As we march into summer, you may be experiencing some changes in your guitar. They will be subtle for the most part but keep an eye out for them. Here are some things to look for, primarily for acoustic instruments:
- Increased string height (action) making chords more difficult.
- Bellied top due to increased moisture absorbed by the top.
- Corrosion.
Increasing action
Usually, it is a small increase but just enough to make things uncomfortable when they were just perfect a month ago. In and around the Baltimore/DC metro areas where I live, it can feel like the tropics as the humidity rises in the summer. This will lead to the thinner wood parts of acoustics (e.g. the top) swelling and raising the action ever so slightly. What was once an easy barre chord G, is now a major pain! The best thing to do to remedy this situation is adjust the bridge down to compensate for the change.
Watch out in the winter, though. As the air dries out, so will your guitar top. Down will come your action and you may experience buzzing. Before that happens, invest in a good guitar case humidifier and keep up with it. They dry out, too!
Bellied top
You may notice that your flat top is not so flat anymore. This is, basically, the same thing as above only more extreme. The bridge may be down as far as it can go leaving little room to compensate for this issue. Further, the bracing underneath may not be adequate to handle the string tension. This is typically a problem on less expensive guitars and may not be worth your time and expense to repair. Get the bridge adjusted as above but be prepared to start looking for another guitar. This problem can be improved with clamping and time but will come back just the same.
Corrosion
Depending on your body chemistry, you will find corrosion to be a bigger or smaller problem than others with the same guitar. When I had a shop repairing guitars, there was a customer who experienced much more corrosion on her guitar’s bridge than she thought there should be. She contended that the metal was the problem and demanded she be given a new guitar under warranty. There was nothing we could do for her, unfortunately.
Keep a rag with you in your case and within easy reach at all times. Wiping down your guitar between songs occasionally will improve the life of your strings and help you keep ahead of the corrosion of the other metal parts of your guitar. It will also help the electronics as the salt from our sweat can work its way into the controls and begin to cause scratchiness.
Get into the habit of cleaning your guitar periodically. When you change strings is a good interval. After playing live is always a good idea.
Cleaning tools
Save your old toothbrush! Those are excellent for getting down into electric guitar bridges. I find old t-shirts to be the best rags as they don’t produce much lint or dust. They also don’t get caught on frets like towels and wash rags tend to. Throw the rags in the wash occasionally so you don’t keep wiping dirt back on to your guitar. This will also remove grit that can scratch your nice finish! Maybe you want that old, worn out look? Avoid paper towels as the wood fibers leave behind fine, micro-scratches that can dull a finish.
Be proactive
You have heard the old proverb: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is always cheaper to do small things now to avoid a big problem later. Get a sound hole humidifier, such as the D’Addario Humidipak, even for your semi-hollow guitars and solid bodies. Necks can shrink from being too dry exposing the fret ends – Ouch! Keep ahead of corrosion by getting in the habit of wiping down your guitar.
I had a guitar repair business for a few years and can tell you these were the most common repairs I saw. Get ahead of them and you will avoid the pain in the future!