The question often arises among guitarists: how do you keep your guitar in top playing condition? You’ll hear different tips from different experts, but you’ll always hear one bit of important advice: play the instrument everyday. Every. Single. Day. When you spend a lot of time with your instrument you know exactly what it needs. It becomes a part of you. The wood becomes conditioned, like muscle memory, to your hands. You’ll know when the frets need dressing and the strings need changing. It’s a love thing. If you’re a pet owner, you love your pet, play with it everyday, know what its needs are and take it in for a check up a couple of times a year. You should do the same with your favorite instrument.

Assuming you aren’t a certified guitar tech, the No. 1 thing you need to do is take it in for a set-up at least once a year. It’s like your car, or your teeth — they need work on a regular basis. You should be doing the same for your axe as well. Find a music shop in your area and take it in for a tune up. This tune up should include intonation, bridge, fret and neck work, truss rod adjustment, things like that. Never attempt to do this kind of work yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing, lest you screw up your guitar beyond repair.

Beyond this type of technical work that should only be done by trained experts, there’s plenty you can do day-to-day to keep your guitar in shape.

Your guitar is made of handcrafted wood and metal parts, so it needs to be treated with care. You can’t let it linger in extreme temperatures. It’s worth investing in a top-of-the-line hard shell case, not only to protect it from dings and scratches, but from the elements, especially humidity. You can even buy capsule-like humidifiers to help control humidity inside the case.

Treat the wood with lemon oil or specially branded guitar polish that you can pick up at any music shop, and the metal parts with metal polish. Use separate lint-free dry cloth to wipe down the wood and the metal.
Important for the fretboard: just keep it wiped down good and don’t overuse any kind of oil or polish, as it can raise your frets. Many experts recommend a lemon oil wipe down once or twice a year. Use a toothbrush to clean the gunk out from around the frets. Your fingers have natural oil, so keep your hands clean before playing or handling your guitar, and wipe it down when you’re done.

Change the strings when they get deadened or discolored. Unless you are doing a full set-up and cleaning, change the strings one at a time, rather than taking them all off and putting on a new set. This is better for the stress on the truss rod.

It may be stretching the point, but the kind of care you give when grooming a beloved pet is the same kind of care you should give a guitar: keep it clean, keep it comfortable and, above all, keep playing with it.