A couple of days ago, my government tightened COVID-19 restrictions and, as a non-essential business, I’ve closed my doors until April 19th. Who knows what’ll happen beyond that date. It sucks, but we do what we gotta do.

As you’d expect with what we’re all facing, I’ve gotten more than a couple of emails asking about products that could safely sanitise a guitar.

How to sanitise a guitar. is it even possible?

My (less than satisfactory) answer is partly “I’m not sure” but mostly “I don’t think you can properly sanitise a guitar”.

Before going on, I’m far from an expert on this stuff. While the actual scientific community are still struggling to understand this new virus, some guitar geek in a dusty workshop is probably not going to bring a lot to the party.

Also, there are too many products that someone might consider spraying, squirting, or rubbing on a guitar. Too many products with too many complicated sounding ingredients like Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Saccharinate. I don’t know if anyone’s ever considered the impact of Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Saccharinate on guitar finishes.

A couple of things:

Alcohol above 70%, appears to be effective in deactivating the virus. However alcohol is also a solvent that can work nicely to break down some guitar finishes. I’d be keen to avoid it on shellac and nitro finishes to be safe. Newer poly finishes are probably going to be ok but don’t go dousing it.

Some household disinfectant sprays and bleaches may kill off Coronavirus but, as I mentioned, there’s too much scope here to say they are safe or unsafe for guitars. Any of the liquid cleaner sprays will probably have a high water content so, at very least, you’re going to be getting your guitar wet. That means you need to make sure liquid’s not seeping into screw-holes or drying on metal parts where it could corrode. I don’t know what other salts, bleaches, or chemicals are included in these cleaners but I think I have to come down on the side of advising against using them on your guitar.

Someone asked me about naphtha, which is often used for cleaning heavily grimed guitars, but I don’t know. Will it kill off Corona? Maybe. Probably not. I haven’t been able to find anything to say it will and I’m not confident that there’s a team of boffins working on it. Anyway, if you use it you’ll have a smelly guitar and a naphtha-headache for the day.

And, even if we knew of a guitar-safe product that was proven to deactivate Coronavirus, here’s the big problem:

You can’t sanitise a guitar

You can’t. Not in the real world, anyway. There are too many nooks and crannies. Too many tiny places for a virus to hide. How many of those little things could squeeze into the windings on your bottom string? How many in the saddle screws under your picking hand? You get the idea.

Maybe if you submerge it in bleach or put it in a really big pot of boiling water for a while but realistically, you’re not going to fully sanitise a guitar.

It’s not happening. So…

The very important bottom line

Don’t play anyone else’s guitar.

Don’t let anyone else play your guitar.

It’s that simple.

If you’re already secreting yourself away from the world, wandering your home like a caged/bored tiger, this should be easy. If not, avoid situations where you’re swapping guitars around.

It shouldn’t be that hard to achieve really. 😉

Don’t worry about sanitising your guitar. Just avoid guitar-swapping parties and keep playing your own.

Play the lockdown blues on your axe and let others do the same.

What about disinfecting non-guitar surfaces?

Disinfecting other surfaces around you is (a) more feasible and (b) much more important. Please take a look at the CDC guidelines for how to disinfect your home. These are especially important if someone in your home is sick and you’re trying to prevent others being infected. It’s easier to keep a guitar to yourself than to prevent your family touching the kitchen counter or bathroom door handle. Clean stuff. Wash hands. Stay safe.

Time

Time is your friend if you're concerned that your guitar could harbour the virus. The current position is that viable virus has been shown up to 72 hours on plastic and stainless steel surfaces (this has been extrapolated to 'shiny surfaces' and it seems reasonbable to play it safe and go with that). So, if you're worried about spreading the virus by guitar, wait at least three days after the suspect handling.

I hope you and yours are well. Take care.

P.S. If you’ve ever considered buying a copy of my Sketchy Setups guides, well, now would be a great time to make the leap. I’m not in bad shape and I can weather this but Sketchy Setups is my only income for at least the next month.

And, they’re good. You’ll like them. Check out Sketchy Setups.

Thank you.