ESP LTD B-335S Electric Bass

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When you play your instrument, you want it to perform properly and sound great. A very important, but often over-looked task is maintaining and caring for your instrument. You want to get the best sound and performance, and avoid any problems or breaks.

General Care

We are going to discuss the basics of guitar care and maintenance. As a player, you will benefit from the immediate and long-term benefits. Not only will you get the best possible performance out of your instrument, but you will also extend its lifetime. Your instrument appreciate it, and your skills at playing will improve as well.

Lack of maintenance can severely limit your guitar’s performance. What many guitar players don’t realize is just how complex this instrument really is. Your guitar is only as good as the condition of its parts. If one element drops out of sync, the whole concept falls apart.

If you are a beginner, it is recommended that you find someone who is experienced and have them walk you through the process. None of this is too complicated, but there are some tricks and procedures that require prior experience.

Strings
Clean the strings with a microfiber cloth and drip some rubbing alcohol on it. Make sure that the alcohol doesn't get in contact with anything else but the string. The best way to do this is to release the tension on the strings and lift them up as you clean them. However, if the strings are corroded, which is easy to determine by their color, it's time to change them out. Chances are that they have lost a good portion of their tonal properties at this point, and cleaning them won't do you much good.

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Body
One of the most basic actions you can take to prolong the life of your guitar is to simply clean it. When we play, depending on the environment we are in, chances are that some sweating will be included. Over time, sweat and our skin's natural oils tend to build up on various parts of the guitar. The most impacted areas are the fretboard, strings and the bridge. Not cleaning the guitar and leaving all that grime on can damage both the hardware and the finish of your instruments. Metal components such as frets and saddles on electric guitars will corrode over time. The best time to clean your guitar is when you're changing the strings. This way you have full access to the bridge and the fretboard. In most cases, a damp microfiber cloth and a bit of elbow grease are all it takes to remove any dirt or grime from your instrument. There are a number of polishes and chemical cleaners on the market, but you have to be extremely careful when using them.

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Humidity
Guitars are made of wood and wood reacts to humidity. Even so, most guitar players completely ignore this fact. It is also worth mentioning that acoustic guitars are much more susceptible to the changes in humidity than electric guitars. The issue of humidity is pretty complex. If the air is too dry, it will suck all of the moisture out of your guitar. However, if the humidity too high, this will make the wood on your guitar expand. The effects of harmful humidity set in very slowly and are extremely hard to recognize unless you are looking for them. This is one of the biggest keys to proper guitar maintenance, especially during long-term storage. The most practical and efficient wat to control humidity is with guitar case humidifiers. By having your guitar in a closed space such as a case, the humidifier can control the ambient humidity.

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Fingerboard
Fingerboards are one of the prime locations for grime buildup on your guitar. Cleaning and conditioning of the fingerboard not only keep it clean, but it ensures that it's kept in the best possible condition in terms of performance. Before we get into different methods of cleaning a fretboard, we have to talk about the prep work that is pretty much necessary. The first step is to remove the strings. One pretty important thing to remember is to remove two or three strings at a time. Removing all six strings at the same time may cause the neck to distort due to the sudden release of tension. Next, you will want to tape off all of the areas which are right next to the fretboard. That means taping of the nut and the headstock as well as the portion after the highest fret on the board. The most standard way of cleaning a fretboard is to use #0000 steel wool. What you want to do with steel wool is to buff the board following the direction of the grain in the wood. In other words, go from the nut towards the bridge of the guitar. You don't need to press too hard on the board, simply lightly buff it until the dirt is gone. Now that the board is clean, you will want to condition it.

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Alignment
The strings on your guitar are constantly under tension. This tension, while necessary to produce tone, has an effect on the neck. You need to assess the neck alignment and determine whether or not any corrections need to be applied. The simplest way of doing this is by picking up the guitar and looking down the neck from the bridge end towards the headstock. You want to have the fretboard at eye level. What you are looking for are any abnormalities in the height of the frets. Looking at the edge of the fretboard can be deceiving, although a more significant warping of the neck will be more obvious from this view, resulting in a deformed fretboard. A different way of assessing the neck alignment is to use the strings on your guitar. All you have to do is press the 1st and 14th fret on the sixth string and see if the 6th fret is touching the string. In case that your neck is bending either inwards or outwards, the only real solution to this problem is to adjust the truss rod. A truss rod is a metal rod that goes all the way through your neck. Most guitars have a single truss rod that is accessed at the headstock, while some guitars feature an access point at the other end as well. Adjusting the truss rod is a very delicate operation. It is extremely easy to snap the rod and thus ruin the guitar for good. However, since it is a necessary part of maintaining any guitar, you should know how to do it properly.

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Nut Filing
A nut is a fairly simple component that plays a major role in how playable your guitar is going to be. This little piece of bone or synthetic material determines the height of the string. Sometimes, you will need to make adjustments to the nut in order to properly set your action. These adjustments will come in form of boosting or filing a nut. In other words, you are either lowering or elevating the strings. The main thing to keep in mind while performing any of these two tasks is that you have a pretty small margin of error to work with. With that said, let's talk about the proper ways of adjusting the nut. In order to lower the string height, you will have to get some nut files. A lot of times, this is something you should let a luthier do rather than making it a part of your guitar maintenance routine. You won't do it often at all and it has to be just right, not to mention how precise of work it is. Set the guitar on a flat surface so that the neck is fully supported. You want the guitar to not move at all, if possible. Start from the low E string and remove the string from the nut. Take the adequate nut file and start filing the slot under a slight angle towards the headstock. The key is to remove small amounts of material and check if the string height is good enough. If you overdo it, you will have to replace the nut. Once you have done this for the low E string, repeat the process for the rest of the strings.

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Guitar Storage
If for whatever reason you know you won't be playing your guitar for an extended period of time, the best thing you can do is pack for long term storage. This is a process that will ensure no damage is done to your instrument while it is tucked away somewhere. The best way to store your guitar for longer periods of time is to use a hard case. This creates a controlled environment for your instrument, which you can setup in a way that ensures long-term protection. On top of that, a hard case protects the guitar from any physical damage that can occur. Before storing your guitar for good, detune every string about a full step. Doing so releases the tension on the neck while still keeping it somewhat supported. Checking up on your guitar from time to time is a good way to notice any potential problems before they become serious issues. You can do this once every month if possible. Other than that, expect the guitar to need a complete setup and intonation job once you decide to pull it out of storage for use.

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Maintenance and care are absolutely necessary for the health of your guitar. It is as important to your enjoyment as learning how to play guitar in general. Depending on how experienced you are, some of the repairs in this guide might require additional research. However, learning everything you need to take care of your guitar is an investment of time that is guaranteed to pay off in the long run. Taking guitar maintenance seriously will save you tons of money, time, and stress over the lifetime of your instrument.

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