How do you take care of your electric guitars?

V

vejichan

Inspired
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
 
Mine are out on wall hangers all the time, so I just wipe the dust off of them from time to time. Change strings as needed when they go dead/won't hold tune or start get worn spots under the wound strings from the frets. I try to polish the frets and clean and re-oil the rosewood fingerboards about once a year or so to keep the gunk buildup at bay. That's about it. I'd probably be more proactive if I gigged regularly, but I'm just a bedroom hero these days.
 
vejichan said:
wipe down the guitar after playing with a microfiber cloth
Click to expand...
Around here, in Phoenix in the summer where it can be pretty warm in a venue, that won't get sweat or oils off the guitar's finish, and they'll accumulate and trap dirt. The sweat eats the finish, and the dirt then abrades the finish when wiping it. I use a couple of sprays of Musical Nomad's "One" onto my cleaning cloth, then wipe off the guitar. I keep a spray bottle in my gig bags and have been using the stuff for years, and the finish of the guitars stays in really nice shape.

Every couple of times when I'm changing the strings I'll go over the bridge/tremolo and pickups to keep them clean, and twice a year use some of Musical Nomad's F-One fingerboard oil on the rosewood fingerboards of my guitars and the unfinished roasted maple neck and fingerboard on one of my Strats.
 
vejichan said:
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
Click to expand...

If I do not use a string cleaner and conditioner after every single use, they get rusted in just two or three days. Now I am using Dunlop Ultraglide 65
 
Piing said:
If I do not use a string cleaner and conditioner after every single use, they get rusted in just two or three days. Now I am using Dunlop Ultraglide 65
Click to expand...
I am the same. New strings will go dead on me within 2 days of just regular playing. My sweat is brutal.
 
I m very OCD and wash my hands, uh, a lot.
I always wipe off my strings and guitar after playing. My guitars live in their cases unless being played-just an old habit. Acoustic guitars are always out in stands, electrics in cases.
NOT a dig, Just curious, do you really only play 1 hour a week? Was thinking maybe you meant a day?
 
Most of my guitars are either relic style or actually about 30-40 years old, so I don’t really do anything beyond changing the strings.
 
I rarely use them. This is very effective 😂

But in all seriousness, each restring (usually prompted by a broken e or b string), I remove the strings, clean and polish the guitar, apply lemon oil to the fret board, wipe off the excess, restring, tune, and good to go.
What you already do is very effective, and I also clean down the strings after each playing session.
I don’t put them in cases…prefer them on the wall so I can just grab when the mood arises.
Thanks
Pauly

vejichan said:
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
Click to expand...
 
Stratman68 said:
I m very OCD and wash my hands, uh, a lot.
I always wipe off my strings and guitar after playing. My guitars live in their cases unless being played-just an old habit. Acoustic guitars are always out in stands, electrics in cases.
NOT a dig, Just curious, do you really only play 1 hour a week? Was thinking maybe you meant a day
Click to expand...
When i was single and a student yes 2 hrs a day. Now i have kids ...2 jobs and yes 1 hr a week.
 
I wash my hands most of the time before I play, and clean and polish the guitar, and condition the fretboard, when I change strings, which is about every 1 or 2 months. I play just about every day for probably an average of 2 hours. I don't sweat (when playing guitar), and my guitars don't break strings, and my touch is light enough that I don't either, so they get changed when they start to have weird overtones.

I remove all the strings, and blow off the nooks and crannies with compressed air. Then I wipe the fretboard carefully, especially along the edges of the frets, with Ernie Ball fret conditioner, only leaving it on about 5 minutes. Then the guitar gets a polish, re-string, a final wipe, and it stays out all the time hung on a stand. I'll also check the truss rod, but it rarely needs any adjustment. Lately I only play 1 guitar, so the rest stay in cases. I detune my acoustics about 1 step though.
 
TSJMajesty said:
I wash my hands most of the time before I play, and clean and polish the guitar, and condition the fretboard, when I change strings, which is about every 1 or 2 months. I play just about every day for probably an average of 2 hours. I don't sweat (when playing guitar), and my guitars don't break strings, and my touch is light enough that I don't either, so they get changed when they start to have weird overtones.

