When should I start humidifying my instrument?
When the heat comes on. Cold weather is your enemy! Cold air is dry air. Add the furnace or wood stove and it’s twice as dry. You can stop humidifying when the heat stays off.
Here’s a hack for humidifying your guitar. punch holes in a snack bag, dampen a sponge and put it in the bag. Then leave it in the sound hole of the guitar. You can attach a string to it so it’s easy to fish out when you want to play.
How do I change strings on my guitar?
Here’s a link to a video I made with my daughter Ruthy on “How to string your guitar”!
How often should I change my strings?
It depends on a few things. How often do you play? Some people have acids in their skin that deaden strings immediately. Others can play often and the strings still sound good. I change my strings when they feel grubby and sound dead or “thubby”.
I usually use light gauge strings. If I use mediums will I need to have the guitar set up for them?
Yes.The truss rod may need to be tightened and possibly the slots on the nut may need widening, so the strings are not sticking in the slots.
When ever I’m tuning my guitar I hear a “ping” on one or two strings? What’s up with that?
That happens when the nut slots are too small for the strings. I can fix that!
The action is really high on my guitar. Can you lower it?
Yes. Sometimes it’s just a truss rod adjustment. Sometimes I can lower the saddle (the bone part of the bridge.
Check to see if the edges of the bridge are coming off. that means it needs to be removed and re-glued.
Sometimes it means that the neck has to be reset.That’s a costly repair,$450, but worth it if you guitar is an expensive one.