Our Top 5 Picks For The Best Guitar Cleaning Kit

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It’s important to keep your guitar clean & shiny – let’s find you the best guitar cleaning kit for your instruments

In this free lesson you will learn…

• Tips for keeping your guitars clean
• Maintenance tips
• Why a guitar cleaning kit is so important
• How to determine what you need for cleaning your guitar

Time To Put Some Shine On Your Ax With A Guitar Cleaning Kit

Guitars are enduring instruments.

They’re built to last and take a beating, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep them looking their best at all times.

Though some of us may be fans of the road-worn, relic’d guitar look, no one wants grime and dirt buildup on their guitar.

With that, we’re here to help you keep your guitar collection spick and span with five picks for the best guitar cleaning kit.

Let’s tackle some grime, shall we?

Why Do I Need A Guitar Cleaning Kit?

When it comes to keeping your guitar clean, it isn’t just about aesthetics – it’s about condition and playability.

A guitar that is well-maintained will yield less problems overall than one that isn’t. Although looks may be important, keeping your guitar as playable as possible is always a priority.

Before we start, let’s break down the usual items found in a guitar cleaning kit:

• Instrument polish
• String cleaner
• Microfibre cloth
• Lemon oil (depending on the type of wood in your fretboard)

Pro Tip: Microfibre cloths are the only way to go when it comes to building (or buying) your guitar cleaning kit. This type of cloth is lint-free, meaning it won’t leave anything behind on your guitar when you use it.

Pro Tip #2: Whether you use lemon oil or not very much depends on the type of wood on your fretboard. Lemon oil is fantastic for rosewood fretboards, but should never be used on a maple fretboard. Maple fretboards do not require any oil to stay clean, just a rub-down across the fretboard and nothing more than the steam from your breath.

Now that we know what we’re looking for, let’s take a look at your options for a full guitar cleaning kit.

Guitar Cleaning Kit #1 – Dunlop 6501 Guitar Polish & Wax Kit

Price: $18.00

What You’ll Love: The cream of carnauba body wax is a wonderful addition to this set for that extra bit of shine and polish

When it comes to guitar maintenance in general, you can’t go wrong with the Dunlop line of products.

Jim Dunlop and his team do a wonderful job of blending high-quality products with affordable pricing so that you’re always able to look your best, whether you’re on stage, in the studio or at home.

This guitar cleaning kit includes the famous Dunlop 65 guitar polish/cleaner, a cloth and a cream of carnauba body wax that will make your guitar look perfect in any light with a streak-free shine.

With a low price point and small design, these bottles of cleaner are portable enough to throw in your guitar case so you can look great wherever you go to play.

Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Sweetwater

GAK

Guitar Cleaning Kit #2 – Fender Custom Shop 4 Piece Cleaning Set

Price: $24.99

What You’ll Love: A solution for every occasion (including right after use), Fender has put together a piece of kit so reliable you’ll feel obligated to use it more often.

Everyone knows that Fender make great guitars, but they also make cleaning solutions to keep them in great shape.

The Custom Shop 4 Piece set is a fantastic guitar cleaning kit made for the meticulous guitarist who loves playing but hates grime.

This set includes a quick-clean spray to use after playing, as well as a cleaner, polish and fingerboard remedy. With this guitar cleaning kit, you’ll never have an excuse for dirt or grime on your guitars.

Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK (6-piece kit with two microfibre cloths – £88.18)

Sweetwater

GAK

Guitar Cleaning Kit #3 – MusicNomad MN108 Premium Guitar Care System 5-Piece Kit

Price: $29.99

What You’ll Love: A guitar cleaning kit designed for a deeper clean. For those players that want to leave no spot unturned anywhere on their instrument.

This is the ideal guitar cleaning kit for those players that really want to put in some TLC with their guitars.

MusicNomad have really put the time in in order to develop a kit that will not just clean your guitar, but protect it from future dirt and grime buildup.

The UV protective solution in their cleaner means that your guitar will be protected from fading by the suns rays as well, which is a perk we particularly love.

This set includes an instrument polish, all-in-one cleaner, and a conditioner oil for your fretboard as well as two cloths.

Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Sweetwater

GAK

Guitar Cleaning Kit #4 – Dunlop 6554 Lemon Oil Fretboard Cleaner

Price: $3.00

What You’ll Love: Not a guitar cleaning kit for your whole guitar, but a one-stop solution to a cleaner fretboard in no time.

Dunlop’s full-range cleaning kit is one thing, but their lemon oil solution for rosewood fingerboards is an absolute must for every guitarist.

Nothing does the job (in our opinion) quite like this product, and we recommend that you dab a little on the fretboard any time you change your strings to breathe just a bit more life into your guitar.

One of these will last you a fair amount of time depending upon how often your change strings (and how many guitars you have), but this one-bottle guitar cleaning kit is a must-have if you want a clean and fast fretboard.

Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Sweetwater

GAK

Guitar Cleaning Kit #5 – Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes Combo 6-Pack

Price: $1.99

What You’ll Love: Individually-wrapped wipes for different purposes that are small enough to fit in your gig bag or guitar case

Ernie Ball have done a wonderful job of making a guitar cleaning kit that’s small enough to travel anywhere with you while taking up virtually zero space.

This guitar cleaning kit contains one fingerboard conditioner wipe, two instrument polish wipes and three wipes for string cleaning.

This super-practical combo pack is ultra-convenient and highly recommended.

Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Sweetwater

GAK

That’s A Wrap On Our Top 5 For The Best Guitar Cleaning KIt

There you have it, folks – everything you could possibly need to keep your guitar (or guitar collection) as clean as can be.

Taking some time to clean our instruments isn’t just beneficial for our guitars, but for us as well.

Cleaning and tending to the instruments we cherish can be a meditative and rewarding process, so don’t be afraid to block off an afternoon and show your guitars how much you appreciate them.

They put up with a lot, after all.

Remember, if you take care of your guitar, your guitar will take care of you!

Recommended Resources

If you liked this top 5 list for helping you build an ideal guitar cleaning kit, you’ll love our other recommendations below:

• Article 1
• Article 2
• Article 3
• Article 4
• Article 5