Restoring a Guitar

What does it take to restore an old guitar? A little know-how, some elbow grease, and the right set of tools and equipment can help bring a dusty guitar back to gigging shape.

We enlisted one of our resident bloggers and guitar experts, David, to take on the task of restoring an Italia Mondial Classic whose owner wanted to pick up and play again after it spent a few years on the bench. We documented the process with photos and have included links to all the guitar care products and tools used below, so you can order what you need and get to work getting your favorite axe back in shape! Check out the process below — we’ve also included footnotes at the bottom of the post.

Want to learn even more about guitar setup and care? Read more guides here.

Notes:

When polishing the fretboard, David puts sandpaper on a wooden block, and rubs it up and down the fretboard. He goes from 320 to 400 to 600 grit sandpaper in that order. After that, David uses a Micro Mesh sheet to go over the frets, two at a time. He moves from 1600 to 2400 and then 3200 grit mesh in that order.