Any Acoustic Guitar Players use anything to Polish off marks on Guitar?

Guitars, with some exceptions, don't need polishes. Just keep them clean with plain water, and if necessary (this shouldn't be happening very often) with the Meguiar's #9. In exceptional circumstances use Meguitar's #2, and follow up with Meguitar's #9.

The Yamaha looks great, and the FG730 is a very good guitar for the money. But also note that is has some sort of poly (-ester or -urethane) finish, which is more durable than a nitro or varnish type finish. It is also a lot thicker than a nitro or varnish finish. The machine polishing worked well in this case, but could have led to some serious problems if it used a nitro or varnish finish.

Commercial "lemon oil" does not have a lot of lemon oil in it. Most commercial lemon oils are petroleum distillates with a lemon scent. This is deceptive, but the marketplace seems to accept it. Pure lemon oil, in the true sense of the word, is acidic (i.e. citric acid). Citrus degreasers for example, use the acidic properties to break down oils and greases.

What is the purpose of the lemon oil on the frets? I can see where somebody may want to use 0000 steel wool to make the frets look shiny, but I don't really understand the lemon oil on the frets. For most commercial "lemon oil" products, there isn't enough lemon oil to clean metal. If the idea is to lubricate the frets, what is creating the need for lubrication?
 
Sorry, a little lemon oil on the rosewood fretboards was what I meant to type there. Thanks!

Yes, you are correct, most lemon oils are scented petroleum distillates, primarily just mineral oil if you want to be specific.

I just like to add a bit to keep the fretboard from drying out and looking good.
 
As I wrote in a previous post, using lemon oil is not benefiting the rosewood fretboard in any way. There is more than a little evidence that, long term, it is contributing to the drying out of the wood. At the very least, what you are doing is trying to get rosewood to absorb mineral oils, which it won't do, as mineral oil is in no way chemically similar to the natural rosewood oil that was originally in the wood. Also, mineral oils do not completely ever dry, so they can lead to a gummy, sticky feeling fretboard.

Also, never use commercial "guitar polishes", as almost (I would be inclined to say all, but I haven't seen ALL the guitar polishes out there) contain silicones. The problem with silicones is that they can interfere with guitar finish repairs if they should ever be needed, and they are very difficult it remove once they are on the guitar.
 
Kkritsilas, thanks for all this Awesome info and advice man. This is especially going to help, when the time comes for me to buy a more expensive acoustic. You Rock Man!
 
Thank you. I am just passing on the information that has been sent my way by two hand builders and 3 very, very good guitar repair guys, all friends.

If you really want to piss off your guitar repair person/luthier, just use commercial guitar polish on a nitro finished guitar before you bring the guitar in for a finish repair. They will really, really get pissed off, I guarantee it. It makes nitro repair much more complicated, as the silicone interferes with the nitro's ability to re-amalgamate (new nitro melts in the old, and they become one, with no line between the new and the old nitro). On the other hand, maybe don't do that, because you will probably be paying for 2-3 shop hours just for removing the silicone, on top of what the guitar repair would have normally cost.
 
Your help is going to help prevent me from ruining my Guitar finishes. I know some people just love playing and could care less about their guitars finish. But being a detailer, I do care about it.

What's cool is, I went to the store today, and both Megs #2, and #9 were both readily available.
 
I used to use Meguiar's #2 and #9 in the mid-1980s to detail my car by hand. They did a good job on car paint then. Fast forward about 15 years later, and I met one of my guitar repair friends, and I see a bottle of #2 and a bottle of #9. I asked him if he was going to detail his car, and he gave me a look like I was insane. I told him about using the same products to detail my car by hand in the past. He said that #2 an #9 are pretty much on every guitar repairman's bench. Still are, today.

Note also that not all guitar finishes are nitro. They have a tendency to be nitro on higher end guitars (both acoustic and electric), and most of the better quality older guitars as well. The guitar industry is going through a lot of changes right now, with the CITES making some traditional woods either very expensive or unavailable, and environmental forces pushing to eliminate VOCs, so using nitro is becoming increasingly difficult. So now you are seeing water borne lacquers, varnishes, and other lesser known finishes being used. Instead of Rosewood and Mahogany, you will see more maple, walnut, and things like cherry being used.
 
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