The other day I received an Ibanez Bass that had a broken tuner. I pulled it out of the case and noticed dark streaks on the maple part of the neck. That doesn’t look so good, I thought. I rubbed at the mark, when to my amazement, I realized that that mark was at least a year’s worth of sweat. The fretboard didn’t make me feel any better.

You know the old adage “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? This is certainly true in the world of guitars. Wiping your guitar off after playing is a great way to eliminate buildup. Get yourself a cotton instrument cloth and gently wipe down the fretboard and body after significant playing, and you will also help your strings last a little longer.

Cleaning a guitar isn’t rocket science, but it only takes using the wrong thing to ruin your guitar. Read more…

Your skin might not be the only thing cracking this winter.

If your guitar is made out of wood, it is continually reacting to the weather around it.  Typically, interior heating methods cause a lack of humidity.  This dryness makes you reach for the moisturizer while your poor, neglected guitar sits in the corner and suffers.  When you play your guitar, it seems to buzz a bit.  The fret ends scratch your fingers as you play.  If you have an acoustic, you might even see a crack that looks like it came from someone pressing on the soundboard. Unfortunately, my guitar playing friend, YOU are the culprit, and winter damage isn’t limited to acoustics. Read more…

Let’s say that a genie appears to you and tells you that you can name 5 artists’ electric guitars, and *poof* he will give you what you wish. You begin to salivate, because you can’t wait to hold “Blackie” in your arms, and you think to yourself, “WOW! Nobody’s going to believe that this Les Paul belonged to Jimmy Page.” Quickly the genie brings you back to earth when he tells you that you are not the first one on his dream guitar wish-granting list. You realize that it’s time to get creative. Here’s what I would tell him: Read more…