So just how safe is this stuff? I ordered some Preservation Polish sort of on impulse when getting a couple other things from StewMac last month. Partly because I thought it might help clean up some hide glue residue (which came off with warm water and elbow grease, no polish needed) and partly because I wanted to give a good cleaning to the new, old M. Sakurai guitar I recently bought.
I used it like the label says, dabbed it on with a cloth, wait a few seconds, buff it off with a clean cloth. Did the back, sides, top, neck, even headstock veneer. It looks nice but then again it looked fine before, it's a gloss finish with some kind of catalysed lacquer anyway.
But I must say the neck feels like it isn't even there now. My thumb moves up and down with almost no resistance, this one had been slightly draggy for the months I've owned it. I always wash my hands before handling or playing the guitar but there must have been something built up on it before.
Is this stuff safe to use maybe 2-3 times a year? Or should I just save it for an annual cleaning or less? Because I'd be tempted to do the polish on that neck again first time it feels draggy, although as for the back and the soundboard I could really care less as long as it isn't visibly dirty.
I also polished the frets with 0000 steel wool and then gave the ebony fretboard one very light swipe with the same stuff followed by a wipe down with a few drops of naptha on a towel. My goodness, there's grain in that wood! It has been kind of shiny before but now all that "shiny" is sitting on the towel I wiped it with...yuck! I guess a guitar can get kinda dirty in 32 years.