General Guitar Care Guidelines

Guitar Hygiene

One of the best ways to care for your guitar is by cleaning your hands prior to handling the instrument. It's good to get into this habit very early on, so that it becomes routine. You may not think your hands are dirty, but they're actually covered with your body's oil and sweat, along with other imperceptible dirt. All that's needed is a simple washing with soap and water, and don't forget to dry them because the water will cause metal strings to rust.

The fretboard and strings are affected by oils and dirt moreso than any other part of the guitar. The strings especially will degrade and loose their strength and tone much quicker when they retain these contaminants.

You should also get into the habit of cleaning your guitar after each handling. Even if your hands get cleaned before playing they still produce oils and sweat while playing, which gets left on the guitar. The goal is to remove the majority of these contaminants. Here again, the strings and fretboard are the most vulnerable. Wiping down the fretboard and each string with a clean, dry, soft cloth is the best method.

The rest of the guitar (apart from the fretboard) can also be wiped down with a clean cloth or you can use guitar cleaners and polishes. However, the best time to do a thorough cleaning is when you change strings, so that you can access all areas of the guitar without any obstructions.

Humidity and Temperature Effects on Guitars

How and where you store your guitar will have a tremendous impact on its health. The most important thing to remember is that guitars need to be kept in controlled and stable climates, i.e. indoors. Since guitars are made of wood, rapid temperature and humidity fluctuations are very dangerous. Never store your guitar in a vehicle, in direct sunlight, or near heat sources such as fireplaces and heating vents. The heat can damage the finish, loosen glue joints, and even cause resin pockets in the spruce soundboard to expand and cause blistering. Excessively low temperatures should also be avoided as this can causing the finish to contract and crack, resulting in "finish checking". An ideal temperature range for the guitar is between 50-80 Farenheit, though short periods above or below aren't cause for alarm.

Excessively high or low humidity presents a more critical danger to guitars. "Relative Humidity" is the important distinction here. Without getting too detailed, suffice it to say that air at higher higher temperatures can hold more humidity than air at lower temperatures. In the summer an air conditioner removes excessive humidity from the air and keeps it at a manageable level. The real problem arises in the winter, when the ambient air is already low in humidity. When the heat is turned on indoors this effectively lowers the relative humidity even more and often to dangerous levels (remember that warmer air holds more humidity). If it's confusing don't worry. What should be remembered is that the ideal humidity conditions are between 40-50% in any season. Most climate controlled buildings will maintain this just fine. However, if you live in a cold and dry area, it would be smart to invest in a hygrometer for keeping track of relative humidity. If it is found to be too low, then purchasing a humidifier should be seriously considered.

Storing Your Guitar

When not playing your guitar it's a good idea to keep it in a location that is safe from damage. This means away from pets, children, heating and air vents, water sources, etc. The best practice is to keep your guitar in a hard or soft case when finished with it. Guitar hooks and stands are another option. Guitar hooks mount on a wall and allow the guitar to hang freely from them. Remember though, in winter the temperature can be much warmer towards the ceiling and thus much drier. Guitar stands are another convenient way to store your guitar. With these the guitar body rests in a cradle while the neck rests inside a fork to keep it from tipping over. Any of these options are satisfactory for storing your guitar, but your budget will likely be the major factor influencing your choice.

Some places that you NEVER want to keep your guitar are the attic, cellar, basement, or outdoors. All of these locations undergo rapid and regular humidity and temperature changes, which will certainly damage your guitar very quickly.

When storing a guitar for an extended period of time all of the above points apply, but it should be detuned as well. This is to avoid distortion to the neck, bridge, and soundboard. To detune, simply loosen all of the tuning pegs evenly until most of the tension is off of the neck. Be sure to loosen the tuning pegs together rather than completely loosening one at a time.

Transporting Guitars

A hard case is really the safest option when transporting or moving a guitar. This is especially true when you won't be the only one handling it, such as with airplane travel or the use of moving services. Extra equipment (capos, tuners, etc) shouldn't be stored loosely inside the case as these can damage the guitar during shipment. If extra equipment is kept inside the case make sure it's kept inside an enclosed compartment. Ideally, the guitar should fit snugly in its case with very little wiggle room. If it doesn't fit snugly, then you should add some padding or towels to make it so. The idea is to keep the guitar from bouncing around inside the case.

Also, note that the guitar can get pretty cold in a plane's cargo hold and it should be acclimated slowly afterwards. This means leaving the guitar in its case and letting it slowly warm up to room temperature before playing it.

A soft-shell zipup bag is sufficient for shorter trips or those carried out by the owner. These won't offer full protection against any major upsets or drops, but they can protect the guitar from sunlight and minor dings and scratches.

Transporting a guitar without any protection isn't the smartest choice unless you are extremely careful. However, moving a guitar through doors and in & out of cars can be cumbersome, even for a cautious person. So, take the extra precautions to protect your investment by getting some type of guitar case.