Maintenance Tips
Read these 6 Maintenance Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Guitar tips and hundreds of other topics.
Temperature
Keep your guitar away from extreme heat, cold, or humidity changes. Avoid placing your guitar on its stand near heat and air conditioning vents, windows, doors, outside, or in your car for long periods of time.
Humidity & Your Guitar
Did you know that humidity can have some pretty dramatic effects on your guitar? The recommended conditions for an acoustic guitar are between 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit at 40-50 percent humidity. Of course, these temperatures are not always attainable. When you have to take your guitar out in extremely hot or cold weather, it's best to cool off or warm up your car ahead of time. Never place your guitar in the trunk, since the trunk gets very hot in hot weather and very cold in cold weather. If you must expose your guitar to extremes, first remove all the tension from the strings. Then, allow the guitar to remain in its case and slowly return to a moderate temperature before tuning up again.
Making Your Strings Live Longer
Do your strings wear out prematurely? It may be because you have sweaty hands. If you want your strings to last longer, I've noticed that washing and drying my hands thoroughly before playing really lengthens the life of my strings.
Also wipe them right when you finish playing, this will make them last longer.
Preserving guitar leads
To ensure longevity of your guitar leads, roll them carefully up. Don't use a winding - over the elbow - method as this can cause separation of the wiring inside the connectors. Any sharp pulls or constant pressure can easily break the delicate solder joints in the cable. Roll gently into a circle about 10 to 12 inches across and store flat in a hard box, crate or road case.
Guitar Care
Use only quality guitar care and maintenance products -not furniture polish or abrasive dust cloths.
Remove moisture from guitars
To remove moisture from your guitar / case when stored, place small packets of silica gel like the type you get in packaged items. The gel is designed to absorb the moisture away from the precious item. Discard and replace every 6 to 12 months as the gels lose their effectiveness after a while.
