Turtlerock Forum

Hi all,

just wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations for cleaning gaffer tape gunk from a guitar without hurting the finish? was just going to get some alcohol based solvent - the stuff that cleans tape heads seems to clean just about anything...

BUT, this is a really nice blonde Gibson 335 and i dont want to ruin the finish, so was wondering if there was something a bit softer out there that i could try out?

cheers,

todd.

I havnt found alcohol based ones work very well.

Lemon oil should work.

NOOOOOOO
do not use alcohol on a nitro finish !

start with spit
move up to zippo lighter fluid .. yes really no issues
( napha )
or start with zippo and move to spit and elbow grease

rick wrote:NOOOOOOO
do not use alcohol on a nitro finish !

ha!

hence the post rick! i knew elbow grease would be a given though...

zippo has been the guitar repairmans secret for 40 years
its perfect , but you might wait awhile before you light up a victory smoke

As someone who has done live sound for a loooooooooooooooong time, I have met the gaff tape gunge monster on many occasions. I have found the best solution to be citronella oil, the stuff you put in oil lamps to keep the mossies at bay. It softens the gunk so that it can be removed but didn't affect any surface that I've put it on. Please don't use any alcohol or petrochemical derivatives on sensitive surfaces and whtever you use, try it on a tiny area in a less noticeable spot first.

[quote="rick"]zippo has been the guitar repairmans secret for 40 years
its perfect , but you might wait awhile before you light up a victory smoke[/quote]
Naptha can also be used to wet sand guitar repairs instead of water, so the wood doesn't absorb water and swell.

my favourite

nooo do not put silicon on a nitro finish either
if you ever need to do a repair its a bitch to get past - even years later

it sure smells good though

De-Solv-It (another citrus oil-based solvent product) works well on gaffa residue and is not a problem on most instrument finishes.

Better still, though, is to stop using gaffa on guitars! Works every time!!

I still have a tiny bottle of Big Kev's Goo Remover.. A couple of drips is enough to get most stuff off pretty much anything. Trying to get sticker residue of cd cases with it wrecks them though..

aw man i forgot about big kev! how anyone could get so "excited" about stain removal is beyond me... fumes?

Kurt wrote:I still have a tiny bottle of Big Kev's Goo Remover.. A couple of drips is enough to get most stuff off pretty much anything. Trying to get sticker residue of cd cases with it wrecks them though..

Beat me to it! Got a bottol of Big Kev's Goo Remover here and have just cleaned gaffa goo off some mic bodies with it andhoped on the puter to post about it. As with anything on a guitar finish as others have said, try a bit on a small unseen spot and after removing it leave a day or so to find out if there is a problem.

Zippo fluid is essentially Shelite I think, my mate who prepped guitars for a big importer always says shelite is the go. Shelite is heaps cheaper than zippo fluid.