How To Care for Your Guitar

Taking care of your guitar is a great way to keep it in good condition. Here are some ideas for protecting and caring for your instrument.

1. One of the first investments you should make is a nice guitar case. Your instrument will be more protected in a good case. By the way, leave it in the case since keeping on a stand is not a good idea. Accidents can happen and guitars can get easily damaged.

2. Thinking about leaving it in a hot car? Don't. You can ruin the wood and actually warp the instrument. Extreme temperatures are not good for your guitar.

3. If you live where the temperature is quite dry it's a good idea to use a humidifier. You can buy one particularly designed for various guitars or even create one on your own. To create a humidifier, get yourself a little plastic-type box which will fit in your guitar case. A traveling box for any bar of soap could be the ideal dimension. Position a damp cloth or sponge inside the plastic box and also force little holes into the container.

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Wash Your Hands!

4. Keep a 100 % cotton cloth inside your case. It should be soft, like a baby's diaper. This is wonderful for clearing off your guitar. A number of people wipe down their guitar strings right after playing. This will help to make them last much longer.

5.How often should you change your strings? Change them when they start to sound dead. It depends on the area you live in and your body chemistry. Some pros change their strings every few weeks, but probably at least every six months is a good ballpark.

6. Speaking of body chemistry... washing your hands before you practice is an excellent habit to get into. The grim and dirt from your hands can muck up your strings.

7. Thoroughly clean the guitar fretboard with really fine steel wool. It is possible to thoroughly clean out any soil or muck. Once the strings are off, thoroughly clean every fret.

8. Occasionally polish the wood using a good guitar polish. Your guitar will get thoroughly clean plus a nicely cared for guitar is actually not as likely to get problems down the road.

Best of luck in your playing!