cleaning out sound holes in acoustic guitars

[versuviusx]

i have actually never ever cleaned out my sound hole for any of my acoustic guitars. i never really knew i could and never really even thought of doing this.
so how would one do this you ask?
well for the past couple of years i have been fixing computers. sometimes customers bring in old desktops which have dust caked all over the insides, especially all over the heatsink fans, all over the place basically.
so for Christmas i asked for this:


http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED50 ... B001J4ZOAW




buy the white one. the black one is an older model and is not as strong.
so i have a yamaha FG200 made in 1974. i blasted the insides and you would not believe all the dust and stuff inside my guitar. it was pretty disgusting. i never had a clue. so then i got out my 1980's custom red vantage guitar and blew that out and guess what.....more stuff. there was so much stuff inside these guitars i couldn't believe it. so it seems even new acoustic guitars have some debris inside of them. the old ones are chalk full of them unless someone has cleaned them before.
and even though this sounds crazy. i do in fact believe that enough dust and debris can definitely have an impact on resonance and sound,plus its really disgusting and it just doesn't need to be there. I've been trying to come up with cleaning formulas when buying new or used guitars off ebay. i recently bought a 2009 yamaha fg-730S for $188 with shipping.
here's what i have so far.
1. cut the strings.
2. blow out the insides with a Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac
3. clean the guitar fretboard with Dunlop fretboard 65 ultimate lemon oil
4. recondition the fretboard with planet waves hydrate fretboard conditioner and let it sit. let the fretboard soak in the conditioner.
5. clean and recondition the frets with steel wool or with PLANET WAVES FRET POLISHING SYSTEM FRET BOARD CLEANER
6. take off plastic nut,saddle, and pins
7. buy TUSQ replacement nut,saddle and pins from graphtech.com
8. install the nut,saddle,and pins and put on brand new elixir nanowebs or
D'Addario Phosphor EJ163D
9. use dunlop stubby 3mm guitar picks
10. also clean the body with phase1: LA's totally Awesome degreaser, phase 2: Goo Gone application, phase 3:micro fiber rub down, and then phase 4: hydrate conditioner, and then rub down with clean cloth and then back with micro fiber rub down.

if you have any other great suggestions to add to my list. please feel free to post. any secret tricks of the trade or anything useful would be appreciated.

[douglas baldwin]

Woah. Save your money, buddy. You sound like some guitar accessory sales guy's definition of a "bottom." Total respect, versuviusx, really. Don't get me wrong. But I have a problem with the selling of all this STUFF when cheap hardware store items do the same things for less money and less environmental impact.

Here's a blow-by-blow:

Nix the $40 vacuum and take a 6" piece of masking tape, make it into a loop, and work it around the guitar's interior. Picks up everything. If you can't reach into the corners, stick the tape onto a pencil.

1. cut the strings.

You mean, loosen and remove the strings, right? Never cut the strings while under full tension.

2. blow out the insides with a Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac

See comment above.

3. clean the guitar fretboard with Dunlop fretboard 65 ultimate lemon oil

Do you sell this stuff? A 16 oz. can of Scott's Liquid Gold is the same stuff for about 1/10th the cost. Actually, I like mineral oil or baby oil. Lemon oil is about 99% mineral oil with some perfume added so it smells nice, and a trace of a cleaner/solvent added.. But lemon oil doesn't clean that well. Clean with Windex or an ammonia/water mix. For really wicked gunk, use naphtha. A popsicle stick sharpened to a point will clean around the base of the frets, and the side of the stick or a credit card will scrape the broad flat surfaces clean.

4. recondition the fretboard with planet waves hydrate fretboard conditioner and let it sit. let the fretboard soak in the conditioner.

Please tell me what "reconditioning" is. And what the %$#* is "hydrate conditioner?" What you want to do is read a few issues of Fine Woodworking and see what carpenters use to treat raw wood. You know, people who have been working with wood for thousands of years . Generally, what they do is nothing, except clean it and maybe apply a little mineral oil.

5. clean and recondition the frets with steel wool or with PLANET WAVES FRET POLISHING SYSTEM FRET BOARD CLEANER

Why are you abrading the frets with steel wool? If you want really shiny frets, try a can of Nevr-Dull. One can will last a lifetime. Steel wool is like Chuck Norris's beard - use it really carefully or you'll find lots of little circular swirl marks engraved into your guitar finish when some steel wool fragments get into your polishing cloth.

6. take off plastic nut,saddle, and pins
7. buy TUSQ replacement nut,saddle and pins from graphtech.com
8. install the nut,saddle,and pins

Swapping out bridge pins is fun and groovy. I like the aluminum ones that come in bright metallic red and blue. But nuts and saddles...? You're getting into deep setup work here. You know that, don't you? You should have all the tools to clean a nut slot, shape the nut, cut the string slots, belt-sand the bridge saddle to the correct height, put some notches in the saddle for the strings, and probably three other little steps I can't remember at the moment.

and put on brand new elixir nanowebs or
D'Addario Phosphor EJ163D
9. use dunlop stubby 3mm guitar picks

Strings and picks - totally personal choices. You go with what you like. Personally I can't stand coated strings, but if they feel good to you, you go.

10. also clean the body with phase1: LA's totally Awesome degreaser, phase 2: Goo Gone application, phase 3:micro fiber rub down, and then phase 4: hydrate conditioner, and then rub down with clean cloth and then back with micro fiber rub down.

Here we go with the weird snake oils again. What are all these secret elixers for? Really seriously. Tell me what these goops are doing without quoting their own promo material. If you really need to clean off major crud, Windex and/or naphtha will clean off most anything. If you need to polish out a blemish, micro fiber cloth is cool, but a little luthier-centric. Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #7 or #10 car polish does a beautiful job of polishing. I also like Martin guitar polish, but a little Pledge polishes up beautifully too.

There really are no trade secrets. Do a little Googling, get some experience with inexpensive guitars, and you'll find that you can do a great deal of guitar care with your brain, your hands, and a few household products.

[versuviusx]

see i'm glad i posted this. i just learned some things from you. will try nevr-dull
and Scott's Liquid Gold