Guitar Maintenance
Properly take care of your instrument
Any real guitarist respects his guitar as something very valuable. This guitarist does not throw his instrument around and leave it lying around when it is slightly inconvenient for him to put it away. What are some tips on maintaining your guitar to the fullest? Let me tell you!
I go a bit OCD when it comes to taking care of my instrument. I am even a little bit hesistant when people ask me to play it fearing they might set it on fire or chuck it across the room. Well, maybe not but I’m always watching to make sure they dont drop it!
I’ll start with the first thing you should do, even before you pick up your guitar. Wash your hands. Im serious here. The oil from your hands not only corrodes the strings but it shortest the life of the guitar neck (the wood). You’re also going to want to wipe the guitar strings down when you are done playing to remove any dirt or oil from your hands that was left on the guitar when you played. This will greatly increase the lifespan of your strings, which is recommended to be changed about once a month but will always differ depending on how often you play and how clean you keep your hands and the strings
Keep you guitar in an environment that will be free of constant temperature and humidity change. That means dont keep it in your garage because it clutters up your room, as it can warp and damage your guitar.
Every time I change my strings I like to wipe it down with a nice coat of wax that I bought at a guitar center. This will help keep it clean and will also give it a nice shine to show off its beauty. It will also give it a semi protective coat.
If you are looking to keep all the scratches off your guitar I would suggest investing in a back guard. When you stand up and play the back of the guitar rubs all over what you are wearing, and if you are wearing a metal belt buckle that could result in some nasty gouges on the back of your guitar. Considering guitars can be very expensive, that would be most unfortunate.
It can also be good every once in a while to put some type of oil on your fret board when you are changing your strings. I have seen some older guitars with dry dry fret wood, and it is not a pretty sight. Try to keep it moisturized with a lemon oil to keep it from becoming rough or even worse, cracking.
Other than keeping all the nuts and bolts snuggly tightened, that about does it for basic guitar maintenance! Keep those guitars in good shape so they can keep on a blazin.
