Instrument Care

Polish and fretboard oil are not interchangeable, and using the wrong one does damage. Polish is for finished surfaces — the body and the back of the neck, anywhere there is lacquer or gloss between you and the wood. Oil is for unfinished wood, which on nearly every guitar means the fretboard. Put polish on a bare rosewood board and you seal it; put oil on a gloss finish and it sits there.

What each one is for

Lemon or orange

Both clean and condition unfinished wood and both do the job. The difference is the scent and how each one feels going on. Players tend to pick one and stay with it, so if you have no preference, start with either — you are not choosing between a better and a worse product.

How often

Polish whenever the finish looks dull or fingerprinted; it is cosmetic and you cannot overdo it. Fretboard oil is different: once or twice a year is plenty for most players, and more often in a dry climate or if the board looks pale and feels chalky. Oiling a fretboard that does not need it does nothing good. The natural moment for both is with the strings off, during a string change.

The kits

Each of the three liquids is also sold paired with a microfiber cloth: polish with cloth, lemon oil with cloth, orange oil with cloth. The cloth is the part people forget, and a paper towel or a shirt sleeve is how finishes get fine scratches.

We manufacture the polish and bottle both oils ourselves, here in our own plant in the USA — the same building the strings come from.