Although owning a guitar is very important, its maintenance should be of far more importance. Like every other musical instrument, the guitar must be in a standard state of well-being at all times in other to get an appreciable level of output.
From the body to the neck, the frets and other mechanical parts, doing it the right is most important. Whether it is a guitar used for professional performance, for leisure or used in practicing with or without the help of a private guitar teacher, the fact that you possess a guitar means it must be maintained.
There are basics to follow in terms of guitar maintenance, whether for the pros, the learners of regular enthusiasts. Let us take a good note of the following eight basic aspects of guitar servicing one after another
- Guitar neck: It is common knowledge that the fret-board is one of the most delicate part of guitar. A clean neck ensures a smoother play and in turn, the fret-board last longer. Take off old strings and clean the guitar neck and the back of the fret with the aid of a soft rag and a low-grade mineral oil (kindly shun lemon oils)
- Body cleaning and polishing: This method of cleaning applies basically to all guitars depending on the body coating, surface or texture. Do not just apply and thing, confirm that it is compatible with your guitar before application. Generally, just try to avoid anything with the following contents (lemon oil, alcohol, limonene, solvents or silicones) on any guitar with painted body.
- Inspect of frets and spring contact areas: The fret and all mechanical parts that comes in contact with the string is very important for tuning stability and tone. If you notice the fret being dull or they are having some imperfections, the neck could be masked off with the use of painters and putting them back easily with the use of steel wool of (0000 grade).
- Re-string your guitar: As easy as this might seem, it has the potential of putting your guitar in a situation worse than it was before maintenance. Two thing to note while doing this include; the tuning stability could be affected by the turns on the string post and It is a must for new strings to be stretched in. Setting your action is the next thing to do and it is probably the most misunderstood concept in guitar maintenance.
- Neck Setting: Make sure you sight down the neck of your guitar, some guitars are made to operate with either a dead which is not very common or an imperceptible or faint bow which is the most common.
- Intonation: Make sure the intonation is checked immediately after any change or adjustment in string gauge or on mechanical any parts of the guitar. Check the pots to see if they are scratchy or if the output are cracky.
- General inspection: Look at your guitar carefully like a mother would look at her baby while bathing the baby to see if everything else is in order.
Guitar maintenance is not the big issue in most cases, but doing it the right way is the problem. Its normal for those who get private guitar lessons to get help from their guitar teachers and also for professionals guitar players also, because they are quick to sense a down in performance of the instrument and so they either outsource the maintenance or just do a basic servicing.
However, studies show that the most problems in terms guitar servicing lies in the average guitar user. It is either they are not doing it well or they are doing it wrongly. Hence it is important to learn to use the guitar the right way from a good guitar teacher during your beginner guitar lessons.
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