Maintaining Your Guitar

By Pete Morris


Exactly like with most instruments, the surrounding environment and climate play a large part on the life of guitars. Poor types of conditions may make your guitar break down before your eyes. Any type of severe weather might be traumatic to your guitar. Believe me; my guitar repair shop is full of guitars with issues like this. Temperature shifts cannot only damage the aesthetic physical appearance of a guitar for example splits in the lacquer; it may also harm the structural strength of your guitar. In this post, I will explain the best weather for your guitars as well as many dos and don'ts with guitar storing.

What exactly is the best Temperature?

In many ways temperature is worse than humidity. Most likely you would not have suspected this as most people talk about what humidity levels are ideal for their guitars-not temperature. The reality is that temperature is nearly as important as proper humidity.

Severe heat could warp guitar necks and soften glued joints whereas the intense cold can easily crack guitar lacquer. Do not leave your guitar in areas where that have severe temperatures of any sort. I know what you are possibly thinking. Exactly why might I ever leave my guitar in extreme weather conditions? The problem is guitarists do this constantly without recognizing it. These same people are back at my guitar repair shop to get their guitar repaired again. One good instance of this is leaving your guitar in a hot car. Everbody knows, a car becomes a green house on a summer day. This is awful for your guitar. Your guitar might twist as well as have some of the glued joints soften while in the hot car. This is usually a guitar repair that you simply don't want to have to pay for.

The opposite is true through the winter season. Try not to leave your guitar in your car in the wintertime for a long time. The finish could get cold or maybe harden and become breakable around the guitar. When you carry it inside and play it without waiting, the finish can crack. Needless to say, sometimes there is no way around leaving your guitar inside of a wintry car. If you need to abandon your guitar inside of a frigid car just before a gig, I would suggest that you carry it inside the venue and leave it in the guitar case well before you'll have to play it on stage. This tends to give the guitar time to "thaw" slowly. Your lacquer should really be just fine. The main thing you want to avoid is drastic variations in temperature. Any guitar repair for finish or structural concerns will probably be expensive. Forgetting your acoustic or electric guitar in a cold or hot car is expensive mistake.

Exactly what is the best Guitar Humidity?

Humidity is just as damaging to guitars as severe temperature. Humidity may cause the guitar wood to swell or shrink. High moisture in the air can cause your guitar to soak up much more moisture from the air. It works almost like a dehumidifier, soaking up water straight from the air. The guitar wood will fill up with water and stretch even though the frozen lacquer on the guitar will remain a regular size. The expanded wood can wreck the lacquer.

Low humidity will have the opposite effect on guitar wood. A guitar wood gets dry and shrinks as the hard finish keeps the same shape. If a guitar is dehydrated enough, it may split the guitar finish. A good number of luthiers recommend that you keep your guitar's environment about a 50% level of humidity. The humidity can be little more or slightly less, but this is a good guideline. Throughout dried out winter months, you may want to position a humidifier in your guitar case so as to keep the humidity at approximately 50 percent Care for your guitars and keep them in appropriate weather conditions and they're going to be played for a lifetime.




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