Protect your guitar when you are not using it by placing it into a rigid, well-fitting case. Take the guitar out of its case occasionally in order to allow its more porous, natural materials to ‘breathe.’ Avoid temperature extremes, as well as environments with highly varying humidity. Heat can be brutal on your guitar. If you have central heat, humidify the air in order to avoid cracking and warping of its wooden parts. Cracking and warping can occur most often in cheaper instruments, because they are usually constructed from inadequately seasoned wood. Beginning players are more likely to have an inexpensive instrument, as well as not having developed the habit of caring for their instrument. This can be a recipe for disaster for your instrument. Therefore, please pay close attention to the environment in which you store your instrument. When you graduate to a more expensive guitar, the guitar will most likely be made of fully-seasoned wood, wood that has been completely dried before being used in the manufacture of the instrument. Furthermore, caring for your instrument will have become second nature by that time.
Wipe the strings after each use with a duster or soft cloth. Use your duster or soft cloth with great care on the guitar’s wooden surfaces. Do not use polishes or other wood care products, since it is easy to ruin the delicate finish of the guitar, or cause the wood to absorb the product. You may, however, use a very slightly moistened cloth to remove grease spots, as well as other marks. Small cracks in the face or sides of the wood are common in fine guitars. Usually they are of little consequence until they attain considerable size. Before they get to that point, take your guitar to a skilled repairer. A more serious problem arises when the fingerboard becomes warped. Take your guitar immediately to an expert. The repair will be costly, but well worth the investment in the long run.
