Guitar Care

     Learning how to play your guitar is one thing, but if you know nothing about guitar care you might be left with cracked pieces of wood and some snapped strings. Sudden changes in temperature, extremes of hot and cold and that dreaded ‘number one enemy’ of guitar care, humidity, will not only whack your guitar out of tune, but can cause such permanent damage your instrument might not ever recover. Then there is guitar fret care you have worry about and string life. Whether it’s electric guitar care or acoustic guitar care you need, there are some basic guitar care tips, that when followed, will give your instrument long life and provide you with years of dulcet sounds.

     First and foremost, it must be remembered that a guitar (in most cases) is made of wood. For this reason, weather and air pressure affect 

a guitar like no other factors. We’ve all seen how quickly a guitar can go out of tune when it’s simply brought from one room to another; imagine a prolonged exposure to air-conditioning or the warmth of a summer day (or the combination of the two!) How about the humidity of a dance club or the pressurized environment of an airplane? Wood expands and contracts to weather and air pressure, so will your guitar. Good guitar care starts with your recognizing exactly where it is you are taking your instrument and compensating for it.

     Then there is the question of guitar humidity care. This is a tricky area indeed, as you don’t want your guitar to be stored (or even placed) in area that is to dry…or too wet; wood will crack in an arid location as warps in a wet one. To keep a good balance and maintain good guitar humidity care, purchase a very basic hand-held humidifier. Any music store sells these and they are easy to slip in your case and leave be. Very few of us are lucky enough to have climate- controlled rooms, quite often guitars are stored in closets and attics, so this simple little humidifier, probably the lowest coast item you’ll ever by (next to strings) will bring you hours of good guitar humidity care and possibly save your instrument.

     Lastly, strings are important to guitar care, and it’s more the frequency you change your strings and how you treat them when they are on your guitar then the brand of strings you use. When traveling with a guitar, not only make sure it is snug in its case, but loosen those strings; they have been known to pop at extreme pressures or from too much bouncing around. And you should also be aware that the life expectancy of a normal string is no more then a week on the guitar of a regular player. Once again, no matter if it is acoustic guitar care or electric guitar care you care about; the oils from your hands will affect the strings of both types of guitar. And these very same oils, not to mention the wear and tear of your finger movements, even lessen good guitar fret care after a time (you’ve seen those worn-out frets, I am sure).

With some simple accoutrements: a well-fitting guitar case, a humidifier, a good clean cloth for whipping off your fret board after playing, some good string maintenance and some attention of where you place your guitar, you can have healthy guitar care and enjoy your instrument for a very long time.