Musical Instrument Guide: Acoustic guitar for beginners Yamaha Corporation.

Basic care and maintenance

Care and Maintenance of an Acoustic Guitar

Wiping with a dry cloth: basic maintenance for your instrument

Immediately after playing a guitar you should wipe it with a dry cloth designed specifically for cleaning instruments. This alone is enough to keep your guitar in good shape for a long time. Oil and sweat can seep into the body or fingerboard from small scratches, causing cracks to appear. You can prevent this by wiping oil and sweat from the instrument immediately after playing it. However, be sure to use only cloths that do not include silicone, as silicone can cause the coating on some instruments to deteriorate.

Replace the strings periodically

In addition to causing the sound of the guitar to suffer, old strings can lose their pitch. It is therefore necessary to periodically replace the strings on your instrument. The regularity with which they must be replaced depends on how often the instrument is played. Those playing every day are advised to replace strings once per month, or even once every few weeks. Those playing less often should replace the strings every three months if possible.

How to replace strings and restring a guitar

1. Before restringing the guitar, first confirm the direction to turn the pegs. The pegs for strings 1 through 3 are typically turned clockwise when looking from the front, while those for strings 4 through 6 are turned counterclockwise.

2. When inserting strings into the bridge, insert the string along with the bridge pin, gently pull the string, and then make sure there is no slack.

3. Strings should be wound around the pegs two to three times. The first wind should be done above the inserted string, while the second wind on should be done below the string, so that the inserted string is "pinched" on either side. This will allow you to wind the string tightly without any slack.

Periodically oil the fingerboard

When you replace the strings you should also apply lemon oil or orange oil to the fingerboard. This prevents the fingerboard from drying out too much, and keeps it feeling moist.