Essential Care Tips for Your Guitar

Essential Care Tips for Your Guitar

If you want to keep your guitar in top condition, so that it always sounds great and keeps it's value, a few simple care and maintenance tasks need to be carried out. The guitar is a sensitive instrument and by following these simple steps, you will make sure that your guitar continues to perform at its best.
Watch the temperature.

Your guitar can tolerate a range of low and high temperatures, but it is rapid change in temperature that can cause problems such as a cracks in the body. Never leave your guitar next to a radiator, or in the back of your car on a hot day. Keeping your guitar in it's case when not in use can offer some protection against extremes of temperature change.

Is your guitar drying out?

Lack of humidity is another threat to your guitar, especially if it is an acoustic. Low humidity can cause cracking fret boards, split tops etc.. Keeping you guitar in it's case will protect against sudden changes in humidity as well as temperature. Use of a humidifier is recommended to deal with any humidity issues. These are usually placed in the sound hole so that the humidity within the guitar can be maintained at a suitable level and avoid the guitar drying out. This is particularly important in winter, when your heating will be drying out the atmosphere in your house.

Storing your guitar.

As already mentioned, storing your guitar in it's case when not in use is a good way to protect against changes in temperature and humidity. But is also good for general protection of your guitar from dust, knocks etc.. A solid body case is best as this affords better protection against knocks.

The alternative and cheaper option is to buy a rack or stand, so that the guitar can be stored in a secure position.

If you are not going to play your guitar for about a month or more, it is a good idea to loosen the strings. When tuned, the strings exert a strong force against the neck and body of the guitar. Over time this can cause warping, and bending out of shape. Loosening the strings takes the pressure off and will prevent any occurrence of this. You will simply need to retune your guitar once you start playing again.

Cleaning

The first step toward keeping a clean guitar is to make sure your hands are clean before you start playing. The life of strings can be affected by sweat and chemicals that are deposited by your fingers when playing. Keeping your finger nails trimmed on your fret hand will also prevent unnecessary wear of the fret board.

The strings should be cleaned after each session, by wiping with a soft cloth to remove any deposits. Cleaning the strings will not only extend the playing life of the strings, but will help keep the guitar in tune.

When the time comes to change the strings, take the opportunity to give the fret board a clean. This can get quite grubby with muck accumulating behind the frets. A dirty fret board will also reduce the useful life of your strings. To clean the fret board, use a damp paper towel to wipe gently between the frets. Be careful not to get the fret board wet. Then wipe the fret board with a dry paper towel. Many guitarist use Fretboard 65 Lemon Oil. This is a popular fretboard cleaning agent and treatment.

The finish on the body of modern guitars is usually quite durable and so should only require a wipe down with a soft cloth. Polishing, if required, should only be carried out using a specialist guitar polish. Ordinary furniture polish is not recommended as these often contain mild abrasives. If you polish your guitar too frequently with ordinary household wax polish, the layers of polish can eventually harden and alter the tone of your guitar.

Change old strings

If your guitar is sounding dull, or the guitar keeps going out of tune, this is usually a sign that the strings need replacing. If you are a professional or an amateur who plays frequently, you will probably have to change your strings every two weeks. For more casual use, every two to three months is more likely. All strings should be replaced at the same time. This is so that the characteristics and youth of the strings are consistent for all strings. Changing one string in isolation will give you problems maintaining tune of your guitar. When you are changing your strings, check the action of the tuning gears to make sure that there is no looseness or slack in the gearing. If any slack is found, the tuning gears should be checked and repaired by a competent guitar technician.

By following these simple guitar care tips, you will enjoy a long and tuneful relationship with your guitar.



About the Author
Ken Radwell has produced a free report "Secrets to Success Teaching Yourself Guitar" which can be obtained along with other information and reviews of guitar learning materials via his website www.GuitarSuccessNow.com/freereport.html