We've spent over half a year now talking primarily about sound systems, dealing with clubs and club owners, lousy power, and even lousier business deals. The best sound system in the world doesn't do you much good without something to run through it.
So this week, I thought I would focus on the care and feeding of instruments...at least the ones I know, being guitar and bass.
A lot of people equate "maintainence" of an instrument with wiping the beer off and occasionally throwing a set of strings on it. OK...that's a start...just getting the sweat and other foreign material off your instrument (especially the strings) will help out. But that in and of itself is not a replacement for periodically giving your axe some real TLC. Here's my ritual.
When you've got a lot of instruments to keep up on a frequent basis, there's nothing like having a dedicated workspace. After years of restringing on the kitchen table (which there's nothing wrong with in my opinion, but Mrs. Carver wasn't crazy about it), I finally got my spot.
I found a great chest of drawers at IKEA that's just the right height (with a ton of storage). The mat is from Musician's Friend, and set me back $30 or so. Add a work light and you're all set. We'll work on my main guitar and bass today...a 2012 Fender American Precision Deluxe and early 2k's Schecter semi-hollow body.
First off, let's get our supplies together. Today I'm going to polish the frets, condition the finger board in the Schecter, restring, and then clean. Here are the tools and supplies I use:
Most of this stuff is probably familiar to most player, with the possible exception of the package on the lower right. That's a product I found a few years ago called Gorgomyte. It's a disposible cloth that impregnated with a metal cleaner/polisher. Before if I wanted to polish the frets on an instrument, I had to get mask off the neck and use a Dremel tool with a polishing wheel. No more...this stuff makes it super easy to have smooth, clean frets. I'll use it about every third string change.
The bottles are Dunlop cleaning and maintainence products which I've used for decades. The "01" is an alcohol based neck cleaner, the "02" is a conditioner, and the "65" is a general purpose cleaner for the entire instrument. It can take fingerprints off a black guitar in seconds, which is kind of my litmus test for this kind of product. I keep a bottle at home and in my workbox that goes to gigs.
Along with the tools, I'll use 3 different cleaning cloths....
The one on the left is a microfiber cloth I use for general body cleaning. In the middle is a cotton wash cloth I like for neck clean up. On the right is part of an old t-shirt that gets used to take up the excess oil when I condition the fingerboard.
Oh yeah, one last thing before we get started...I open up the pack of strings I'm going to use and make sure that all of them are there! It hasn't happened often, but there have been a few times over the years I've had a 3 string bass or a 5 string guitar set! Bad news right before a gig.
I buy my strings in bulk now, but back in the day when I had to sell my organs to buy bass strings this would have been a big problem. BTW, for the gear heads that are wondering these are Dean Markley Blue Steel medium lights. The Fender is the only bass that gets this gauge...all my others get 45-105 sets.
At this point, I might get myself a beverage...(wait...there's ain't no "might" to it) and get to work.
I'll go ahead and apologize to the purists and vintage snobs out there right now, but the next step is to remove all the strings.
"AHHHH...what about the neck?"
Chill...this is a modern instrument with a good truss rod. Hell, I'll even do this to my 1970 Les Paul and not think about it. Well, my thinking is that tree lived for a long time without any strings on it. Honestly, I've never had a problem with this. In fact, most experts tell me you should loosen the strings on a guitar if you're flying it in an unpressurized cargo hold. But I digress. Now that there's nothing in the way, get in there and clean between the pickups and the bridge! There, all better now, right?
Next...I'm going to hit the frets with the Gorgomyte. A 2" square will do a neck just fine (you get a piece of it big enough for 10 jobs for about $10). Some guys will really dig into the wood with these, but I pretty much concentrate on the frets and will use other products for the wood. By the time you finish, this cloth is going to be pretty nasty looking.
Next, I follow up with my fingerboard cleaner. I try to keep this away from the painted parts of the instrument (but have never damaged anything if I did get some on). Spray it on, wipe it off. Wax on...wax off. Except this isn't wax. Nevermind.
If I'm going to condition the fingerboard, here's where that happens. I did the bass a few weeks ago, so I'm just doing this guitar today.
Different folks have different opinions on what to use and how to do it. As I mentioned earlier, I use the Dunlop products...mainly because I know they won't have an adverse interaction between themselves. But in the past, I've used lemon oil and it worked fine. I also used a product called Fiddlebrite for years that worked well (it's just hard to find now). Taylor guitars recommends linseed oil.
Speaking of Taylor, they recommend putting the stuff on and wiping it off immediately. Personally, I'll let it sit for a few minutes, and then wipe off the excess. How long? About the length of time to go to the kitchen and freshen my drink.
I'll typically do a conditioning on my rosewood necks about 4 times a year. Ebony necks get it twice a year (it's a naturally oily wood). I don't own any maple neck instruments, but if they're finished then you really don't need to do this.
After this, it's time to put a fresh set of strings on...
The hardest thing about restringing is "where do I cut the string off at?". Improperly wound tuning pegs are a huge source of tuning instability. I've got a little different technique for each instrument, but for my basses this works really well. For the E and A strings, I go "a post and a half" past where they will wind. In the above picture, I'm getting reading to the E string. Where my fingers are is where I will make a 90 degree bend.
I like to make the bend before I cut, because in my mind it lessens the chance of the outer wrap on the string coming loose. I'll cut the string about an inch past the bend.
From there, I insert the string and then wrap it smoothly from top to bottom on the post. You want the string to have a downward force into the nut.
From here...repeat ad naseum. For the D and G strings, I will give them 2 posts of length (since they're thinner strings). Since you're going to run out of posts, hold the string in position at the correct tuning post, and then bring it back to make your measurement. This photo shows me about to string up the G. I'm holding it where it would hit it's tuning post.
Now I tune up, stretch the strings, repeat...a couple of times. And we're strung up for the next show.
Since I didn't change string brands or gauges, there's no need to do a truss rod adjustment or set the intonation (although I'll spot check it).
Before you put your instrument away, check and make sure that everything that's supposed to be tight is. Strap buttons are notorius for working loose. Make sure those are snug, and if you use strap locks (you should be), then make sure that hardware is tight.
You don't want to wind up like this guy...especially if you tend to do any tricks.
Finally, if any of your guitars have active electronics and require a battery, when's the last time you changed that? Typically, I'll change 'em twice a year. I like to put a piece of board tape on 'em and write the date I installed it. That takes the guess work out.
Next week, I want to take about something that ain' glamorous but very necessary. I've been doing this a long, long time and I been injuried either setting up or tearing down after a gig more times than I care to admit. We'll talk about safety for you and your gear, and things you can do to make sure the show goes on.
Until then, keep the meters out of the red.
Ken
Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com
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