Whether you are a session musician in the studio, a touring performer, or a stay at home songwriter, your guitar is your way of making money so it’s imperative you keep it in tip- top condition!
Most of the tasks below are very simple to perform but, as always, if in doubt, take your guitar to a qualified technician.
Basic Cleaning
Keeping your guitar clean not only maintains your instrument’s appearance but also has many functional benefits.
After each time you play, give the metal parts of your guitar (tuners, bridge, pickup pole pieces, knobs etc) a quick clean with a dry cloth. This is especially important if you are sweating a lot whilst playing, as the acidity in your sweat can eat through the finish of the metal parts and cause them to oxidise (rust) and eventually wear out.
Giving the strings a quick wipe with our Renew String Cleaner can also help to increase the life and tone of your strings, again by removing any sweat that may start to eat through the string. Lumps of grime and dirt that harden over time can also cause heavy damage to your frets, significantly reducing their life.
Recommended schedule: every day
Cleaning the Body
Planet Waves offers a very simple and complete system for cleaning your guitar’s body in order to keep it looking its best. Whether just giving a quick post-gig polish to restore that luster, or putting some elbow grease into some more thorough post-tour cleaning, the simple three-step system is effective every time. Plus the pure liquid carnauba wax acts as a natural protectant and sealant against dirt and grime.
Recommended schedule: every string change
Cleaning the Fingerboard
Guitar fingerboards very quickly become dirty. This has a negative impact on the playability of the instrument. If a dry cloth isn’t cutting it, you can very gently scrape away dirt and grime with the side of a pick. Just make sure you are following the grain of the fingerboard to avoid scratching. With some effort, most fingerboards can usually be restored this way, but it may be necessary to go one step further and use a very fine #0000 wire wool.
Recommended schedule: every string change
Cleaning the Frets
Arguably one of the most important jobs! If there is a buildup of grime and sweat on the tops of your frets this can interfere with the way the string vibrates over the fret, causing intonation and sustain issues. Planet Waves has a very quick and easy to use Fret Polishing System. If you do one thing every string change, make sure it is this!
Recommended schedule: every string change
Humidity
Humidity is the natural enemy of wood and nowhere feels this more than your fretboard. It is important that your fretboard has just the right amount of moisture in it. If it gets too dry the colour will start to fade. Leave it much longer and it will begin to slightly shrink causing fret ends to become sharp or frets to lift out of the guitar. Finally, the fretboard may crack.
Using either Lemon Oil or our Hydrate formula will help to restore moisture into your fretboard, protecting it from drying out and cracking, as well as restoring that natural luster.
N.B. Lemon Oil and Hydrate are for use on dark, unfinished fretboards only.
Recommended schedule: two to four times per year (depending on climate)
Humidity doesn’t just affect the fretboard however; it can affect the whole guitar. Whenever your guitar is not in regular use it is recommended you keep it in its case alongside a humidifier. Humidifiers maintain the perfect humidity level inside the case, keeping your instrument at just the right humidity level.
If you really want to look after the humidity level of your guitar you can invest in the Humiditrak, which constantly monitors the humidity and temperature in your guitar case and delivers this information straight to your phone.
Friction
Friction is something else that can greatly affect the playability of your instrument and can lead to tuning issues and even increase the likelihood of a string breaking.
The two real areas where friction can occur are at the nut and at the saddle. Think about it, this is where the string meets the guitar. If there is friction at the nut the string can get ‘stuck’ in the nut after a bend or whammy dive and at best go out of tune, at worst break. Excess friction at the saddle can eat into the string and cause it to break. This is one of the most common reasons for string breakage on new strings.
Lubrikit is a lubricant you can drop onto the saddle and into the nut slots to help combat these issues.
Recommended schedule: every string change (or as needed)
String Change
D’Addario offer a startling array of different string sets. As ever, experimentation is key to find the right one for you.
How often you change your strings is a very personal decision. Some of you may play more than others, may play harder, may sweat more, have more acidic sweat or use locking tremolo systems. All of these factors go into dictating the lifespan of your strings.
Strings do unfortunately wear out (wouldn’t life be much sweeter if they didn’t?) and may eventually break. As a general rule of thumb if your strings have been on for a little ‘while’ and one breaks, it is probably time to change the set. If the tonal degradation becomes very noticeable (strings lose their brightness over time) it is probably time to change your strings. Most importantly though, if the strings look dull, have kinks or lumps in them, or are full of dirt and grime, it is definitely time to change them.
If you have old or less than optimal strings on your guitar, this does not only affect your tone, but can also cause damage to the frets of your guitar. Don’t let your decision to change strings be based on budget. It is an awful lot cheaper to change your strings regularly than it is to keep having your frets re-crowned or replaced due to easily preventable damage.
As a final step after a string change, many players like to lubricate their strings. There are two main benefits to doing this:
- Reduce finger noise – Fresh sets of strings (particularly on acoustic guitars) tend to produce a lot of finger noises, squeaks and scratches. Often this can be a desirable effect but can be particularly intrusive in a recording session. It is worth carrying some lubricant such as XLR8 to a session with you and giving the engineer the option.
- Many technical or fast players often find that adding a slight lubrication to the strings helps them to play a little more smoothly and prevents their fingers from getting ‘snagged’ on a string, particularly if their preferred string set is quite tactile/rough.
Professional Service
Just like your car it is important to take your guitar for a regular check. A professional luthier or repairer may be able to spot issues that you have missed during your routine cleaning and maintenance checks. If you are a regularly gigging guitarist I would recommend taking your guitar/s for a full service at least once per year. This will ensure your guitar is in the best possible condition and set-up for the best possible playability, covering a range of jobs and checks that are not listed in this basic maintenance guide, including truss rod adjustments, fret polishing/crowning and action adjustments.
D’Addario & Planet Waves Recommended Products
- Renew String Cleaner [PW-RSCS-03]
Three Step Polishing system:
- Restore Deep-Cleaning Cream Polish [PW-PL-01]
- Protect Pure Liquid Carnauba Wax [PW-PL-02]
- Shine Spray Cleaner & Maintainer [PW-PL-03]
- Fret Polishing System [PW-FRP]
- Lemon Oil [PW-LMN]
- Hydrate Conditioner [PW-FBC]
- Two-Way Humidification System [PW-HPK-01] Humiditrak [PW-HTK-01]
- Lubrikit [PW-LBK-01]
- XLR8 String Lubricant [PW-XLR8-01]
Adam Ironside is the fretted specialist for D’Addario UK
