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Post by Como on Jul 2, 2007 2:30:40 GMT
What is the best way to clean grime and sweat off a duolian with the frosted duco paint without damaging the paint?
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Post by tark on Jul 2, 2007 2:47:04 GMT
I reckon gentle wiping with a cloth dampened in warm water with a little washing up liquid should do it. Use a second cloth dampened with only warm water to remove any soapy residue. It is very important not to swamp the guitar in water and to make sure it is well dried off with a towel or adsorbent paper afterwards. The most difficult problem is cleaning around the cover plate, so ideally the guitar should be cleaned disassembled. Q tips can be used for the crevices. Only clean if really necessary, too frequent cleaning only increases the chances of loosing paint and increases the chance of rust.
Any solvents that evaporate easily may have an effect on the paint and loose paint is likely to come off whatever you clean it with.
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 2, 2007 8:45:06 GMT
Hi Como,
I recommend cleaning the guitar with a soft cloth and then to protect it from sweat & grime use a little car wax. Keep a shammy leather in your case and after gigs give the guitar a good wipe. The shammy will remove moisture. The car wax will protect the guitar from moisture and also help the paint stay on. I must point out here that car wax will give the duco a little bit of a shiny finish, so don't over polish it.
Frosted duco is not the most durable of finishes and I do not recommend using warm water or any kind of cleaner. (Tark, I enjoy your contributions to the forum and your observations and comments are valuable to the community - however.....I am always very careful when advising people about caring for and stringing their guitars on this forum. As I cannot see the guitar or the person, unless I know them, I always advise the 'very safe' option. Warm water & soap may be okay, but it could damage the duco, and that is not something I am prepared to risk!).
Como - perhaps you could post a close-up photo of your Duolian?
Shine On,
Michael
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Post by tark on Jul 2, 2007 10:43:22 GMT
Michael -
You are right of course, the Duco finish should be treated with great care, more so perhaps than a nickel plate finish.
My thought was that Como wanted to do a one-off clean, of years of grime, rather than a once-a-gig cleaning.
The problem with car wax is that you have to worry about its constituents; silicon and other additives. I know some guitar repair guys hate it when regular guitars are cleaned with non guitar specific waxes because so many of them contain silicon, which is very hard to remove and stops glues and re-finishing from adhering properly. I'd guess some car waxes have some kind of cleaning agent in them. Once the wax is on you'd have a hard time getting it off and it will seal any existing dirt onto the guitar.
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 2, 2007 12:18:41 GMT
Hi Tark,
The finish of painted metal-bodied National and Dobro guitars is much more fragile than any nickel plating.
I agree with your comments about cleaning, but not about car wax. I was originally turned on to car wax in the 1980s by Bob Brozman and have used it on most of my guitars ever since. Before applying wax I polish my guitars with 'Mer', as recommended by Dave King. I probably only wax them once a year....if that. I find it excellent and have recomended it to numerous people.
'Shine' On,
Michael
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Post by tark on Jul 2, 2007 15:38:41 GMT
Hi Michael,
I should have qualified my comments on car wax a bit, my concerns were about using it on a Duco finish. If you applied it onto dirty Duco I reckon it wouldn't work very well. On a plated metal guitar I'm sure it works well and there would be no problem about cleaning it off a plated metal body either. I must try it myself on my nickel guitars.
The new NRP polychrome (how can they continue to call it polychrome when its only one colour?) finishes are really tough and you can certainly use a damp cloth on those.
By the way I have found the blue microfibre cleaning cloths sold by Marks & Spencer are great for polishing fingerprints and stuff off of the plated guitars. Other soft cloths tend to just smear the finger gunk around the surface.
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 2, 2007 16:54:11 GMT
Hi Tark,
I think caution and sensitivity should always be applied when doing anything to an antique guitar. However, because Duco and Polychrome on old guitars is so fragile, I have found Turtle Wax to be an excellent invisible fixative and protector. I should add that 30 years of handling antique Nationals & Dobros has given me a sensitive understanding of what feels right and what doesn't. In recommending this I am beginning to contradict myself about online advice, but we do have to be able to have serious in depth discusions about guitars & music, otherwise the forum is pointless. I cannot advise others what to do with their old Nationals, but I can tell you that I have successfuly protected a few painted polychrome & frosted duco finishes with Turtle Wax. If in doubt - test it on a small area. But you are also correct in that once the wax is applied, it will never come off. So be careful.
As for new NRP painted finishes - they are built to withstand a hundred years of abuse and should be cleaned as per the NRP instructions.
Shine On,
Michael
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Post by mirrormist on Jul 2, 2007 19:52:41 GMT
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 3, 2007 11:12:18 GMT
Hi Anthony,
Great pictures! I don't know where the idea originated, but Turtle Wax is a very good protector against moisture & acid attacking the finish of a wood or metal bodied National. Also, if you happen to get insects stuck on the coveplate after a long gig, they just wipe off!
Shine On,
Michael.
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Post by mirrormist on Jul 3, 2007 21:07:52 GMT
Hello Michael…guess that’s why the perforations on a coverplate are large enough to let sound out but also just small enough to stop those bluesbottles hitting the cone and distorting the sound if one is playing on the fly ;D
best wishes
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