How to maintain the acoustic guitar
Woods tend to expand by absorbing moisture and shrink by losing moisture. In particular, as acoustic guitars are made of thin wood and therefore are very sensitive to humidity. Guitars are usually produced with a humidity of 40 to 50% and therefore humidity control is very critical in their maintenance. High end guitars with expensive prices are likely to be produced with thin wood and finish rather than plywood and therefore they are much more sensitive to weather changes. In particular, there are a lot of things to consider for the maintenance in countries like Korea which have 4 distinctive seasons.
How to maintain guitars in summer
As the humidity increases, the body billows and therefore the upper and lower supports become loose and the neck becomes bent thus increasing the height of the strings and causing difficulty in playing.
When it becomes worse, the bridge is taken off from the upper deck. So the humidity of the place where the guitar is stored needs to be maintained at 40 to 50% and it is good to operate air conditioners or dehumidifiers to keep the constant humidity. You need to prevent it from being exposed to conditions with high temperature such as in a car for long hours. In case that you store your guitar in a hard case, you need to put the dehumidifying agent together with the guitar in the case and check the humidity with a portable hygrometer. Please be careful for the humidity of the place where air conditioners or dehumidifiers are used and do not store the guitar under direct winds.
How to maintain guitars in winter
In contrast, the humidity rapidly decreases in winter and therefore the upper deck shrinks in and the body becomes dent. So the neck becomes bent inside and the height of the strings is reduced thus causing buzzing and the finish can be cracked due to low temperature and humidity. In winter, you need to keep the humidity of the place where your guitar is stored at 40 to 50% by the humidifier.
In particular, do not store your guitar directly on a hot room floor.
How to maintain guitars in ordinary conditions
The best thing that you can do to maintain your guitar at its best condition is to play it every day.
After playing, use the soft cotton to clean the strings, fingerboard and the body so that you can maintain your guitar in a good condition.
Things that can be used for maintenance
Let’s find out things available in the market for maintenance of your guitar.
Hygrometer
A hygrometer is a basic thing for maintenance. You can check the humidity of the storing place and keep the humidity at an appropriate level with it.
Humidifier
A humidifier is a device used with a dried condition in summer and with a wet condition in winter.
A humidifier that can be installed inside the body
A humidifier that can be installed at the sound hall
A humidifier that can be installed on the strings
All these products are for humidity controls just like the silica gels.
Polish
Polish is used to clean the body, neck and metal parts of the guitar. It is used for tiny scratches and moisturizing to protect the guitar from external environments.
There are various types of polishes specifically for the body, the fingerboard, the strings and the metal parts respectively and therefore you can use them for your purpose. Other than above products, micro fiber cottons to clean the guitar and soft brushes to remove external substances between frets are also good for maintenance.
Acoustic guitar setting
Setting is essential to maintain quality sounds and for convenience of playing. For technical parts, you need to contact specialized repair shops but there are some ways of setting that you can do alone.
What you need to be careful of is that you need to keep your guitar for days in a place with a humidity of 40 to 50% prior to implementing the following setting. The neck can be restored in most cases only by the humidity control.
Neck relief
A relief refers to an extent the neck is bent. When the neck is bent outside or is too straight, the vibration of the strings occurs in an oval form thus resulting in buzzing. In contrast, when the neck is bent too much inside, the height of the strings increases and therefore you will feel difficulty in playing. In general, the optimum relief setting values are between 0.004in (0.102mm) and 0.012in (0.304mm) of the height of the strings between the seventh and the ninth frets measured while placing the capo on the first fret and pressing the last fret.
The height can be measured from the top of a fret to the last one of the strings.
You need a feeler gauge to measure the height precisely but you can use a thin pick or two pieces of A4 sized paper to identify whether they fit to the gap tightly or not (tight is good).
How to control the relief by a truss rod
A long iron rod which is used to control the relief is inserted in the neck. By tightening or releasing it, you can make the neck bent either inside or outside. The nut with which you can control the truss rod is usually placed in the neck or inside the sound hole for acoustic guitars. You can use a hexagon wrench of an appropriate size to control it. If you tighten the wrench clockwise the neck and the strings become close and if you release the wrench counterclockwise the neck and the strings become apart.
Before controlling the truss rod, you need to keep the strings somewhat loose to prevent loads on the guitar.
How to adjust the height of the strings
If you complete to control the relief using the truss rod, then set the height of the strings appropriate for you. What you need to be careful of is that you do not use the truss rod to adjust the height when it is too high or too low. The truss rod is just for adjusting the neck relief to the standard point and the height of the strings needs to be adjusted by the nut and the saddle setting. For electric guitars, the saddle can be adjusted by the nuts for each string for their height but for acoustic guitars, you can adjust the height by grinding it or inserting papers under it. In general, acoustic guitars can be restored to their factory setting by humidity controls in their storing places. For saddles, it is easy to put in or take out them and you can replace them with new ones for wrong grinding. However, for nuts, the work will be troublesome and therefore it is recommended to visit the nearest specialized repair shops for setting.
Recommended height of the strings
The factory setting by Martin is as follows:
Based on a standard of the twelfth fret, the height of the sixth string is 2.77mm and that of the first string is 2.33mm.
The factory setting by Taylor is as follows:
Based on a standard of the twelfth fret, the height of the sixth string is 2.38mm and that of the first string is 1.58mm.
Of course, you can change the setting depending on your preference.
If you want reduce the height, use a sandpaper to grind the saddle.
Before using the sandpaper, you need to indicate the exact level on the saddle for grinding. It is more difficult than it looks as you need to grind the saddle evenly with the constant strength. If you want to increase the height, you may insert papers or the likes in the saddle hole of the bridge. So we have looked into the basics on how to maintain and set acoustic guitars so far. Appropriate maintenance in routine will prevent most of the problems except special ones for your guitar. The most important thing will be the humidity control and it is recommended to visit the repair shops that you can trust for saddle or nut related works.
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