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Gonna clean up an old Yamaha steel string.
Is naptha safe to use as cleaner on all surfaces?
The finish looks good, the fretboard is gunked up.
Thanks,
Dan

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Wah

I think naptha is fine to clean the fretboard, although you may want to oil it afterward. I would test the other finished surfaces in an inconspicuous area.

Naptha should be good , however I also use and prefer restoration polish and fretboard finishing oil . But thats just me.

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Naptha would be fine. I just use lemon oil, it cleans and conditions.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I've used Naptha for years and have never had an adverse reaction on any finish I've used it on. I have learned though, that for gunky unfinished fretboards, (as B. Howard says) lemon oil saves a step and actually does a better/quicker job with the cleaning.

The naptha worked great.
I cleaned up the gunk, then went over everything with a light rub using steel wool and naptha.
I hand polished the surfaces with Mequires swirl remover and applied Howards wax n feed to the board.
It looks great and does not feel tacky.
Thanks,
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Naptha is the default cleaner for Fender bolt-on maple necks in that it won't harm the finish either and eats finger jam nicely.....yuck....

I set-up many guitars every single day and part of my routine is to clean the stinkin things too unless, of course, it belongs to someone famous who wants a dirty old pre-war Martin on their next album cover and might hit the roof if I cleaned their ax..... Not kidding, this was an actual experience and we live and learn....

Anyway my routine for where there is heavy grime and the instrument is finished is spritzing distilled water on the heavy gunk and removing most of it with water and then I hit the thing with cleaner/polish.

For fret boards OOOO steel wool works great (seal and protect the pups on electrics and vacuum up debris before unsealing the pups) and then the board gets treated with Howard Feed-n-wax.

Naptha is flammable though so be sure to follow best practices regarding any open flames or rags that were used with Naphtha left in the trash bins.

Wouldn't want to use it on a maple neck, but for the rest I've found the linoleum blade scrape works wonders. Not only does it remove all the crud, it leaves a nice smooth surface without sanding. A little lemon oil and a brisk rub with a paper towel (finger nail against the fret) seems to clean any remaining residue and gives a nice dark, shiny fret board as well as removing some corrosion on the frets. A quick rub down with a piece of leather across the frets will make the thing look new.

I have to admit that it's a little scary at first, but now I do all of my incoming guitars this way. If you have an Epiphone with whatever that gunk is they put on the fret board, this is a good way to get rid of it.

Hand most players back their pride and joy with a nice dark shiny fret board and gleaming frets and you'll have a customer for life.

Interesting you say that. I've had good luck with an Apple spudger for cleaning against the frets without damaging the finish.
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Nylon-Probe ... B003TOFFNQ

Cool! The plastic scraper would undoubtedly do a great job of removing the accumulated gunk. My concern with the linoleum knife blade scrape is that it would remove some of the lacquer on a maple neck. When I've used it on rosewood (or whatever the magic wood used is) there is always a little bit of the wood that gets scraped up. That's why I get a nice smooth finish with it. It eliminates having to sand between frets. And it's a fairly quick process. If you've found something that works good, congrats! I haven't had a maple neck yet to play with, but now I have a real reason to try to snipe one of the scrapers that looks like the one you used from the stock room...

What's this?

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Pat

It's a scraping tool used to peel old linoleum from a floor surface. You can buy them at most hardware stores.

Using a scraper blade for cleaning seems a bit harsh.

Glenn