The best fretboard cleaner depends on your fretboard wood. For unfinished dark woods (rosewood, ebony), MusicNomad Fretboard F-ONE Oil or Dunlop Formula 65 Ultimate Lemon Oil are industry standards. For sealed or maple fretboards, stick to a dry microfiber cloth or mild guitar polish to prevent gummy build-up.
I've tried it just on my fret hand and it worked great. Not sticky and doesn't get gummy but I'm concerned how this will affect the neck and fretboard over time. It seemed like a crazy idea, but after trying it, it worked better than anything else I use.
To remove a light amount of dirt, give your fretboard a quick wipe with a microfiber cloth like our Microfiber Suede Polishing Cloth. The low pile microfiber gets into the pores and cleans out the sweat, oils, and gunk before they build up. It's a good idea to do this after you play.
I use rice vinegar, but any neutral vinegar will do (don't use balsamic) because it is a wonderful cleaning agent. Rub the vinegar over the fret board carefully as you replace each string. Note: Never take all of your strings off at once while restringing.
I've been using hot water and dawn soap for 40 years, never had any problems, of course after scrubbing you have to whip the fret board down getting all the water off, but works very well with a pretty stiff toothbrush, rub in some neck oil after and your good!
Murphy's oil soap, lemon pledge, any furniture polish/cleaner made for wood will work. Just make sure you apply the cleaner to the rag and not the instrument. Read the instructions and and make sure that it's safe for paint. If not, just be careful with it.
In music, the 3 Fret Rule (or "3-fret hack") is a popular shortcut used on guitar and bass to easily switch between major and minor keys.
Spray the Murphy's Oil Soap liberally onto a cloth and scrub the fretboard and the frets. Rotate the cloth frequently so you are using a clean portion. Once you are no longer picking up dirt, switch to a clean cloth and scrub again. Repeat as necessary until there is no residue on the cloth from dirt or the oil soap.
It's better to clean it when you change strings than to clean it with the strings on. If you're low on funds, using a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water. Loosen the strings a bunch, push them to the side off the nut and use the vinegar mix with cotton wool.
Don't use rubbing alcohol
Rubbing alcohol, if it gets on the guitar's neck, can end up sucking out some of the moisture from the guitar's wood. A guitar that is overly dry can become damaged overtime.
Clean the fretboard: Use fine steel wool to remove stubborn gunk from Rosewood/Ebony/Pau Ferro fretboards and apply lemon oil to re-hydrate. Use a damp cloth to clean Maple fretboards. Polish the guitar's body: For poly-finished (gloss) guitars, spray guitar polish onto a soft cloth and wipe down.
Since most maple fretboards have a clear coat on them, there's not much more you can do except clean them. Lighter fluid and a soft tooth brush will get any gunk out if it's really bad. Otherwise, a damp soft cloth wipe down only and wipe it down after every session. Do not oil it.
To clean gunk off a guitar neck, first remove the strings. Soften hardened grime with a guitar-safe cleaner (or naphtha/lighter fluid), scrape it away gently using a plastic card or a soft brush, and wipe clean. Finally, condition unfinished wood with lemon oil or dedicated fretboard conditioner.
Actual lemon oil is caustic and bad for your fretboard. Use either mineral oil or linseed oil.
A couple drops of Dawn and warm water on a damp rag and then buff dry. I never use polish. This one is 35 years old. Bob Prosser nice guitar!
This one's a little different, but here's another treatise on fingerboard "treatments." Folks used to use vaseline (white petroleum jelly) in their fingerboards “back in the day” when they wanted to make the fingerboard and strings feel slick.
Recommended cleaning supplies:
Nothing more extreme than guitar polish or lukewarm soapy water should ever really be necessary to clean a fretboard, and even those should be used sparingly. In general, unless you are a professional, avoid using any kind of solvent on your guitar.
Clean with isopropyl 98 percent, then a light coat of tung oil. If you don't have any tung oil, use lemon oil. WD 40, I use it for strings and overspray goes on the fretboard. but it's also good for keeping oxidation off of the metal parts.
The best fretboard cleaner depends on your fretboard wood. For unfinished dark woods (rosewood, ebony), MusicNomad Fretboard F-ONE Oil or Dunlop Formula 65 Ultimate Lemon Oil are industry standards. For sealed or maple fretboards, stick to a dry microfiber cloth or mild guitar polish to prevent gummy build-up.
The best all-around homemade wood cleaner combines 1/2 cup of white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar for dark wood), 1/4 cup of olive oil, and 111 tablespoon of lemon juice in a spray bottle. It cleans grime while moisturizing the wood grain to restore shine without harsh chemicals.
You can even use mineral oil or even baby oil that you find at the drugstore. They're all mineral oil products. They just have different scents and different viscosities and colorings, but they'll all protect your fingerboard just the same.
In guitar culture, there are two common answers depending on whether you mean musically or culturally:
Acoustic steel string guitars are harder to play than nylon string or electric guitars. They need about 30% more finger pressure to fret notes correctly. Thicker bodies and wider necks make them more challenging. These features are common in expert level acoustic guitars.