Walk into any guitar shop and you’ll find a wall of guitar care products — polishes, oils, cleaners, conditioners, waxes, string lubricants, fret polishes, and more. It’s overwhelming, and most of it is unnecessary.

Here’s the honest beginner’s guide to guitar care: what you actually need, what you can skip, and why.

The Essentials (What You Actually Need)

1. A good polishing cloth
This is the single most important guitar care item. Wiping your guitar down after every playing session — removing sweat, skin oils, and fingerprints — does more for the long-term condition of your instrument than any product you can buy.

A quality microfibre cloth with stitched edges (so it doesn’t fray) is all you need. LORE® Polishing Cloth is 30cm x 30cm, machine washable, and gets softer with every wash.

2. Fingerboard oil (for unfinished fingerboards)
If your guitar has a rosewood, ebony, or pau ferro fingerboard — which most guitars do — it needs occasional oiling to prevent it from drying out. A dry fingerboard can crack, and the frets can become loose (fret pop).

You don’t need to do this often — every few months is sufficient for most players. Use a petroleum-free oil like LORE® Cold Pressed Lemon Seed Fingerboard Oil for genuine nourishment rather than just surface coating.

Note: If your guitar has a maple fingerboard with a gloss finish, skip the oil — lacquered fingerboards don’t need it. Our LORE® Instrument Polish will give lacquered fingerboards a silky feel and a fresh sheen.

3. A guitar polish or wax
For the body and neck, a light polish or wax every few months keeps the finish looking good and provides a protective layer. You don’t need both — a microcrystalline wax does the job of polish and protection in one step.

What You Can Skip (At Least to Start)

String cleaner/lubricant — wiping your strings with a cloth after playing extends their life significantly. Dedicated string products help, but they’re not essential.

Fret polish — unless your frets are visibly tarnished or rough, you don’t need to polish them. This is a periodic maintenance task, not a regular one.

Multiple specialist cleaners — you don’t need a separate cleaner for the body, neck, fingerboard, and frets. A good cloth, a fingerboard oil, and a wax cover everything.

A Simple Beginner Routine

After every session:
Wipe down the strings, neck, and body with a clean cloth.

Every 3 months:
Apply fingerboard oil to the fingerboard (if unfinished). Apply a light wax to the body and neck.

Once a year:
Give the guitar a more thorough clean, check the frets for wear, and consider a professional setup if the action or intonation has drifted.

That’s it. Guitar care doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. Start with a cloth and a fingerboard oil, and you’ll be ahead of most players.

The LORE® range covers everything a beginner needs — petroleum-free fingerboard oil, microcrystalline wax, and a polishing cloth. Handmade on Dartmoor.

🎸 Not sure which LORE® product is right for your finish or instrument area? View our Product Guide →