advice on yearly guitar maintanence/care?

veji

veji

Active member
WhAt do u guys do for month to month guitar maintanence/care for your guitars? All i do is change strings ever 2 months , keep them in cases and wash my hands before playing and wipe my guitar down with a microfiber cloth after playing thats it...do you need to use oil, lotion, lipstock, chapstick etc on fb or body or lube the nut? What else do u do to care and maintain the guitar? Please advice?
 
Change strings, tape off and polish frets, I then fret-doctor the fretboard, I use polishing compound and polish the bodies, I then hand buff to a shine. I also adjust truss rods for seasonal shifts.

I do put masking tape over my neck pickup when I polish frets to minimize slivers of steel wool getting stuck to the pole pieces. After I’m done I put more masking tape over the top to trap anything and then peel all of it off.

I do this once a season change, or every 3 months.
 
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Strings every 2-4 weeks, oil the fretboard every second or third string change, and adjust the truss rod after I turn my heat on for the winter and in the spring when humidity increases. Typically due to my intonation going out of wack. I don't see a need to lube nuts as most of the tuning issues I've had are a result of improper string change or poor nut slots.
 
Chubbs said:
... oil the fretboard every second or third string change...
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I've always been unsure about how often to do this.

I started out once a year but have heard that even that might be too-often, so now it's every 5 years, which admittedly probably isn't enough... maybe? :dunno:

Keen to hear opinions...
 
Monkey Man said:
I've always been unsure about how often to do this.

I started out once a year but have heard that even that might be too-often, so now it's every 5 years, which admittedly probably isn't enough... maybe? :dunno:

Keen to hear opinions...
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I oil mine every string change. for an acoustic that is very often. For my electric with coated strings, it can be awhile, lol. I also polish the body with a microfiber (no solution) every string change. I don't mess with the truss rod or anything unless my action isn't kicking ass. I live in texas and hang my guitar on an internal wall, so i generally don't have shit going on as far as weather. I pretty much keep the a/c on all year long.
 
I generally change strings (whether or not the guitar has been used) oil fretboard (different oil for different woods) and polish it out if i have made a ding in any frets - if its a nitro guitar, it gets buffed and polished.

I live in washington state, where the humidity is relatively stable, so I generally only have to adjust the truss rod when I first get a guitar - especially coming from a dry climate. But ill usually check if to see if it's in the ballpark and feels right.

The real "maintenance" is just cleaning - I play in bands that play beer-soaked punk shows, and its amazing how many guys with mohawks jump on stage and splash beer around.
 
One of the best things I ever did was to hunt down the best luthier I can find by handing my guitars out to be set up and checked by them. Whenever I obtain a new guitar, it will go to them soon enough for whatever care it needs to become optimal. Ask what they did. A good one will show you all sorts of things with your guitar you didn't see before and that is why it is worth investing in their experience for a setup. Even guitars that cost $$$$ can need this setup done to them. Budget guitars, expensive ones, both types need to be checked out. Anyway learning through your personal luthier and they will even teach you how to maintain some stuff when you pick up your gear.

You maintain what you get back for a few years before going back to the luthier again. Dunlop fluid set. Allen keys. String winders. Screwdriver. Tuner. A basic care set is all you need.
 
Oddly I find by simply washing my hands prior o playing my strings and fretboard stay cleaner longer. When I can.
I wipe down the strings with guitar polish and a rag after playing. I find products like fast fret help too
I don’t change strings till they start to sound flat.
I clean the fretboard every string change and if it’s rosewood or ebony I condition it with lemon oil.
For dust in small areas I use canned compressed air occasionally.
As for polishing frets only if a buy a used guitar I’ll do a complete setup. I prefer stainless steel frets. They don’t need much maintenance
Unless you have a poorly made neck or frequent temperature humidity change your guitar shouldn’t need too much tinkering with.
 
Monkey Man said:
I've always been unsure about how often to do this.
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With a Rosewood fretboard you can actually tell by eye. Rosewood by nature has an almost oily sheen to it.
Take a good look under direct sunlight and you'll be able to tell if it's starting to dry out.

