Use Cleaning Products for Cars to get Your Guitar Case Sparkling Clean!

The surface of your guitar hard case can lose its shine and become dull over time. This can be a bit demotivating, especially when you're gearing up to play your instrument. Wouldn't it be great if there was an easy way to make it look shiny again? Well, you can actually use some of the cleaning products for your car that you likely already have at home to make your guitar case gleam again! Here's how:

■ 3 items to get your case sparkling!

To make the case shine, I used these three items that I always rely on to clean my car:

• silicone spray (purchased from a 100-yen store)
• headlight clear (used to remove cloudiness from headlights)
• a sticky lint roller (to pick up dust and debris)

Silicone spray is used to polish the body of the guitar case. Normally, I apply it to the dashboard of my car, but it's just as effective for guitar cases. Silicone is an organic compound made from silicon and oxygen, and it’s commonly used to polish plastics, rubber, and metals. It also serves as a shine enhancer in shampoos. Aside from providing a nice finish, it has lubricating, rust-preventive, and water-repellent properties, making it perfect to apply before taking your guitar case outdoors.
Using these simple tools will help restore the shine to your hard case and keep it looking great!

Headlight Clear is a thick, white liquid that’s designed to remove cloudiness from the plastic part of headlights. After polishing, it removes the cloudiness and leaves it shiny. It's similar to the polishing product Pikal, which has been around for a long time and makes metals shine when used for polishing. Since Headlight Clear works on plastic and metal in a similar way, I thought it would be great to try it on the metal parts of my guitar case.

The inside of the guitar case is made of a felt-like material, so it tends to attract fine dust and debris. To get rid of this, I use a sticky sheet called “Korokoro”, which is commonly used for removing dust and dirt from car seats. This helps clean up the inside and make the case shiny as well.

■ First, start by making the body shine!

↓ Before getting started:

The main challenge is the body of the guitar case. I sprayed silicone spray onto a cloth and rubbed it onto the body of the guitar case. The shine started to increase, but since the surface area is quite large, it seemed like it would take some time. So, I decided to try spraying directly onto the surface. Spraying directly seemed to be more efficient.

↓ After work:

After repeatedly spraying and wiping, the surface became shiny. This case is probably around 20 years old, and I bought it second-hand. Once it regained some shine, it looked like it had been used for only about 5 years (just my personal opinion).

A few things to note: It's a good idea to lay down some newspaper on the floor. If silicone spray gets on the floor, it's difficult to clean off. If it gets on a wooden floor, you might end up hearing a squeaking sound every time you walk on it for a while. Also, there's a slight smell, and since it's a chemical product, make sure to ventilate the area or open windows while using it.

■ Next, making the metal parts shine!

↓ Before work:

The next challenge is the fasteners on the guitar case. These are likely made of iron or stainless steel, so I decided to use the Headlight Clear spray because it should be useful for polishing metal. They were quite rusty, so I was curious to see the result.

I applied Headlight Clear onto a cloth and rubbed it on with a lot of strength. Since the fasteners are small, it was quite hard to rub, but I persevered. After rubbing for a while, I applied the finishing wipe. The key to polishing metal is in the finishing wipe. By putting a little elbow grease into it and wiping persistently, the shininess increased. I remembered when I used to polish huge brass columns for work with Pikal (metal polish) for about two hours, so I kept that in mind while polishing.

↓ After work:

The result... Hmm, it doesn’t seem like much has changed. It seems that after 20 years of rust, only a specialized rust remover could truly tackle it. Well, it did get a little cleaner, so I’ll consider this to be a win.

■ Finally, making the interior shine!

↓ Before getting started:

Lastly, I tackled the interior. The blue felt looks nice, but it’s covered with small bits of dirt and dust. I really wanted to get it looking clean. So, I decided to use the "Korokoro" (sticky sheet) to get rid of the debris.

↓ After work:

It became quite clean. Just removing the dust and debris made a big difference in its appearance. The corners were hard to reach with the CoroCoro, so I manually removed the debris from those areas.

↓ After placing the guitar:

The blue color really makes the guitar stand out. It looks great! The metal parts didn’t become very shiny, but overall, the cleanliness of the case improved, so I’ll call it a success. The silicone spray worked especially well for making the body shine!

■ A few recommended handy cleaning products

The guitar case is now shiny (for the most part…). Let’s take this opportunity to clean the inside of the guitar as well! Here are some handy guitar cleaning products.

MUSIC NOMAD (MN204)

This product is perfect for cleaning hard-to-reach spaces, like between the strings and the fretboard or between the nut and the headstock. Typically, these areas are cleaned when you change the strings, or by awkwardly forcing a cleaning cloth in there. This product makes it easy to insert into those gaps, so you can clean those spaces whenever you can think of it, making it a great product that I highly recommend.

movio (M207CLGELBL Cleaning Gel)

This product is designed to pick up dust by sticking to it. It's convenient for removing dust from the gaps in keyboards or around switches. While it can't be washed, it can be reused until it no longer sticks to debris.

ESP (CL-8G YL)

This cleaning cloth is glove-shaped, and its cute appearance is its standout feature! It’s easy to wipe even the smaller parts of your guitar. And, it's also very convenient for handling the guitar after it’s been cleaned to a shine, and I highly recommend it.

HOSCO (KCL-WM)

This is a cleaning cloth made from chamois leather (deer leather). When you wipe the guitar body with it, it gets shiny, and the best part is that it doesn’t attract dust after use. You can wash it and reuse it when it gets dirty. I used to clean windows on buildings, and I would use chamois leather to wipe the water droplets left on the windows after cleaning. Unlike cloth, it doesn’t scratch the surface you’ve wiped and it leaves no residue. Although it’s a bit more expensive, it’s durable and worth the investment.

■ Restoring your guitar case and instrument to its former shine will put you in a great mood!

This time, I’ve summarized how to make your guitar case shine by using car cleaning products. When your guitar case or instrument is shiny, it boosts your mood and makes playing even more fun. Please give it a try!

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