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THE GUITAR PLAYERS COMMUNITY

Dunlop 65 Guitar Polish & Cleaner

Any guitar that’s played on a regular basis will accumilate layers of dust and general grime. Fingerprints and other oily residue from fingerprints will tarnish the finish of the guitar. There are many different products on the market, but we are going to take a look at Dunlop’s Formula 65 Cleaner and Polish.

They Say

"Cleans totally and quickly. Restores any finish to its original luster. Leaves a micro-thin, resistant protective layer and won’t build up. Perfect for daily use."

In Use

The solution is a little thicker than water, and judging from the smell, it contains isopropyl alcohol. This is the same sulition as CD cleaner and computer screen cleaning wipes.

Because of this, you should only use it on polyester or polyurethane finishes - as found on most low to mid range electric guitars. Nitro-cellulose finishes on higher end electrics/acoustics, and also French Polish on classical guitars will be damaged by isopropyl alcohol. It will actually start to eat into the finish, and dissolve some of it away!

The solution also contains a polish solution that comes into play after the isopropyl alcohol has evaporated. It leaves a very thin residue that can be buffed with a clean cloth produce a bright shine. You can use this solution on a regular basis, but it’s easiest when you are replacing your strings as you can get proper access to the area around the pickups.

Hard to photograph the dirt - Guitar Before

Spray a couple of couple of times onto the guitar body (a little goes a long way), and then use a cloth to work over the surface to remove finderprints and other dirt. I use a large clean soft cloth to wipe away the isoproply alcohol, and then fine a dry bit to buff up the polish to make the guitar shine. You could always use another cloth for the polishing, but I didn’t find it necessary. Dunlop also sell a couple of guitar cleaning / polishing cloths.

Reflection - Great shine after polishing.

Overall

The cleaner does a great job at removing any traces of oil or grease (fingerprints) and the polish does leave an good shine. The polish does not cover fine scratches as some people have claimed - I don’t see this as a downside as it’s not what the product was designed to fix. If fine scratches are an issue, try Dunlop cream of Carnauba wax (which we will review in the near future). The cleaner is available in a 4 fl oz / 118 ml bottle, and will last you ages. Overall, this is another good quality product from Dunlop’s guitar maintenance range.

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