguar Special is a weird Jag, and now it comes with the pau ferro fretboard.
As I mentioned a little while back, Mexico-made Fender guitars are now featuring fingerboards in pau ferro wood material. On the 3-color sunburst Classic Player Jag, the look works. On other body colors (like black) it doesn't, but the 3TSB carries it nicely.
As for why the Classic Player series Jag is an oddball, it's for 3 reasons.
First is the Adjust-O-Matic bridge. In this Jag setup, it's basically a floating Les Paul style bridge with edge saddles instead of the traditional grooved Jaguar/Jazzmaster saddles.
Second, the vibrato system is physically positioned closer to the bridge, making the length of the string from bridge-to-plate significantly shorter. I presume is to decrease "unwanted" string ring. I personally think the ring is part of Jag tonal character, but on this one it's gone. Whether you think that's better or not is up to you.
Third - and this is what truly makes this guitar an oddball - is the fact the truss rod adjustment is done at the heel and not the pegboard, yet the neck is a modern shape with 9.5" radius with medium jumbo fret wire. This means you've got vintage-style and extremely inconvenient rod adjustment location combined with a modernized neck shape. This makes no sense at all. If the neck was a vintage-spec 7.25" fingerboard radius with small fret wire, sure, I could understand a heel positioned adjustment location. But on a modernized neck? Again, it makes no sense at all. It's just a weird mish-mash of vintage + modern.
Is this is decent "player's Jag"? If you're okay with the Adjust-O-Matic bridge and can deal with the stupidity of the truss rod adjustment location, yes this is a decent Jag.
This particular Jag has what Fender calls "hot" single-coil Jaguar pickups in it. No further description is given by Fender than that other than it sounds "fatter." I assume that means a pair of midrange-heavy Jag pickups with strong alnico 5 magnets in them. And that's totally fine.
Another perk to this Jag is that the neck pocket is specifically cut to have "better pitch" which should cut down on buzzy notes after the 12th fret, and the vibrato arm (Fender calls it a tremolo arm) is screw-in so it won't fall out.
Overall, good guitar. But still an oddball Jag.
Epiphone Lee Malia Les Paul Custom
This is definitely an oddball Les Paul, but the fancy dress actually works...
...and I'm talking about the Epiphone Lee Malia Les Paul Custom.
Fortunately, this Paul is not just an appearance package. It does have the '59 neck profile, the 84T-LM humbucker in the rear and what's known as a "P-94" single-coil in the front position. The pickups are USA-made, by the way.
Body is walnut with gloss coating, hardware is gold, and the inlay work is in an artisan floral style pattern.
Now for those of you out there that know your Gibson history, this Les Paul is inspired by the Gibson Les Paul Artisan model from the 1970s. There were 2-pickup and 3-pickup versions of it. The Epiphone is kind of a mix between the two models.
The original Gibson Artisan model from the '70s, truth be told, is fugly as hell. It just looks bad. The cut of wood they used for the body back then for the walnut and tobacco finishes had awful grain lines and the headstock treatment just didn't work. Oh, and the triple humbuckers they used were all-gold. Very tacky looking. While the tuxedo look of the Black Beauty looked right (Epiphone makes that too!), the Artisan that Gibson made definitely did not.
This Epiphone Artisan Les Paul however actually looks nice. The "blackback" pickups suit the body very well, the ornate inlay treatment is done much better this time around, the grain in the body looks correct, and this guitar really gets the look right.
In addition, the curvier shape of the Epiphone headstock suits the Artisan so much better than the squared-off Gibson headstock ever did.
This special Paul does truly look like a special edition that's worth flipping over a few extra bucks for. This is what the original Artisan Les Paul should have been in the first place.