Life is Better With a Lemony Fresh Fingerboard: ADK Guitar Tries Out Boogie Juice

We test Boogie Juice against some heavily loved used guitars.  Our team's conclusion:  

"Life is Better With a Lemony Fresh Fingerboard."

The Challenge with Cleaning Your Guitar

There is a myth among guitarists that the accumulation of finger oils, dirt, grease, perspiration and smoke that builds up on your fretboard over the years may actually improve the tone and playability of your guitar, giving it that sweet (or should we say ‘sweat’?) tone that so many players love. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that dirt and muck -- let’s call itschmutz -- that accumulates on your guitar from years of regular use or neglect can actually damage the quality and resonance of the instrument, muffling and distorting its natural tone.

Guitarists of all experience levels have struggled with the problem of maintaining their fretboards without damaging them.  Doesn't matter if you're using an acoustic guitar, electric bass or a mandolin, cleaning your fretboard is a challenging must-do task we all face. Ordinary cleaning products we have around the house are too abrasive and astringent to use on most musical instruments, and in most cases simply wiping it down with a dry cleaning cloth will not be effective if you play your guitar regularly. The question that most players have is how they can clean their fretboard without accidentally damaging it?

We see thousands of used guitars every year here at ADK Guitar and the vast majority have a considerable amount ofschmutz on the fingerboard, and we’re sorry to say, none of it is helping any guitar sound or look better. Recently at the NAMM show, we were introduced to an all-natural product out of New Zealand called Boogie Juice. We decided to put it to the test on one of our staff’s particularly nasty fretboards.

The Test:  Boogie Juice vs an Ibanez RG550

Out test subject: The Ibanez RG550 (complete with Greg Howe-inspired string dampening system aka. pink hair-tie), was purchased in 1990 and has literally never been more than wiped down with a dry cloth. Fearful that he would damage the fretboard, the owner of this guitar regretfully never tried to use anything to clean or maintain it. The result: almost 29 years of accumulated dirt, finger oils, smoke and perspiration that no amount of nostalgia can justify.

Boogie Juice Fingerboard Cleaner is a safe and all natural cleaning product made of citrus and vegetable oils designed specifically for the care of instrument fretboards. With a patented pen-like dispensing system, applying Boogie Juice is like going over your fingerboard with a magic marker.  One other thing we love about Boogie Juice is that it's made by a mom-and-pop company out of New Zealand - as a small business, we love to support other small businesses!

Simply run the pen over the fingerboard and wipe with a dry cloth and you will see the majority of dirt and muck lift away. We found when using it that it was necessary to press the pen down firmly to get the cleaning solution to come out at first. For a demonstration, you can visit the company’s website:http://www.boogiejuice.co.nz/ or check out the video below.  While Boogie Juice does effectively remove dirt and oily build-up from your fingerboard (as you can see in the After picture below), it also conditions and protects the wood, helping to prevent future cracking from temperature changes and humidity.

Boogie Juice Results

We applied the Boogie Juice to this gross maple fingerboard of the 1989 RG550 and the results werevery good. While it did lift a considerable amount of muck and grime from the fingerboard it could not remove deep staining. However, the neck now feels and plays almost like new, and the lemony fresh citrus smell is actually a big improvement over 29 years of grime, dust, cigarette smoke, spilt beers and so on that had been there. Believe me, there is a world of difference in the way the fingerboard feels and plays after using this product.

To check out Boogie Juice, click the link here:  Boogie Juice Fretboard Cleaner.

To find your own Ibanez Guitar to try this on, check out our selection of Used Ibanez Guitars here:  Used Ibanez Guitars

To see lots of results, see below...