Not everyone that comes here is Dan Erlewine or Jim Donahue. Some folks are just starting out, and want to build up a good base of working on guitars. This tutorial is for those new to this sort of thing.

I call it “Elbow Grease”.

I gave it that name because of the tools involved-
(1) Phillips head screwdriver
(1) roll of paper towels
(1) newspaper
(1) bottle of Fantastik surface cleaner
(1) big ol’ bucket of Elbow Grease
(1)Scott's Liquid Gold, or comparable wood cleaner

That’s it. Those are the tools I used to turn this guitar....

..... from a $5 guitar into a $100 guitar. No- it’s not a $4000 work of art guitar, but...you can apply everything listed here to any guitar.

I started out by disassembling the entire guitar. I first removed the strings, then the neck came off. The neck was put aside, as I was going to work on the body first. The springs for the bridge were removed, then I pulled the bridge out and set it on the work bench (aka kitchen counter LOL)

Masking tape was applied to the top of the pickups to avoid the pole pieces scratching the finish any further. The pickup rings were unscrewed from the body, and the pickups GENTLY placed 'tape-side down' onto the the top of the body. Wipe down the pickup rings, especially the top and sides. Underneath doesn't have to shimmer, but make sure no creatures are living under there. Replace the pickup and re-attach it. Remove the masking tape and wipe the top of the pickups. Be careful not to 'move' any of the pole pieces, if they're adjustable.

I think someone opened a "shaken-up" can of soda DIRECTLY onto the guitar...look at that splatter behind the trem!

I sprayed the cleaner onto the paper towel (NEVER spray any fluid onto the body of a guitar; it might go where you don’t want it to go), and proceeded to get the big nasty stuff off the guitar face, sides and back. This pass just gets the main dirt off and gets you ready for the 2nd pass, where you’ll use the newspaper. Newspaper doesn’t leave lint (a trick my grandmother taught me about doing windows), so it leaves a nice mirror shine on the body....and very safe to use. Don’t forget to wipe down the upper and lower horns, inside and out, and the entire edge of the guitar. Do the back too...your jeans will thank you. LOL I also removed the strap buttons, and gave them a quick rub down.

I didn’t do too much with the trem spring cavity; the cover would eventually go back on it. I dusted out any cobwebs and paint chips.

While I was back here, I gave the neck plate a quick rub down with a clean piece of newspaper. Shiny!

The trem is probably the most difficult, because there are so many small pieces. Each saddle and spring was removed. These were cleaned and polished individually, top and sides, just with the paper towel. (I sprayed some WD-40 onto a q-tip and gave each screw thread a single drop, then wiped off any excess; that’s just my little trick for keeping the intonation screws un-squeaky).
Yes- the whole trem is very time consuming, but when it’s all back together, it looked, and played, like a brand new trem!

Onto the neck....

I first removed the tuning machines. They were on there ‘hand-tight’ so taking them off was easy (I’ll admit that I used a socket to put them back on; sorry I didn’t list that) Some tuners are “stacked”, so when you remove them, make sure they go back on in the same order. I removed the little screw on the back of the tuners as well.
I don’t suggest removing the nut, but if you want to....remember that you have to put it back on. :-) The tuning machines each got a quick polish job with a cleaner-soaked paper towel. They shine up really nice if you just take a minute or two with each one. These came out looking pretty sharp.

I used some Scott’s Liquid Gold wood cleaner, in a paper towel, and did one “soaking pass” to the fretboard. Wait a few minutes, then come back and wipe it dry, Give the fretboard some muscle as you clean the wood between each fret. No- not every single spec of dirt will come off, but most of it will.

Add some Scott’s to the center of a paper towel, then fold it in half. The edge that has the cleaner, will work great for getting right up at the edge of the frets. If you want to clean the edges really good, use the screwdriver on top of the paper towel to focus the cleaner a bit better and put a LITTLE pressure at the edge point. Back and forth 5 or 6 times on EACH SIDE of the fret will get most of that gunk out of there.
Tip: I usually do one side of each fret all the way down. Example: Right side of the fret, 1 through 24, then turn the neck 180 degrees and do the other side, all the way down.

Don’t use a dirty paper towel to clean a dirty fretboard. If your paper towel is pulling up lots of funk and getting dirty quickly, grab another one, or re-fold it to a clean edge. Otherwise, you’re cleaning dirt with dirt.

Upon reassembly, check the parts that you cleaned. I usually miss something on the first time through, so this is a good way to catch it.

When the guitar was back together, I re-strung it (DR TiteFit 9’s) and set it up. The neck needed a TINY tweak to get it straight, and the trem needed a quick turn of the screws in back to get that action nice and low. After you reassemble the guitar, you’ll need to do a FULL setup on it. It’ll be worth it when you’re done tuning and strum that first chord!

The case...

Few people realize that a quick inspection and vacuuming of the case can prevent future damage. I’ve found coins, screws...all sorts of sharp objects...inside guitar cases, just floating around. Then people ask, “why is it all dinged up?”. Well, because you have a guitar case doubling as a maraca. LOL Do a quick check to see if any Chinese stars are up by the headstock, or porcupine keychains down by the body area.

I didn’t clean the outside of this case (my buddy didn’t want me to hurt any of his Def Leppard stickers). On most cases, a quick wipe with a paper towel loaded with some all-purpose cleaner will yield nice results.

Tip: Keep an old towel by your jamming area. When you’re done sweatin’ to the oldies, take 5 seconds and wipe down the headstock, neck/strings, body and trem. This 5 seconds will add years to the life of your guitar and it’s hardware. Also, wash the towel once a month or so...by itself. LOL

There you have it. A couple of hours and a good workout later, you’ve got a nice playing, good looking guitar.