----- BASIC MAINTENANCE -----
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There are a few simple rules to follow, regarding maintenance of the guitar,
which will be beneficial if followed:
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Beware of extremes, regarding moisture.
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Don't get it wet!
Yes, I know this is really stating the obvious - but, it's
extremely important. In fact it's so important, that to not
say it would be a failure to do this right. Don't get it
wet! Wood warps when it gets wet. It develops mold and
mildew. It cracks under the tension of the strings. The face
of the guitar can break loose and come away from the body.
The neck can warp or develop a curve. Don't get it wet.
Extending this common-sense rule, leads to this: Beware of
moisture changes in general. You don't want the wood of the
guitar soaking up too much moisture from the air, or drying
out via losing its moisture into the air. Getting too wet
usually results in the wood warping. Getting too dry usually
results in the wood cracking.
The way you feel can be an indicator of how the current
moisture level in the air is going to effect your guitar. If
you feel sticky, like the air is overly humid, then have
consideration for whether or not your guitar will be soaking
up an excessive amount of moisture from the air. If you have
to think about whether or not you're going to get a shock
after walking across a rug, then the air is overly dry - and
the guitar will lose moisture into the air, drying out. In
cases where the air is overly humid or overly dry, it might
be prudent to either keep the guitar case shut and just not
play it in those conditions, or shorten the length of your
practice/performance session to minimize how the moisture
levels might affect the guitar.
Virtually any store you go into that sells guitars will also
have moisturizing accessories for sale, called,
"humidifiers". I don't know if there is any
product available for drying out the wood when it's too
moist, but the humidifiers will prevent the wood from
getting too dry if they're used correctly. They're small,
and designed to be stored inside the guitar case with the
guitar.
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Don't let it get too hot or too cold.
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The guitar is made out of wood; most of it, fairly
light-gage wood, at that. Thin wood warps and cracks easier
than heavy wood. Wood under pressure does the same (as vs.
wood that's not under pressure). Most acoustic guitars have
the face attached by nothing more than a type of glue. Get
it too hot, the glue melts and the face can pop off. Get it
too cold, and the glue can crack - same result.
It's important to know that an extension of this rule is
this: Beware of temperature changes. It's not just a matter
of getting too hot or too cold; it's also a matter of how
quickly the instrument undergoes a temperature change, even
when it remains within its normal range. If you must move
the guitar from a hot place to a cold place, or vice-versa,
do what you can to slow down the rate at which the guitar
itself changes temperature. Heavy padding, like being
wrapped in a quilt can do this, if you don't have a good
insulated guitar case available.
Stating the obvious that just about everybody mentions:
Don't leave the guitar sitting in a car on a hot day, or on
a very cold day. Even a good thermally insulated guitar case
won't protect your instrument very long under those
conditions. Just don't do it - and, if you slip up and do it
even after being told not to, do what you can to make the
change back to normal temperature occur at a slow and steady
pace.
Another offshoot of this rule is this: Don't store your
guitar in a place where it will have direct sunlight on it
for hours on end, even if it's in a good case. Sunlight
contains energy - makes heat. If it sits in direct sunlight
for hours on end, all that sunlight adds up to a lot of
heat. It can also make the wood of your guitar dry out and
crack.
I think a good way to work with this rule would be to gage
the temperature by the way you feel. If it's hot enough that
you're going to sweat, then it's probably too hot for your
guitar. If it's cold enough that you need to use
heavy-weight clothing to compensate, then it's probably too
cold for your guitar, too.
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Keep it clean and polish it.
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As a general rule, if you take the time to clean and polish your guitar, it will protect the
instrument and keep it sounding good. Note, however, that there exceptions to this rule do
exist. For example, the literature which came with the guitar when I purchased my Cedar Top Seagull
S6 (a pamphlet from the Seagull Guitar company) recommends not polishing the guitar. They
recommend instead the use of Windex, as being preferred due to the very thin varnish layer they
coat the surface with. The best way of determining what's most beneficial for your instrument is
(of course) to contact the manufacturer and see what they recommend. If that's not easily done,
then see if you can figure out what type of coating is on it. If it's a polyurethane coating, as
on most modern guitars, or a painted surface, then I'd recommend to go ahead and polish it. If
it's a varnish surface, then I'd recommend not polishing, and going with the Windex treatment
instead. You can also talk with the people in your local guitar sales &/or repair shop, and
see what they recommend for your particular guitar - but, the bottom line, is that the choice is
entirely up to you and your best judgement.
If you decide to polish it, here's the generally preferred method:
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Apply a small amount of polish to a soft, clean piece of cloth. Work that polish over a
small surface area, using small circular motions. If you see streaks of polish being left
behind, then you're either using too much or you didn't spread it out over enough surface
area. (Same difference, right?)
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2)
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When you've applied polish to an entire surface, such as an entire side, the entire face, or the
entire back, switch to different piece of clean, soft cloth. Using that new piece of cloth, go back
over the surface you just polished using short, brisk strokes that are at right angle to the grain
of the wood. Usually, that means from side to side across the front or back faces, and from front to
back (and vice versa) on the sides. It's best to generally repeat the sequence of places you worked
on, because while you were applying more polish, the polish you put on first was hardening. This is
beneficial, as long as you didn't apply the polish thickly enough to leave thick streaks during the
first step. Very light streaks that happened during the first step usually disappear during the
second step.
