The guitar is one of the most sought-after musical instruments of modern times. Its intense popularity has to do with so many famous artists, bands, and personalities being associated with it. The likes of Elton Jones, Michael Jackson, the Beatles, and many world-renowned artists have made it popular. Guitar maintenance is one of the most important aspects if you get an expensive branded piece.
When maintained right, quality guitars can last even decades. Guitars lasting a decade would be a stretch for frequent players. Realistically, 3-4 years’ lasting guitars can easily be had with good maintenance. If you can find a good guitar for sale at some affordable prices, be sure to maintain them right from the start. Here is how you can do guitar maintenance easily:
Use Paint Cleaning Clay to Start Your Maintenance
Different people have different preferences when it comes to music instruments maintenance. We say the first steps are always about cleaning the paint properly. Of course, you can always apply new paint to your guitar. But that is not the point when you have really good branded guitar.
With quality branded guitars, you’d want to keep their original paints for as long as possible. Also, all that playing is sometimes likely to transfer hand oils and dirt to the paints. This can result in your guitar paints become less bright. Guitar maintenance should start by bringing back that paint finish.
Get some paint cleaning clay. It might look a bit like children’s modeling clay but is different in functionality. Use some light lube and slide the clay slowly on the paint surface of your guitar. In a very quiet room, you might be able to hear all that dirt and gunk being lifted off the paint surface.
Much of that lost paint shine will be back already after this clay treatment. Guitar maintenance needs to start on the right track for it to work best. Use a microfiber cloth to clean the ax. Do not use any socks or t-shirts. All they would do is scratch the paint surface more. A microfiber cloth works best.
Polish It for Renewed Shine
Once your paint surface has no dust, grimes, and oils in it, proceed to polish it. Your guitar is only as good as it looks. Especially for people who will be playing it in public. Polishing that guitar paint surface can help remove and even fill up those tiny scratches. There are many good polishes available.
However, make sure to use the right guitar polish only. These purpose-made polishes are made with guitar paint layers in mind. Car stores may also send some similar products but making sure for functionality is important. If guitar polish cannot be found, any polish that specializes in light scratches removal will do.
Guitar paints often get light scratches from clothing, their own covers, and even hands. Quality polishes act as scratch fillers of sorts as well. Other smaller instruments like the Irish Flute are not only easier to clean but you can protect them easier as well. Guitar maintenance is tougher as it is larger.
For the guitars, frequent cleaning with polishing will guarantee scratch-free paint surfaces. Of course, deeper scratches will be harder to get rid of. Nevertheless, cleaning and polishing have a great effect on making your guitars last longer.
Wax It Protect It for Longer
Cleaning and polishing make your guitars look good. But that doesn’t protect against future scratches and paint damages. What you can do to safeguard this is to apply quality wax on paint surfaces. Quality guitar wax is available from music stores. If not, you can choose any other paint wax.
However, 100% Carnauba wax is the best in our experience for paint protection. Apply the wax with its applicator and let it sit for few minutes. Remember to not use too much. Only a layer of it on top should do just fine. Too much wax can make things messy pretty quickly.
Your guitar maintenance with waxing the surface can be finished with a microfiber cloth. Even it all out with the cloth. Apply another layer if you need. Buff it with a buffer or use that microfiber cloth in light motions. This paint protective layer will keep scratches away from the actual paint surface.
Detail It for Finer Finish
If you really what that super glossy finish for your fine guitar, a detailing kit will be useful. This helps keep all kinds of fingerprints and hand oils away from your guitar surfaces as well. Stringed instruments like balalaika and guitar are best suited when really clean making a good impression.
Even so often (daily if you can), apply that detailer on top of the waxed paint surface. Go in with that microfiber cloth to make it even and smooth out all fingerprints, oils, or grimes. This would make your guitars exceptionally shiny and very likable at all times.
Guitar maintenance is all about keeping it super neat and clean.
