Guitar Maintenance, Prolong The Life Of Guitar

Why Guitar Maintenance Is Important?

The importance of guitar maintenance is that it makes your guitar to last longer, play better and cost less to own. In one word, a good guitar maintenance remains the stability of guitar for a very long time.

Since acoustic guitars and classical guitars are made of wood material, the humidity and temperature influence the status of guitar. Without right maintenance, the wood will crack or damage due to thermal expansion when temperature and moisture changes.

Thus, here, we are talking about how to maintain a guitar from those changes.

Why Guitar Is So Sensitive to Humidity and Temperature?

Wood is given from trees and guitars are built from wood. Why guitars are built from wood? Because when people making the first music instrument, they didn’t have more choices but using wood as raw material. And the sound characteristics of wood is irreplaceable. Thus, the best guitars are made of wood, no matter acoustic type or electric type.

Like trees, wood is sensitive to moisture. The wood pieces respond to moisture. That is called hygroscopicity because wood absorbs and releases water vapor in the air. And water vapor in the air is called humidity.

Temperature in the air affects relative humidity. Thus, temperature will affect the guitar, too. The maintenance of guitar is actually a process to find balance between humidity and temperature.

Maintain Your Guitar with Balance Between Humidity and Temperature

It is recommended that to remain 40~60% humidity at around 21 C^。/ 73℉. But this range may be varied from one area to another.

People always note the humidity and temperature but ignore where they are living. Normally, in a place with less moisture in the air (north place in the north part of the planet), you may need to keep a higher humidity at winter.

But how to find the exact balance between humidity and temperature?  You need tools: hygrometer and thermometer.

Measuring instruments will greatly help you to know what conditions are alike around your guitar. So, you will know when to take actions to balance the atmosphere.

What kind of actions you can take to balance the atmosphere? That is where humidifier coming. There is a variety of humidifiers that sit in Acoustic Guitars’ sound holes to closely adjust the humidity around the guitar. Besides, if you keep the guitar in the room without any bag or case (sometimes even in the case or bag), it is better to use environmental humidifier to adjust the humidity of the room.

Hard Case or Gig Bag?

Which one you should keep the guitar in, hard case or gig bag?  We cannot say which is better, it depends on.

If you have to store the guitar without playing for a quite long time, hard case will be the first choice. It is easier to control the humidity inside the case. And some brands of the case even have been equipped with the controller.

Gig bag is frequently used to store the guitar for a very short time. But it is better to make sure the humidifier along with the guitar.

Final Thoughts

Now we all know the importance and right way to maintain the guitar. Actually, by correct maintenance method, an acoustic guitar or Classical Guitar can be remained at a very good condition for a long time, months, years, even decades. Especially, for collect level of guitar, no one wants to see it is damaged.

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