How do you maintain and take care of your electric guitars?

[veji]

How do you maintain and take care of your guitars all year round?
Here is what i have been doing the last 20 years

1- wash my hands before playing
2- wipe down the guitar after playing with a microfiber cloth
3- change strings every 3-4 months. I play guitar about 1hr a week.
4- keep each guitar in their hardshell case when not playing.


Thats its..no polish, no oiling the fingerboard..nothing else. Was wondering if i there is something else i should be doing? Please advise on how i could better take care and maintain my guitars. Thanks

 

[ccn]

Sounds like you got a great maintenance program to me since you only play for an hour a week .

 

[Ben Waylin]

I usually change strings about every 2 weeks.

When I do I'll take a can of compressed air and blast all the dead skin cells and Cheeto® dust out of all the pickup rings and the Floyd Rose.

After that, I'll wipe them down with a soft cloth, and rub the fretboard with a small amount of boiled linseed oil.

 

[BesaMoogie]

Nothing of it beside changing strings. My guitars are hanging on the wall.
My only concern is that outside walls have a bigger temperature gradient to the room temperature which possibly is bad for the neck in wintermonths.

 

[japetus]

I always make sure when I lean them up against my amp or a wall, I try my best so they won't fall over.

 

[alund]

I used to chew cigars and when they got short, juice would drop out of the end onto the guitar like hot wax on asscheeks. I just left it. In summer I just wipe strings down. That’s it.

 

[rottingcorpse]

Wait....what? Maintenance?
I kinda remember doing that stuff back in the day. Getting jacked on speed and cleaning and tweaking my guitar/bass/kitchen etc....
Nowadays I just keep them in their cases and pull one out just to abuse it then case it back up.
I love listening to their pitiful cries of "no...please,no....I'm scared of the darkness!!"
I just throw a bottle of polish and a washcloth into the case and say "It rubs the lotion on it's skin or else it gets the hose again."

 

[ccn]

The below comes from a guy who is very familiar with Eddie Van Halen , I busted out laughing when I read it .

He was never terribly concerned with the esthetics of his guitars beyond his trademark stripes. Wear and tear was a good thing. As beautiful as his EBMM sigs were, he just used and abused them. Michael Anthony even recounted once that Ed was frustrated that Mike had a bass that looked too beautiful - figured wood, nice finish, no wear. So he grabbed it from Mike and made gouges in the front of it with a screwdriver. Mike was pissed, but the damage was done.

Back in the day, this is something that made EVH who he was. It was an awkward learning curve, but he never really adhered to conventional... anything, if he could help it.

 

[Bardagh]

I change my strings when they seem deadened or to lose tune easily, and that timing depends on how much I play that guitar. When there are big changes in humidity and stuff I inevitably have to do some relief and/or intonation adjustments, new strings or not.

When I change strings I usually just clean the guitar with a microfiber cloth. Only one guitar I have right now has a typical gloss polycoat and the rest are nitrocellulose or a satin finish, so I’m always a little wary of cleaning products.

I’ve also never oiled a fretboard and I wonder if I should. Most of my guitars have rosewood boards but I’ve got one with ebony.

 

[jabps]

I basically just keep mine in their case. Adjust the neck when it needs it, change stings when it needs, clean the board and frets when it needs it. That's it. Certainly nothing routine.

As for strings, if I'm not playing live regularly, which I haven't in a few years then I play them as long as I can till they start sounding dull. When I played live regularly they got changed before every run of gigs through the weekend and sometimes between shows depending on how cruddy they were.

Hell, my Chubtone still has the same set of strings on it as when I got it last year...even with swapping out the bridge pickup change lol.

 

[cobrahead1030]

Try to play them each at least once a month, change strings & wipe them down once per year, drop them off for a professional setup once every decade or two.

Most of mine live on wall hangers in my room full of gear, I always have one out in the living room that a grab to noodle on almost daily, and I try to rotate out which one I have sitting in there every few weeks.