Guitar maintenance and care.
December 8, 2009 by Jess
Filed under Advice Tips & Tricks
It’s not much to say, giving our guitars proper care over time will give them a much better sound and longer life. If your a serious guitarist then, you’ll need to get some accessories that are a must for guitar care. In the end, if you want to sound like a professional guitar player then, you’ll need to have a guitar that has been taking care of in a professional manor. Thie first thing you should have is a hard shell case to safely transport your guitar from gig to gig or practice, anywhere that you may be playing. Some guys and gals like to use the soft “gig bag” which are, a zip up bag that you can slip your guitar in. These can cause major problems though, the tuning pegs are exposed through the thin case and get hit, knocked out of tune. Worse case, broken off. What’s more, the body of the guitar can get punctured while moving or the neck broken as well. The hard shell case solves all these problems. Inside the case are supports for the neck and body so it’s protected, nothing can easily damage your guitar and that is what we’re looking for. A hard shell case is more expensive but it’s, penny’s on the dollar over the life of your guitar. In the long haul, it will make your guitar last much longer.
Another accessory that you should consider is a guitar stand. Once your done playing between sets or what ever, you’ll need to put your guitar on a stand. Many of people, myself included years back, lean them on the wall a chair or something else and this isn’t good for the guitar either. In time, a short time depending on temperature and humidity, can warp the neck and cause major intonation problems. It’s almost impossible to play a guitar that has strings half an inch off the neck. Also, leaning a guitar up against something makes it much more likely for accidents, someone may trip over it or get knocked over by something or someone.
So that said, it’s a really good idea to have a guitar stand at all times and will definitely extend the life of any guitar. For a small investment it will save big, again in the long run. One of the last items you may consider is a tuner. Once you have played for a while it will be easier to tune the guitar by ear but, if your just starting out it can be a chore. And it really is embarrassing if your singing along and your guitar is out of tune. A tuner takes care of all that by giving the exact pitch for each string. I like to use a TU-2 Chromatic tuner from Boss but there are many great tuners out there, pretty much any kind you can think of for acoustic and electric. Some mount on the end of the neck others like mine are a stomp box so, you can choose which will suit your needs. Now the last items you may want is a cleaning kit. They come with guitar polish to wipe down the grim and smudges also, polish cloth, finger ease for the strings and you may want a humidipak kit to put in your case for constant humidity levels. And maybe even a string winder to re-string faster. Just some suggestions that may help you in the search for long guitar life. If you have any questions or suggestion please post a comment, I would appreciate it. Good luck… hope this helps. I wish you the best success Cheers
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