No matter what kind of musician you are – professional or amateur, beginner or advanced – you want to be sure you are properly caring for your new custom archtop guitar. After all, a new guitar is an investment, especially a custom archtop guitar. So you want to make sure your new instrument will be around for as long as possible. Here are a few suggestions on how to make sure your archtop guitar stays in good condition.
Humidity and Temperature
Storing your archtop guitar in the right environment is key. You want to make sure the humidity in the room where you are storing it is at the right level. Too much and your archtop guitar will be damp and possibly be damaged or warped. Too little and the wood of your archtop guitar could dry out. There are special humidifiers you can buy for your archtop guitar, or you can get a standard humidifier. Keep the room at 40% to 50% humidity whenever possible.
As for temperature, try to keep your guitar in a room that is somewhere in the 70s (Fahrenheit). While gradual changes in humidity and temperature probably will not affect your archtop guitar, extreme and drastic changes in humidity and temperature will.
Carrying Case
Spend some money on a good carrying case, and remember the old cliché that you get what you pay for. Whether you want a soft case or a hard case is a matter of personal preference. But no matter which one you choose, make sure it’s solid and made out of durable materials. And a good carrying case doesn’t just help preserve the life of your archtop guitar – it also makes carrying it around easier!
Guitar Polish
You might need to polish your new archtop guitar. You should talk to your luthier about this task and whether or not your guitar needs this type of upkeep. If so, your luthier should be able to tell you what kind of guitar polish to get, how to apply it and how often to apply it. Just be sure you never use a product like Pledge or a dust polish that contains silicone. The silicone can hurt the finish of your archtop guitar by seeping into the wood.
Are you interested in learning more about buying a custom archtop guitar? Call Fine Archtops at 612-366-7120 to get connected to professional luthiers or you can Contact Us.