Guitar maintenance shouldn't be something that you should have to pay for. Sure, fixing a broken neck or building a nut should be left to the professionals but there are some things that you can do to on your own. Today I am going to tell you some simple tricks to keep your guitar sounding and playing great!
1. Buy a guitar humidifier! This simple tool can be purchased at practically any guitar shop. If you keep this in your guitar while it is in its case it will keep the wood from drying out which can cause some big problems down the road!
2. Loosen the strings while going to and from gigs! Before you put your guitar in its case when traveling loosen the strings a bit. This will give some life to your strings and give the neck some much-needed rest. The change in temperature from your house to being on the road to the bar you are playing at will change; sometimes drastically in the winter! Loosening the strings will allow the neck to naturally fluctuate without any resistance from the strings. Once you arrive, give your guitar about 45 minutes to adjust to the temperature in the room before opening your case. Then tune up and rock out!
3. Bore oil your fingerboard! No, this isn't the stuff that you get when you squeeze a boar! Bore oil is an oil that will slightly moisten and clean your fingerboard. Think of it as lotion for your guitar. Whenever you change your strings dab some of this on a cloth and give that fingerboard a good rubdown!
4. Always place it in your case! This is the easiest tip and for some reason the one that is the hardest to do! Simply put, if it's in its case then it won't get hurt!
5. Intonation! **For electric guitars** All this tip requires is an allen wrench and a good tuner. When your guitar is correctly intonated the open string and the same string played on the 12th fret are precisely in tune together. If your intonation is a little off then the notes that you play above the 12th fret will be slightly out of tune. To fix this simply take your tuner (preferably a chromatic tuner) and play which ever string is out of intonation open. Then play the same string on the 12th fret. If the note on the 12th fret is too high/low then adjust the saddle with a screwdriver (it will move forward or backwards). You will then have to re-tune the open string and do the process over again until both the string played open and 12th fret is perfectly in tune with each other. This can take some time but it is well worth it! (Adjusting the intonation on an acoustic guitar is a little more indepth and will not be covered here)
Hopefully these tips should be taken to heart. Keep in mind that you don't have to have the most expensive equipment to keep your tone or at least keep your guitar in great shape!
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