Having proper care as well as maintenance for the guitar is vital in maintaining it in a tip-top condition and extending its playability. As such, taking care of it as best as possible will help to maximize its value and most importantly maximizing its life. Taking care of the instrument can be simple, but if one is not careful, they could be unintentionally shortening its life. To that end, here are the tips for guitar care that will ensure it lives a long, happy life:

 

Tips To Extend The Life Of Your Guitar

Store The Guitar In A Suitable Spot

You should store the guitar fitly as this will deter most of the issues, which the instrument may otherwise encounter from an unreceptive environment. Notably, the instrument is very sensitive to environmental factors such as humidity, which is responsible for oxidation and warping the wood on the hardware of the guitar. Furthermore, extreme temperatures can as well bend the wood, and sunlight can wear away the paint job on the ax. On this note, the storage location of the guitar is vital, and an excellent idea is keeping it in its case. Typically, unless one intends to play it, the optimal storage condition should be at about the room temperature.  

Clean Your Strings

When the guitar is played particularly for extended periods of time, the hands may produce oil and sweat, which can be corrosive to the strings. Although this problem is largely unavoidable, the simple solution is for the user to wipe down the strings of the guitar after each use. Cleaning the strings one by one after each use will considerably increase the life of the strings and in general the lifetime of the guitar.  

Clean The Fretboard

You should remove all of the dirt from the fretboard before re-stringing because new pairs of strings die much quicker than normal when used on a dirty fretboard. A good fretboard conditioner is the best way to clean and protect a fretboard, although lemon oil is a good substitute. If you decide to take your instrument to the guitar shop, they will mainly use lemon oil to clean the fretboard. For this reason, you should as well do the same if you choose to do it yourself. Finally yet importantly, one should never use any abrasive solution to clean any part of the guitar or the fretboard. Lemon oil can be obtained online or at the local guitar shop. You can see a more detailed look in our Fretboard Cleaning Tips article.  
  At ProAudioLand, we have a wide selection of guitar cleaning care products, including Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes instrument polish, Fender Microfiber cleaning cloths, and CruzTools Compact Tech Kit tools. Hit the link below to browse our selection.  

Guitar Cleaning Care

   

Use Strap Locks

Strapping the locks is important because it will ensure that at no time will the bass or the guitar unexpectedly fall out of its strap and onto the ground. Primarily, this is an excellent idea for the hard-rocking performers and also a valid purchase for any guitar one cannot afford to drop.  

Clean Your Pots

Pots commonly referred to as the knob including the tone or volume knobs is the short form of the potentiometer. Just like all other parts of the guitar, pots can as well get dusty and, therefore, need cleaning over years of use. The crackling that is heard from the instrument when adjusting the tone knobs or the volume is a result of dirt build-up. Fortunately, you can fix this by applying a little tuner found at any Walmart, Radio Shack, and voila. Check out our article on Cleaning Scratchy Pots for a more detailed look.   By using the tips above, you should be able to give your guitar the long, healthy life it deserves. In the long run, they will extend the life of your guitar and give you the best performance from your instrument.    

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