small scratches on body...

Just like a car, everytime you wipe it down or polish it you get swirl marks. Just a fact of life and not much you can do about it.

but theyre not swirl marks tho

They could come from anything that comes in contact with the body of the guitar. Like your pick, material from a long sleeved shirt, in and out of the case, you name it. Sometimes it seems like something only has to get close to put a scratch on it. Kind of comes with the territory. Sorry.

Joe

hey bbweasel

You can try meguiars scratch and swirl remover. It just rounds the corners of and scratches so the light doesn't refract. Works like a charm.

3m also makes some stuff that is super fine silica that will do the trick. It's like rubbing compound but better.

This is a bit of a contentious issue, but I also use a high quality carnuba car wax a couple times a year. Some people find that this can increase their fingerprint problem. The stuff I use (it happens to be Turtle Wax brand) dries to a really hard finish that seems to resist fingerprints and hides minor scratches. My guitar is black, so otherwise it does show scratches easily, but right now it looks beautiful.
Microfibre cloths designed for polishing guitars and cars are also less apt to scratch than some other materials, so you could try switching to one of those Ed Roman sells one that he says he tested for scratch resistance, but they are usually available at guitar shops, auto parts stores, and eyeglass stores for $2-5.

thanks fellas but do lighter colored guitars show stuff like fingerprints and scratches less?

To me it's the finish, high gloss just shows fingerprints.

But black has got to be the worst for showing them.

scratches and dings add character to the instrument, and sometimes swirl marks and fingerprints can look cool, but cleaning and taking care of your guitar is a good habit to get into.

My personal philosophy is that Turtle Wax is the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything :D

I know that as a former instructor for the US Military, we used good ol' TW to 'condition' our whiteboards....better than any product that was designated for that purpose. It fills in small scratches, buffs out evenly, and generally does a nice job.

I haven't personally tried it on my guitar, but if it's anything like my truck (which at times gets more attention that my son) then it should do you pretty OK. :)

(just kidding about the son thing, please, noone track down my ISP and call CPS LOL) [was that enough acronyms?]

-Rick

Just don't go overboard with the wax. I keep it well away from the pickups, fretboard, strings, and any grooves where it can collect (like around the bridge and straplocks).

baseballweasel94! Sorry to interrupt...could I ask how much you payed for that guitar?

Weasel,

I have a blue Squire Strat too, one of my pet hates (hahah Pun) is the finger prints, the greasy/sweaty prints seem to reflect quite alot, more so than on my other guitars. I also dropped my guitar in the garden when the strap came off, so it now has dint on the bottom it looks a bit like a graze with tiny little dints in it from the gravel, and a scratch from where it bounced. You can't really see them unless you knew where they were, but its part of the character of my guitar now, sets it apart from the other shiney new guitars that anybody can have, I don't go out and intentionally damage my guitar, but if it gets a few scratchs' and bumps' I'm not overly worried (except at my own stupidity for doing it in the first place) I like the fact that me and my guitar have a history, and there is a story or memory behind every war wound.

I never heard of using Turtle Wax before, which type do you use? Is it a case of "wax on" "wax off"?

Pet

The stuff I used is called "Turtle Wax Super Hard Shell Car Wax" (I had noticed that it hid swirl marks on the car and thought that if it was good enough for the Mini it might be good enough for the Tele). With a damp (slightly) cloth I rub a thin layer onto just the painted parts of the body, one side at a time, with the strings off, staying about 1/4 inch clear of the pickups, neck,etc. Let it dry, then wipe it off, Grasshopper (oops, wrong movie), then polish with a microfibre cloth (which I then washed since I use this as my every day guitar cloth and I didn't want to wipe wax onto my strings).
I just wipe it down after each time I play. I just took a close look at it... not a fingerprint in sight... and it is dark black and shiny and beautiful. Man, that's a great little guitar.