So much of this question depends on usage. Do you play 30 minutes a day or 8 hours?
In a month's time that's the difference between a half a day or ten full days of playing!
So there's really no set rules like "do this every 2 weeks or every 3 months", etc.

When strings get old you can hear it unplugged. They start sounding like they are dampened - cause
they kinda are from all the finger oils worked into the wound strings.

Washing your hands with soap and water before playing and then wiping down the strings/neck after
should be religion regardless.
 
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Stupid thing I'd do when I was younger and didn't trust my own judgement was I'd record
a little playing with brand new strings - in a small bathroom unplugged.

The acoustics are so good in bathrooms the cassette recorder would pick up a lot of high end.
Then weeks later if I 'thought' the strings were dying I'd do another quick bathroom session
and then compare.

Did ya know that one of the echo/reverb chambers at Abbey Road is a gutted bathroom?
 

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TheRealDonnie said:
So much of this question depends on usage. Do you play 30 minutes a day or 8 hours?
In a month's time that's the difference between a half a day or ten full days of playing!
So there's really no set rules like "do this every 2 weeks or every 3 months", etc.
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Thanks Donnie, but you failed to indicate which way it goes depending on this usage.

Maybe it's obvious to some, but not to me. I mean, I'd have thought that the sweat and finger oils would tend to keep it more-moist, especially the oils, but I suspect peeps see this the other way 'round.
 
Monkey Man said:
Thanks Donnie, but you failed to indicate which way it goes depending on this usage.

Maybe it's obvious to some, but not to me. I mean, I'd have thought that the sweat and finger oils would tend to keep it more-moist, especially the oils, but I suspect peeps see this the other way 'round.
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Again, so many variables.
Do you live in the deserts of western Australia or on the tip of Cape York?
Are you are sweaty player or mostly have dry hands?
Sorry if I'm being vague but there's simply no easy golden rules that aren't already obvious.

Wash your hands often. Visually check your fretboard to see if it looks dry.
You'll start to feel a dry board on full step bends - the slightest bit scratchy.

So if you live on Cape York, sweat a lot, and have your guitar in the open air pretty often
you should NEVER have to oil the board.
Live in a desert and it's easy to have guitar stuff get mucked up. If the neck starts drying out
bad enough you'll find you'll notice the truss rod needing adjustment too.

Disclaimer - I'm no luthier or wood expert. Just my worthless 2 cents here.
 
The last 25 years I've played only a few minutes a year. Temperate climate (on the chilly side of it). Guitars live in music room and never leave. Average to slightly-above average humidity due to fish tanks in another room.

IOW, barely played at all, hence my question a week ago where I was hoping for a general rule of thumb but as you suggest, and as I suspected, the only guaranteed-correct answer is, "it depends...".

Still, I like a rule of thumb... :confused:
 
If it doesn't look or feel dry it's good. :unsure:

Sorry, there's only one precise way to know the moisture level of the board and that would require ripping it off the neck.

Based on your playing time and environment I'd say you have many, many more important things to fret over.
(pun intended)

Seriously though, some folks go an entire lifetime playing and never once condition a fretboard and are never the worse for wear.
 
Sounds good to me brother.

So far I've used lemon oil every 5-10 years, so it sounds like I'm probably in the ballpark. Just didn't want to obviously-overdo or underdo it.

Thanks again bro'.
 
I put that shit on my board almost every other string change and it is a love/hate relationship. Rosewood neck in this case.

I love the way it feels, smells, looks etc. I actually 'clean' the board and frets with .0000 steel wool at the same time. Then dry off excess. Fun.

But I had a luthier friend tell me not to do this. His theory is that the oil seeps into the wood (as planned) and dries out and cracks the wood and creates this viscous cycle where you have too keep adding oil etc. Like a crack addiction I suppose (pun intended)
 
Interesting brother.

I once heard that overdoing it could cause frets to eventually work their way out. Sounds strange, I know.

That's why I've been so-cautious with it all these years; I'd rather under-do it than go the other way.
 
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