Essential Guitar Care Products: What You Need to Buy?
So your dreams have been fulfilled at last and you have at last become the proud owner of a good quality guitar! But as you know, quality products demand quality care and maintenance.
The guitars that come with the most delicate finish and an enviable tonal quality may be reduced to a useless tool, if not sufficiently cared for. On the contrary, regular and proper maintenance will help your favorite instrument retain a brand-new look for years after years.
So far as maintenance of your guitar is concerned, you can choose from a whole range of commercial products including the polishes, wiping-cloths, humidifiers, and other maintenance tools. Read on the article below to know the need and use of these guitar care and maintenance tools.
Polishing and Wiping Cloth
The maintenance regimen of your guitar begins with a thorough wiping of the instrument every day and after every playing. For that, you will not always need polish. Polishing with the right cloth also ensures the spanking clean appearance of your guitar.
And do you know what does the right cloth means? It refers to a cloth that will not put scratches on the guitar surface. It is common to use lint-free, 100% cotton rags to wipe off the surfaces of your guitar. But even they produce small scratch marks if applied over the sensitive finishes like a lacquered finish.
To prevent scratches you can look for special wiping clothes that are available in any music store. Then the soft microfiber clothes have also earned great popularity in recent times as musical instrument wipes.
You do not have to add chemical cleaners to these microfiber wipes. Made of the fibers of polyester and polyamide, microfiber polishing cloths are also easy to use and wash.
Humidifier
Don’t we apply moisturizer to keep our skin hydrated and look healthy? A humidifier serves the same purpose for a guitar. Just think of the excessive heat and dryness of the desert regions like Las Vegas or Nevada and you get the clue why we need to use a humidifier for our guitars. In the extreme climatic condition, cracks start to develop on the wooden surfaces of the guitars. The humidifier prevents such damages from shrinking or cracking. The humidifier helps to maintain the tonal quality of the instrument by adding moisture to its wooden fibers, just like the moisturizer brings back the lost glow of our skin.
You will need a humidifier even if you live in extremely humid climatic conditions like that of Florida. Humidity results in the expansion of woods and that causes several damages for your guitar. As for example in the Floridian regions, you will find the strings catching rust within two hours after putting them on. Even bridges or bindings are lifted due to extreme humidity. A humidifier works to prevent such conditions. Guitar polishes and Cleaners
After long use, the back, top of the fingerboard gather enough grim to render it a shabby look. Get rid of this dullness by using various types of commercial cleaning agents and polishes.
You will find mainly three types of chemical polish and cleaners: water-based cleaners, water-based cleaners mixed with fine abrasives with a thick creamy texture, and oils.
To remove water-soluble dirt, you have to sprinkle these semitransparent water-based cleaners. They are ideal for cleaning up water-soluble dirt. This water-soluble dirt however will not be removed by oils. Oils are used to remove the oily smudges. The creamy abrasive mixed polishes should not be applied on a “matte” or dull finished guitar.
Whenever you are wiping or polishing your guitar you have to support it properly. Trust a fret rest system to gives you this required support. This system comes complete with a pad and stand and gives you a makeshift workstation and your guitar-care functions like cleaning, polishing, restringing, repairing electronics and other maintenance jobs become easier.
