Gear Maintenance Time

You can use lemon oil first, to get any accumulated crud off, and wipe the fretboard completely. Then apply oil and rub it in.

Or just get some of the great MusicNomad juice and do it all in one fell swoop.

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This is what I do.

For polishing the frets - I do this every string change too, and I just use extremely high grit nail buffers - the kind ladies use to polish their nails. These are ridiculously inexpensive and work perfectly.

StewMac also sells them at an insane markup but just get the ones women use from amazon, they are actually probably even better. They also work great for buffing small scratches and scuffs out of the fretboard wood.

Something like this:

but cheaper. You want at least 1000 grit so 600 is getting a bit low.

These things are like tarnish erasers and also great with wood.

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I do this with steel wool but @howard described a better way, I think.

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I would use steel wool too if I didn’t absolutely hate it (aside from bass, in general). Just be careful with the steel dust (tape the pickups, etc).

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you’re totally right

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Thanks everyone!

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An even cheaper method @JerryP is to buy micron cloth in packs of 10. Cut them into small strips to polish the frets. Use the Music Nomad fretguard to protect the fretboard.

I’ve probably got enough for my lifetime and it’s less than $20 all in.

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Fretboard wood scuffs are easy to buff out and the one time I tried one of those metal guards it scratched the wood :rofl:

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Operator error :sunglasses:

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Nope this one had an actual metal burr that I hadn’t noticed. Cheap crap.

I am also falling a bit out of love with Music Nomad. Some of their stuff is awesome, like their fret rocker - this thing is perfect and everyone should buy one, it’s the best ruler you’ll find for instruments. Some of their stuff is mid - like their combo screwdriver thing, it’s tips are too soft and I have already rounded one out, and the wrench part only works so-so. Basically a lot of it just seems overpriced.

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I have the Stew Mac set and it’s really nice.

It was on sale. Bit overpriced I feel.

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Yeah I am sure those are better.

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Music Nomad F-One is definitely a great product.

I’m not thrilled with the driver kit. I’ve never rounded out any of its bits, so that’s not an issue. But my MN handle didn’t come with a magnet to hold bits in it. Not cool.

Stew-Mac stuff is bona fide. I’ll look into the driver kit. :+1:

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I am thinking they probably outsource a lot of this stuff if not all of it. My driver has the magnet but overall I would not buy this thing again. I have lots of standard drivers so it’s no big deal, but I just kind of wanted one set aside for all the guitar tasks, and the MN one has been disappointing.

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I agree. I’m happy with the bit types and sizes, but that’s all. The bits aren’t hardened steel. It’s a shame for what the kit costs.

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This thing, on the other hand, is simply perfect, though you may find less expensive options with similar utility.

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After much research, I’ve not found another variation that is as well-designed and useful as the MN version. It is right-on great.

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I have a Klein mini driver set that’s had every bit I’ve wanted so far and I think was 1/3 of that price.

This thing? It’s not significantly cheaper here.

https://www.amazon.ca/KLEIN-TOOLS-All-in-1-Precision-Screwdriver/dp/B08DRVM38X/ref=asc_df_B08DRVM38X/?tag=googlemobshop-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459470719812&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14276342218077364509&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001464&hvtargid=pla-943242262682&psc=1&mcid=13c39f67e50038f281bfd385cf0ce776

Yeah. I didn’t realize stewmac opened that link displaying moose dollars, it’s less of a gap than I thought.