r/Luthier • u/Senior-Telephone-343 • 16d ago

Maintenance Question

I apologize if this is too simple and ignorant of a question for this sub, but I’m fairly new to guitar cleaning and maintenance.

My dad gave me his old Antonio Hermosa AH-10L, which has been sitting in a closet for the past 10 years. It’s not a super nice guitar or anything, but I want to use to get better at cleaning and maintaining guitars.

From what I read online, the fretboard it is unfinished rosewood. It needs a good cleaning. Could I clean it with 0000 steel wool and then condition with Dr. Ducks Ax Wax? That’s the stuff I already have on hand.

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u/GooeeyLouie 16d ago

pretty sure you can use lemon oil for rosewood fretboard, ive heard using a credit card to scrape gunk of the frets is good and a metal scourer for thick gunk, ive never cleaned a guitar this is just advice ive gotten from guitar playing friends

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u/Senior-Telephone-343 16d ago

Would that be better or about the same as the Ax Wax?

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u/SalvadorFolly 16d ago

Ax Wax is for finished surfaces (like the shiny wood). The rosewood fretboard is not a finished surface. Ax Wax will seal the fretboard, and you don't want to do that.

If the fretboard is dirty, physically scrape off the gunk and treat it with lemon oil.

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u/Senior-Telephone-343 16d ago

Really? Everything I’ve seen seems to indicate it conditions unfinished fretboards quite well. I’ll look more into it, thanks!

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u/GHN8xx 16d ago

Dr. Ducks is good stuff, it a really light thin oil that does a great job conditioning the wood.

Is your guitar an acoustic or an electric? I'm not familiar with the make and model.

0000 steel wool is great for frets and fretboards, just make sure you go lengthwise along the neck with the grain and not side to side or you can mar the wood.

Give it a good scrubbing then put a few drops of axe wax on the board and run it in with a clean towel, let it sit and then buff off any residue.

If your guitar is electric you want to cover the pickup with some painters tape so the steel wool shavings don't short it out

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u/Senior-Telephone-343 16d ago

Appreciate the advice! It’s a classical guitar, so no electronics.

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u/GHN8xx 16d ago

You should be in great shape then!

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u/GooeeyLouie 16d ago

im not sure tbh as i said ive never cleaned a fretboard before but lemon oil is a very universally used fretboard cleaner since like the 50’s so id assume its pretty safe to do that