Electric Guitar Maintenance: The Basics

Here's why you need to know a little about electric guitar maintenance. You've got an electric guitar but nobody told you how to care for it -- now it''s making a buzzing noise and the tuning seems out. This electric guitar maintenance lesson will fill you in on what you need to know. Click here for restringing an acoustic guitar lesson if you need to know how to change guitar strings. This lesson works for electric guitar also :-)

Some of you won't want to do it by yourself and some of you may want to give it a try. If you've never even changed your own guitar strings, I'd suggest mastering that before you start with guitar maintenance.

sidenote: If you want to do some maintenance to your steel string acoustic guitar, read on. Just apply the slight tweaking to the truss rod -- and make sure you slack off the strings while you do so.

What does caring for your electric guitar mean? I'm going to give you some easy to follow suggestions. Now I'm not a guitar technician or luthier (craftsman who builds guitars). I'm a guitar player who wants my guitars to sound good and play in tune. I also want my electric guitars to last for as many years as I can get out of them! Don't you? After all, they grow on trees ;-)

If your guitar is already making a buzzing sound on one of the strings or it is way out of tune with itself, then you need to take it to the nearest professional guitar shop as soon as possible. You need what is called a "set-up" at the very least -- and perhaps even more work done. In my town of Toronto, Canada something like this runs about $100.00 give or take.

Preventative Medicine:

• Keep your electric guitars in the case when you aren't playing them. I know, they look much cooler sitting out on the guitar stand…but it's the humidity and changes in temperature that cause the wood to change shape.
• If you live in a cold climate and your guitar is outside in a vehicle on the way to a gig, let it warm up inside the case when you come back inside for about 10 minutes. If it's really cold, opening the case right away in a warm room could cause the finish to crack!

Tip: Don't let your electric guitar sit for a long time in your car on a hot day, either!

What Is Electric Guitar Maintenance?

Electric guitar maintenance is primarily about your guitar being both playable and in tune. This is accomplished first of all, by the bow in the neck. There is a metal rod going through the neck called the truss rod. It's kind of like the spine of the guitar and keeps the neck in the proper bow.

A lot of people don't realize that the guitar neck has a bow. It isn't perfectly straight. As a matter of fact if it is, the strings will slap against the frets when they vibrate and make a buzzing sound -- called fret buzz.

There are books and guides to how much this bow should be. Most seem to agree on 10 to 15 one/thousandths of an inch. When I set up my truss rod I use a gauge that car mechanics use to measure the gap on spark plugs. I got it at a hardware store.

Electric Guitar Action

Once the bow in the guitar neck is set, then you want to consider the action. The action is the height of the strings off the fingerboard. In other words, how far down do you have to press on the guitar strings before they touch onto the top of the fret? Most shredders tend to like a lower action where a lot of blues players prefer a somewhat higher action.

This is because lower action makes it easier to play faster. Higher action makes it easier to dig in and play harder without fret buzz. If you aren't sure, experiment. Make sure it's comfortable for YOU.

Many times if the truss rod is properly set, the action won't even need to be adjusted. Leave it if you aren't sure and the feel of your guitar seems OK.

Intonation On Electric Guitars

Intonation comes last in the order -- but not in importance! All these factors work together to create a playable guitar. Intonation is the length of the electric guitar string between the bridge saddle and the nut. If it's properly set, the guitar should play fairly in tune all over the neck. Have you ever noticed a guitar that plays in tune with open position chords, but is wildly harsh and out of tune when you play chords higher up the neck? That is intonation.

Intonation is fairly easy to do. It's a matter of using an electronic tuner, or even better, a strobe tuner if you have one. Don't worry if you don't…an electronic tuner will work.

Basically the open string should be in tune with the harmonic at the 12th fret and the fretted note at the 12th fret. All 3 readings should be as close to in tune as possible. If one of them is out, you need to detune the string so it's slack and move the bridge saddle forwards or backwards. Your guitar should have come with a set of Hexagonal wrenches. One for the truss rod, and one for the bridge and locking nut if you have one. If not, a Phillips tip screwdriver should do it.

This will loosen the bridge saddle so you can move it forward or back. Then you need to tune the string back up to pitch and check all 3 readings again. It's trial and error.

If None Of This Makes Sense To You? Just take your electric guitar in to a pro and get him or her to take a look at it. Ask them questions if you can. What I did was get a "beater" guitar and start experimenting with electric guitar maintenance on my own.

This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as electric guitar maintenance goes. There are many more parts and things you can do. There are pick-ups that you can change or modify. There are the electronics that need to be securely soldered and grounded -- not to mention the volume or tone controls which need to be cleaned of dust and dirt occasionally.

And some players are really into "hot rodding" their guitars. This goes beyond the scope of this electric guitar maintenance lesson. But you are now aware of this possibility. It involves the pick ups, the nut, the whammy bar if there is one -- and more.

I hope you found this free guitar lesson online helpful -- and that you will get many years of good use from maintaining your electric guitars. Thanks for tuning in and tuning up :-)

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