5 comments

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  eric

  1 year ago

  good stuff... forgot about the alcohol wipes. I think you told me about that before.
  
  I hate it when people don't change their strings. Karl says to change them every week. Don't think I'm that anal!
  
  I use Baby Oil on my neck... I know, I know... oil's not good for the strings. But it really helps the life of the wood. And my 50 year old guitar needs all the help it can get!
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• 

  Vince

  1 year ago

  two words - micro fiber
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• 

  Billy Chia

  1 year ago

  Alex,
  Nice tips. One question for ya. For years I placed my guitar sound hole side down. (I was told as a young musician that this is better for the neck.) Then last year a buddy of mine told me to never do that as this would cause extra fret wear from the strings having constant contact with the frets. Have you noticed sound-hole-down positioning causing fret wear?
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• 

  alex

  1 year ago

  Billy, I can't imagine that you'd get much fret wear from leaning a 7lb guitar on 6 strings. I don't know th exact measurements but I imagine the pressure applied to the string to form a note/chord has to be hundreds of times the pressure that is applied by leaning it against the strings. When I've seen fret wear it is usually on the frets that I form chords on and nothing, absolutely nothing from resting the guitar. Again, I normally use a stand so this becomes a non-issue, but for those rare times when there is no stand I have no problem leaning the guitar against the frets. It is an interesting theory though.
  
  Eric,
  I wouldn't admit to using baby oil for anything :)
  As far as strings - I'd say that Karl is right on if you are gigging (playing several shows a week). But for us weekend warriors it's probably not going to be that often, but you know when it's time.
  
  Vince, I agree micro-fiber is amazing stuff.
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• 

  Matt

  1 year ago

  I've got two really bad stories re: leaving your guitar in the car. It concerns two different acoustics...one was saved.
  
  My excuse: I was young and in high school. While my buddies were making bad decisions by getting high in back of the theater, I was making bad decisions by leaving my axe in the car.
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