Whether you're a seasoned guitarist or a beginner strumming your first chords, maintaining your guitar in top condition is crucial. Regular maintenance and timely repairs can extend the life of your instrument and ensure it always sounds its best. In this blog post, Haworth Guitars will dive into common guitar repairs, tips for maintaining your guitar, and when to seek professional help.
1. Basic Guitar Maintenance
Before we get into repairs, let's talk about routine maintenance. Keeping your guitar clean and well-maintained can prevent many issues.
Cleaning Your Guitar
- Body: Use a soft, lint-free cloth to wipe down the body of your guitar after each use. For a deeper clean, use a guitar-specific polish.
- Strings: Wipe down the strings after playing to remove oils and dirt. This extends their lifespan and maintains sound quality.
- Fingerboard: Clean the fingerboard with a damp cloth periodically. For unfinished fingerboards, use a small amount of lemon oil to keep it hydrated.
String Replacement
Strings wear out over time, affecting both sound and playability. Regularly changing your strings is one of the simplest ways to keep your guitar sounding great.
- Frequency: Change your strings every 1-3 months, depending on how often you play.
- Steps: Loosen and remove old strings, clean the fingerboard, then install and tune new strings. If you are unable or not confident to do this yourself, Haworth Guitars can restring your guitar for you!
2. Common Guitar Repairs
Basic Service
- This includes adjusting the action, intonation, cleaning, checking electronics and more!
Pro Setup
- This includes a fret dress on top of a basic service
Electronic Service
- Replace output jack, switch or pot
Pickup Installation
- We carry a good range of replacement pickups to suit acoustic and electric guitars and can rewire, replace pots, switches and jacks, add extra switching and circuitry, and more!
Replacement of nut or saddle
- Replacing nuts and saddles using plastic, tusq or hand-shaping them from bone.
Structural repairs
- Cracks in the body, headstock breaks, or loose braces inside an acoustic guitar need professional attention. These repairs often require special tools and adhesives.