Removing deodorant residue?

[Wengr]

Hello. What can help get this off of nitro finishes? So far typical soaps and guitar polishes have done nothing.

[Pura Vida]

Are you sure it's deodorant residue, and not the finish clouding? Either way, I'd try Lizard Spit, if you haven't already. Available via Amazon.

[Wengr]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

Are you sure it's deodorant residue, and not the finish clouding? Either way, I'd try Lizard Spit, if you haven't already. Available via Amazon.

Yes. It's not clouding. It moves around when you try to rub it off, but you can't get it to come off onto the cloth. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Earl49]

Naptha is the go-to remover of gunk on guitar finishes, and will not hurt nitrocellulose. It's cheaper if you buy a quart at a home improvement store, but Ronsonol lighter fluid is basically the same thing.

[JoelCrow]

I had this problem (I think) but it was actually the fabric softener in my laundry detergent (and thereby my clothes) causing a dull and unremovable clouding on my guitar surface...it was all around the top of my dreadnought where my armpit sits and the back where my belly (and shirt) rubbed against it.

After trying all kinds of crazy things, I finally got it off easily using Virtuoso Cleaner and Polish (you can get it from Amazon and probably other places). Also, get a microfiber (not shammy) cloth from meguires or some auto parts store.

The process is pretty easy....squirt about a 1/2 t-spoon of cleaner directly on the guitar and rub it around with the rag (like frosting, sort of), wait 2 minutes till it fogs over then buff away with the clean side of the same rag. Repeat this with the polish (using a different rag). Actually, I cut a rag in half and use one piece for the cleaner and one for the polish. Just make sure your microfiber cloth (rag) is a nice one that's soft to the touch. It doesn't take a lot of the Virtuoso stuff to be effective, just that you smear it evenly around the surface and WAIT on it to cloud over (2-5 minutes). The final secret is your buffing, which thanks to the microfiber cloth and some good elbow grease will make all the difference.

I swear, it will make your guitar crazy clean and really smooth to the touch. Can't recommend it enough. Hope that helps!!

Ps. If you have an unbuffed neck or headstock and want to make it shiny, this same stuff and method make them look like their glossed. It's great! I buffed my headstock when I installed Waverlys and it looks amazing!

[ManyMartinMan]

Naphtha. I've never seen anything move around on a guitar (surface smear) that Naphtha wouldn't eliminate.