I remove all the strings, and blow off the nooks and crannies with compressed air. Then I wipe the fretboard carefully, especially along the edges of the frets, with Ernie Ball fret conditioner, only leaving it on about 5 minutes. Then the guitar gets a polish, re-string, a final wipe, and it stays out all the time hung on a stand. I'll also check the truss rod, but it rarely needs any adjustment. Lately I only play 1 guitar, so the rest stay in cases. I detune my acoustics about 1 step though.
Click to expand...
what oil/lotion/conditioner/polish/wipes do you use?
 
Piing said:
There is a fine line between relic and nasty 😉😂

View attachment 109809
Click to expand...
I think I worked on that guitar one time.

A guy I played with had a Les Paul Custom that was filthy. I finally told him I’d work on it for free just so I didn’t have to look at it. Scraping off the gunk from the fingerboard with a single edge razor blade took forever but after the overhaul it looked pretty good once again. I think it embarrassed him how bad it’d gotten because he started taking better care of it from then on.
 
I usually get ocd about a new nitro guitar and clean it/polish it with the virtuoso set once a month. I get tired of doing that after two months. At this point I just play my guitars a lot and make sure to wash my hands before I play. I'd rather just practice. I only really clean my hollow bodies if I notice that buildup has an effect on the tone. I always make sure to moisturize my rosewood fingerboard though maybe once a month.
 
TSJMajesty said:
I wash my hands most of the time before I play, and clean and polish the guitar, and condition the fretboard, when I change strings, which is about every 1 or 2 months. I play just about every day for probably an average of 2 hours. I don't sweat (when playing guitar), and my guitars don't break strings, and my touch is light enough that I don't either, so they get changed when they start to have weird overtones.

I remove all the strings, and blow off the nooks and crannies with compressed air. Then I wipe the fretboard carefully, especially along the edges of the frets, with Ernie Ball fret conditioner, only leaving it on about 5 minutes. Then the guitar gets a polish, re-string, a final wipe, and it stays out all the time hung on a stand. I'll also check the truss rod, but it rarely needs any adjustment. Lately I only play 1 guitar, so the rest stay in cases. I detune my acoustics about 1 step though.
Click to expand...
Of all the possible fretboard products I have used, I find the Ernie Ball wonder wipes the absolute best. Something about it! When I purchased a few Harley Benton's with flame maple necks, the wonder wipes absolutely brought them to life. Really killer stuff!
 
Greg Ferguson said:
I think I worked on that guitar one time.

A guy I played with had a Les Paul Custom that was filthy. I finally told him I’d work on it for free just so I didn’t have to look at it. Scraping off the gunk from the fingerboard with a single edge razor blade took forever but after the overhaul it looked pretty good once again. I think it embarrassed him how bad it’d gotten because he started taking better care of it from then on.
Click to expand...
Wow! the world is so small. That is one of the first images that came when googling dirty guitar fretboard
https://stylesmusic.com/2016/10/18/eight-signs-guitar-needs-restrung/
 
mr_fender said:
Mine are out on wall hangers all the time, so I just wipe the dust off of them from time to time. Change strings as needed when they go dead/won't hold tune or start get worn spots under the wound strings from the frets. I try to polish the frets and clean and re-oil the rosewood fingerboards about once a year or so to keep the gunk buildup at bay. That's about it. I'd probably be more proactive if I gigged regularly, but I'm just a bedroom hero these days.
Click to expand...
It seems I have a seperated at birth Identical twin
 
Mine are all on wall hangers or in guitar boats, i will change string as necessary, and when needed i will condition the fingerboards. As far as wiping down the body nah not really that often, And ill either use Daddario XLR8, Fast Fret or Music Nomad String Fuel after i play and then wipe down the strings. I am not a fan of the sound of brand new strings so i like to let them go a little dead so no cleaning for the 1st week or so of playing.
 
Fingerboard cleaning every other string change, polish the body at the same time all the strings are off and that’s IT, outside of setup work.

Hahahah most people here would probably have a heart attack if they saw what I did with my hands right before grabbing a guitar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom