this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2025
36 points (100.0% liked)
guitars
4784 readers
19 users here now
Welcome to /c/guitars! Let's show off our new guitar pics, ask questions about playing, theory, luthier-ship, and more!
Please bring all positive vibes to the community and leave the toxic stuff elsewhere.
Rules:
-
Treat others with respect. ALL others.
-
No spam
-
No self promotion
-
No NSFW
-
No circle jerk posts, there are other places for that silliness, and they are wonderful. Not here.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This is my personal experience with 100 dollar guitars, do not take it at face value.
I used to use ~~lemon juice~~ when my guitars were new, worked pretty well, after a while your own grease from your fingers kinda acts like the ~~lemon juice~~ and you oil the fretboard just by playing.
Also, another protip, if your steel strings start sounding dull, instead of spending money on new strings you can wash them with anti grease and let them soak in boiling water and you have a free new set of strings. (Just be careful coz thin strings like to prick fingers.)
Edit: So, some comments called to my attention that I may actually be doing a disservice to my guitars by using lemon juice. Some years ago I saw a video that said that if I didn't have lemon oil that I could use lemon juice instead and it kinda worked somehow. But searching for it online and I can't find anyone recommending this, so DON'T USE LEMON JUICE if preserving the instrument is a priority. Instead use lemon oil.
Any chance you mean lemon oil, not lemon juice?
Unfortunately I meant lemon juice, I saw a video once that said that if you don't have oil you can use lemon juice, and it kinda worked well for me somehow, however after reading your replies I just searched and it seems that using lemon juice is really not a thing.
Thank you for calling this to my attention as I will stop using lemon juice.
Hope so, lemon juice is acidic and will strip the oil off/out of the wood. Probably still wouldn't use lemon oil either, just in the off chance it has some acidic properties left.
Thanks for the info. It’s just called lemon oil because of the smell, it’s a mineral oil, no actual lemons involved.
Never have I even considered taking strings off, cleaning em and putting them back on. Don't think a guitar would appreciate the lack of tension while they're soaking.
yes, you're supposed to change them one at a time to minimize the stress. This is especially true for classicals afaik. Although when I leave mine with my luthier for a bit of repair, he does leave her unstringed for a while, so I don't know really
They will be absolutely fine with strings off. If you couldn't remove strings, it would be impossible to level, polish, or change frets. Or clean and oil the fretboard. Regular maintenance on any stringed instrument shy of a piano or concert harp or something. Actually you couldn't even adjust the truss rod or intonation on some guitars without taking off all string tension.
One string at a time is gentler, of course, and you're less likely to drop nuts or bridges or other hardware when there's always a string on.
Would you say what matters most is the length of time over which you take off all strings ?