General cleaning of dirty guitar

[bksmithey]

I bought a used white 610 recently. I think it may need a general cleaning before I even consider something like a scratch-x and zymol treatment.

The body of the guitar has a sticky/tacky feeling over most of its surface. I've read Paul's suggestion to use Dr. Stringfellow (or naptha) to de-grunge fingerboards, is it appropriate to use this on the body finish as well?

The tip of the headstock has a black smudge on it from a collision with something, should I just go at this with scratch-x or should I try something a bit more aggressive?

And finally, the guitar has some pretty significant finish checking and a chip here and there, but other than that it doesn't show any significant scratching, just the usual swirl marks. Any treatment I should avoid due to the checking?

All suggestions welcome. First order is to get the body, neck, and fingerboard to feel less sticky. After that I'd like to do a little cosmetic work on it, but that's much less important.

Thanks,
Brian

(headstock smudge image below)

[jingle_jangle]

That smudge is a job for 3M Perfect-It III or Perfect-it 3000. Scratch-X is too mild, I think, although you could try.

Cautionary note about checking: Checking goes all the way down to the bare wood, and dirt has already crept in, leaving what I call "spiders", which are the lines where the gaps in the checked finish were.

To clean the sticky finish, use lighter fluid or hardware store naphtha. They are one and the same. Clean cloth. This will strip all the wax and prepare the finish for a light abrasive like Scratch-X or the 3M. Don't use any paste rubbing compound that comes in a flat can. They are ALL too rough for guitars.

Any waxing or rubbing compound that you use on a checked finisg, will settle into the gap lines. On a white guitar, you'll never notice this, but on any other color, it will end up looking like a Vermont road map...

[bksmithey]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the info. I did see comments in an earlier thread about the issues with a checked finish. Glad to hear it's less noticeable on the white guitar.