How to Take Care of your Guitar

Posted by admin in Acoustic Electric Guitars

Guitar Care

Many amateur guitar players have often experienced a guitar that has lost it’s prime action, or developed string buzz, and other anomaly’s that they struggle with. This sometimes requires the adjustment of the truss rod in the neck and can result in permanent damage to the Rosewood fretboard. Here at The Guitar Store we have seen this quite often, and it isn’t pretty, especially when it’s a favorite guitar.

It is not the lack of guitar quality that is the problem in most cases. The majority of the time the culprit seems to point back to how we maintain our guitars before, and after we are using them. Proper storage temperatures, humidity, and other factors come in to play here.

This is what most Guitar Luthiers (Guitar Techs) agree on as measures and precautions for “Proper Care of a Guitar“:

1. Always keep it @ 50% humidity. Use a humidifier IN A GUITAR CASE, not in a room if possible. You can buy Excellent Guitar Humidifiers for less than $15 that go between the strings of the guitar. The guitar “drinks” only what it needs and saves the rest for later.

2. If the fretboard is made of Rosewood, (which 90% are), keep lemon oil on it every time you change the strings. Rosewood is very pourous and dries out quickly. Rosewood is an awesome “tone wood” but needs extra care. The bridge of most guitars is also usually rosewood.

3. The Guitar Store recommends that you change the Guitar Strings about once every month. It is surprising how many people bring their guitars into a Luthier with the original strings on them and wonder why it sounds bad.

This will also help keep stress off of the truss rod.

The older the strings, the tighter they have to be to keep the guitar in tune.

HOT Tip! : For you that are new to the art of stringing a guitar… remember that your strings wind from the inside out.

4. Only use guitar polish on the guitar. Never use Pledge or any household wood polish. Guitar polishes are specially formulated to not ruin the clear coat on the guitar.

5. Oil the tuning machines about every 6 months or when they start feeling “sticky”. Use a very thin oil like mineral oil or valve oil used for trumpets.

Follow these basic guidelines tenaciously, and you will enjoy playing your guitar more often.

Holla’…

JDUB – The Guitar Store – Team Member

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Guitar Care

Related terms: Guitar Playing Tips, Acoustic Guitar Care, Martin Guitar Care, Gibson Guitar Care, Handle with Care Guitar Chords, I Don't Care Guitar Chords, I Don't Care Guitar Tabs, Guitar Care Kits

3 Responses to “How to Take Care of your Guitar”

Ileen Katsch says:

March 25, 2010 at 5:03 pm

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June 30, 2010 at 3:06 am

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Winifred Stuckey says:

November 29, 2010 at 11:56 pm

Hey, this is great, This has been very helpful… right on!