Congrats on a great guitar and welcome to the forum!
Cleaning the finish (whether satin or gloss) is a simple mater of wiping it down with a clean, dry cloth. My personal preference is a thin microfiber towel, and a "breath" on the finish is enough to remove whatever smudges come from perspiration (which, btw, neither gloss nor satin will absorb...Taylor's is quite the durable finish). Beyond a simple "breath and a wipe," you can always use any of the myriad guitar cleaners that come in a pump spray. Some folks like these not only for the shine, but the slick feel they leave.
As for your fingerboard, there is
lots written on the web ...
lots, and with varying opinions. My thought on this is "less is more": meaning nothing added onto your fingerboard is better than adding the wrong thing, or even worse, too much of the right thing.
First, ebony is a very durable and dense wood, good at rejecting grime and sweat ...which btw also makes it very good at rejecting whatever topical application of whatever you choose! FWIW, I've read that no oil penetrates more than scant surface microns of the board, only to be wiped away, evaporate, or be absorbed by fingers. Net absorption: nada.
Second: the addition of any oil/product on the fingerboard runs the risk of seeping into the fret slots which, over time and repeated application, can loosen frets causing them to rise or shift: imperceptible to the eye but causing a high fret that you will most certainly hear.
Third: consider the many yeeeaaaars guitar fingerboards (particularly ebony) have existed without the advent of additional product added onto them ...or at least say the innumerable builders that have stood the test of time. Rosewood and ebony are used not merely because of tradition but because they represent excellent woods species for this purpose.
Solution: simply a dry wipedown of the fingerboard is truly all that is necessary. Many a luthier have recommended naptha as a cleaning agent for actual grime as it evaporates quickly and leaves no reside. Even sweaty hands will do nothing more than leave a film of light grunge on a fingerboard that can be easily wiped off with a dry cloth.
Far more important than "clean": relative humidity. All finishes will do a decent job of protecting the guitar wood, and Taylor's UV fin is (IMHO) pretty dang excellent. But this is like maintaining a shiny car and forgetting to get regular oil changes: the guitar's true health is maintained by maintaining its moisture content within the generally-accepted window (determined by those pesky experts over those many years
). Bob Taylor, himself, recommends an RH in the 40% range (and he purportedly maintains the factory at 47%). No need to get OCD about this (any more than one shouldn't get compulsive about oil changes), but prolonged exposure to either dry/wet extreme
will cause problems.
Anyway, all just my Saturday-morning meanderings, so forgive me for running long. Or if I'm coming off pedantic, I'll just blame it on my XL mug of Italian roast, the quiet morning, and a half-hearted desire to get my day going.
Edward