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3)
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Just as in the 2nd step; when you're done with a surface, such as an entire side, the entire face,
or the entire back, you need to repeat going over the surface you just did. This time, you need to
use long, smooth strokes that are in alignment with the grain of the wood. Usually, that means doing
the long smooth strokes from top toward bottom and vice versa; i.e., aligned with the length of
the guitar. By the time you reach this step, you don't need to worry about repeating the sequence of
places you worked on, because by this point the polish you put on should have become almost fully
hardened. These long, smooth strokes in the 3rd step of the polishing procedure are what provide
the brilliant mirror finish.
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To recap the process:
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The first step of polishing puts the compound onto the surface and spreads it around.
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2)
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The second step of the process smooths it out, making the surface of what you've applied lose
the marks left by the circular motions.
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The third step erases any marks left on the surface from the short cross-grain strokes,
fine-tuning the nearly hardened finish.
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This 3-step procedure is the method I use when I polish my guitars - and, the end result is usually a
nearly flawless mirror finish. The main thing to watch out for, in pursuit of that mirror finish, is
fingerprints on areas you've finished polishing. If you've really put a shine on it, those careless
fingerprints from being touched afterward can show up like crazy.
A well-polished guitar is not only a thing of beauty - it's a wooden item with surfaces that have a
durable layer of protection on them.
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Clean the strings after playing the guitar.
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After you're finished playing the guitar, take a minute to clean the strings. Metal strings oxidize,
developing tarnish (similar to rust), when exposed to the air. There are oils that come off your fingers
while playing, and those oils chemically combine with the metal of the strings - causing them to tarnish
more quickly than they otherwise would. Even though the tarnish which develops during an ordinary playing
session isn't visible to the eye; when you wipe the strings after playing, there it is, on the cloth. If
you clean the strings, they'll last much longer, sounding better while they're at it. If you're
conscientious about cleaning the strings after each session, you can easily double the length of time
they remain in good condition; i.e., you can double the length of time the guitar can go without you
being forced to do the sometimes difficult and usually tedious task of replacing the strings on the
instrument. That also means that much longer, before you have to shell out to buy new strings! Pretty cool,
eh? A little elbow grease should save you some money.
There are cloths you can buy, that have special cleaning solutions embedded in the cloth. (I've
never used them, but they do exist.) If you want to get fancy & picky about it, go ahead and
track one down. But - at the very least, you can wipe a small piece of clean cloth over the length of
each string; that by itself will remove quite a bit of excess oils, etc.
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Keep the guitar finely tuned.
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The reasons why I include this as basic maintenance are complex, and for the moment I'm going to
avoid going into a detailed explanation. Instead, I'm going to write a brief, generalized
explanation:
The vibrations which occur within the wood when a guitar is played have an end result of flex
patterns within the wood. Those flex patterns change, based on the pitches being moved through
(within) the wood. If the flex patterns are always the same, they become ingrained into the
structure of the wood. If they change, then the wood doesn't develop well-defined flex patterns
in its structure. When it's properly tuned, a guitar which is always tuned precisely the same will
resonate better than a guitar which is usually tuned carelessly. This affects the "voice"
of the instrument, and its playability.
Please note, what I've written is especially important when working with a new guitar.
New guitars haven't developed any flex patterns at all, yet, so the level of precision with which
their tuning is maintained can determine whether they end up sounding great a year later, or simply
mediocre.
Another aspect of this worth mentioning, is that if you're working with an instrument previously
owned by someone who didn't maintain precision tuning, the quality of that instrument will gradually
improve over time if given such precision tuning by the new owner. The amount of improvement isn't
something which can be easily or accurately predicted, because of the unknowns and variables involved.
The most likely result, is only a small improvement - but, any improvement's better than none, right?
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Play the guitar frequently.
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This item is a bit of a mystery to me, but I'm including it anyway. I really don't know why this
is true, but in my experience, it's been that way - if you play the particular guitar on a regular
basis, its voice will remain good and even improve (given adherence to all the other things I've
written about guitar maintenance). If you let the guitar sit unused for an extended period of time,
the quality of its voice will deteriorate.
As an example of this, I'll tell you about my Seagull S-6. After first bought it and adjusted the
bridge, its playing characteristics were virtually flawless - and, remained that way during the
first year and a half of ownership. There came a period of about three weeks, where I didn't play
it; instead, focusing on other instruments. When I brought it out again, I discovered to my dismay
that there was a mild buzz from the instrument when played. It seemed to be coming from inside the
guitar; I couldn't pin it down. All I could really do, was accept the presence of that buzz, be
more conscientious about playing the guitar on a regular basis, and go on from there. A couple of
more years have passed now, and I've done fairly well re. playing it on a regular basis. That buzz
has almost entirely disappeared, but the quality of its voice still isn't quite what it used to be
before I let it sit unused for that 3 week period; just an almost unnoticeable smidgen less beautiful
than it was beforehand.
Therefore, I'm including in my list of basic maintenance items, the wisdom which I've heard voiced
many times by varous people but never truly understood the mechanics of: A guitar needs to be played
on a regular, frequent basis, to maintain its voice and playability.
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It's very important, that you know and follow these simple rules for handling and caretaking of your
guitar. If you don't have this fundamental knowledge, then your guitar won't last and you'll either end up
spending money to replace it, playing a broken or warped instrument, or just abandoning guitar playing entirely.
If you take care of your instrument, then it's more likely to remain useful; i.e., take care of it, and it will
take care of you.
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