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cotton towel scratches Nitrocelluose!?


Andrew

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Johnt wrote: Now listen here you gopher murdering son of a gun!

 

Ah, back from the very brink of death due to the old bottle flu are ya? I knew you'd pull through. Sorry about calling you a soccer player, thoughtless of me. When I heard of your escapades with AlbertJohn and the delicate state you were in I new it would be a good time to do some ribbing. Oh, by the way, it's a Beaver, not a gopher and he did it to himself. He chewed the tree down,as that's what they do, and was killed as a consequence. Ergo, hoisted by his own petard!!! Streuth.

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Back to the original topic. Don't cringe...I've used automotive polishing compound to take scratches and fog out of guitar finishes that polish just couldn't help. Even got a minor case of belt rash to look good.

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The laquer is softer when it is new. It hardens as it ages. I am not sure how long it takes to get hard, but it will probably be after you banged it against the coffee table a few times (just did that with my Martin a few weeks ago).

 

I would be careful trying to polish it out. If the laquer is really new you might make it worse. I used some polish on my Martin headstock when I got it (right from the factory) and it scratched the finish. Darker, glossy finishes show the flaws more.

 

I wouldn't worry about it...two years or two months from now you won't notice it.

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A luthier friend of mine sends a Dean Markley Lov'n Care double-thick cotton polish cloth with every guitar he sells. He swears by them for any nitro finish.

 

I agree, they work very well!

 

Be carefull of the stitched ends on microfiber cloths though.

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  • 1 month later...

What's a good polishing cloth that won't scratch or dull an ebony nitro finish?

 

Anyone know if this is a good cloth to use - Dunlop "Guitar Finish Cloth": http://www.jimdunlop.com/index.php?page=products/pip&id=236&pmh=products/maintenance

 

1145816197_Guitar_Finish_Cloth_5430_463x342.jpg

 

GC has these... and on the back it says:

Using a formulation originally developed for jewelers, our super-soft cloth is absorbent, non-abrasive and perfectly matched to all popular guitar finishes. It's constructed of densely woven Japanese micro fibers....

 

I just recently picked up ebony SG Standard and being my first Gibson, I don't know much about the care of nitro finishes so want to make sure I get a cloth that is safe for nitro.

 

 

thnx

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My Gibson Gear polishing cloth is a cotton/poly blend. I guess the people at Gibson are idiots?

 

I love my guitars and I like to keep the grunge off of them, but I could care less about 'swirls' as long as the instrument continues to produce that beautiful tone. Mine all hang on walls in a display setting, but they are guitars not Faberge eggs. I want them to look like they have been played.

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i got a bag of "soft" 100% cotton utility towels from costco thinking they would be good to wipe up my guitar after use...last night i scrubbed (rather hard i guess) the top to get rid of that greasy whitish arm haze..and dammit if the thing didnt actually scratch the finish!!

 

Get thee back to Costco and get the big bag of yellow microfiber cloths. They won't scratch your guitar's finish, pick up dirt and dust (and don't just spread it around), and have virtually unlimited uses around the house, shop, garage, etc.

 

On the way home from Costco, stop at Guitar Center and get a bottle of Gibson Pump Polish. No more white arm haze.

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My favorite cloth for general wipe downs and stuff is a regular cotton baby diaper. Walmart, Target and other places always have them. I can't imagine anyone actually uses them for baby's anymore, but for guitars they are great. Just run them through the washer/dryer cycles a couple times to break them in. I always keep a stack in my music room for wiping down after playing and I also keep one in each case. I also use Micro-fiber cloths, but the diapers are way cheaper.

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My favorite cloth for general wipe downs and stuff is a regular cotton baby diaper. Walmart' date=' Target and other places always have them. I can't imagine anyone actually uses them for baby's anymore, but for guitars they are great. Just run them through the washer/dryer cycles a couple times to break them in. I always keep a stack in my music room for wiping down after playing and I also keep one in each case. I also use Micro-fiber cloths, but the diapers are way cheaper. [/quote']

 

Always good to have a nappy (diaper) or two around in case of emergencies, I find!

 

We used them for our first 2 so I must have some around to try.

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Always good to have a nappy (diaper) or two around in case of emergencies' date=' I find!

 

We used them for our first 2 so I must have some around to try.[/quote']

 

LOL AJ.... we always call them "Da rags" because when my kids were all small we used cotton diapers as spit up/drool rags when feeding them. One of my boys actually became quite attached to his "Da rag" and always dragged it around with him as a baby. Having 4 kids was great cause we always had a good supply. That is when I discovered that new cloth diapers when washed a couple times were... well, as soft as a baby's bottom and worked great as a cloth for wiping down my guitars. (Much to my wifes dismay as I would always "steal" a couple from the kids for my cases! :-$

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  • 8 months later...

I thought I would "bump" this thread for those of us that missed it. I thought it interesting discussion on that "rag" we choose to use on these beautiful finishes.

 

I was actually surprised that so many were in favor of using microfiber instead of the cotton cloths that Gibson recommends (Dare we go against the owner's manual?).

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Alright then I ordered a medium sized Googalie. I've noticed that rubbing firmly with a soft cotton Gibson branded cloth that I have (yellow flannel, probably the same as Fender, Martin and other cheap polishing cloths) seems to leave tiny scratches.

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I now use the Gibson polish with the microfibre cloths. I used to used furniture polish for years and the guitars are still in really good condition. However I have a couple of old guitars that I haven't owbned for that long and I can't remove the haze (arm fog) on these guitars. The luthier that I go to gets these milky marks out with car polish but hey lets not go there - lucky I trust him and so far so good.

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