Guitar Care

Caring for your guitar is easy and involves nothing more than common sense. Just because there's nothing much to do in order to care for your guitar, it's something that shouldn't be avoided. Just a little regular maintenance and cleaning will keep your guitar playing and sounding good for many, many years to come.

Environment

Since guitars are constructed from wood, one should pay attention to the environment in which the instrument is stored and played. Strong direct sunlight can cause the guitar to get excessively hot, and in at least a hollow-body guitar, can actually cause the wood to crack. Also, a guitar should never, EVER be stored

in a vehicle during hot weather. Also, very cold conditions is not good for your guitar. Occassinally, it may be unaviodable to subject your instrument to less than ideal temperatures, such as transporting it. One thing you can do, is. after getting the instrument back into 'room temperature', leave it in the case for a while. This may help in exposing it to sudden extreme temperature changes.

Strings

There's not a lot of upkeep for guitar strings. The main thing to keep in mind, is to wipe the guitar strings down with a clean, dry cloth after each playing. This will help in keeping at least of the oil from your fingers from building up and affecting the tone. There are cleaners for guitar strings, but I normally don't use anything on my strings, they have a relatively short life, and I can't see spending the money on something that will be thrown away after a short period. As far as strings go, some people advise that they should be replaced after a certain period, personally, I believe that you should let your ears be the guide. When I play often, I sometimes replace the lower (top 3, E, A & D) strings as often as once a week. Many professionals change them before each performance. Just remember, even on a top quality classical guitar, you'll want to have the strings on at least for many hours, if not a day or two, in order for the strings to stretch. The bass strings especially, will need frequent tuning after they are first installed.

Wood

To care for the wood or your guitar, you should. as I mentioned previously, avoid extreme temperatures, but humidity is also a factor. If the wood is exposed to very low humidity, it can dry out and crack. This isn't usually as bad on a solid body instrument, but a humidifier might be in order in a very dry climate. There are guitar cleaners available commercially that are good for keeping the instrument looking good. Just try not to get the cleaner on the strings when applying it.

Fingerboard

Occasionally, you'll want to clean the fingerboard of your guitar. As in the case of strings, the finger board get's oil from your fingers on it. It should be wiped down, usually when changing strings (one at a time), and it can be cleaned with a quality wood (instrument) cleaner. I had a friend that regularlly cleaned his classical fingerbaord and then applied (very lightly) some linseed oil. If you choose this option, remember to apply VERY LIGHTLY, and wipe off all excess.

Tuners

Also, if you have open tuners on your guitar, as do most classical instruments, just a drop of light oil will keep then operating smoothly, just remember to use a very small amount or you can get excessive dirt buildup on the tuner,

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