Strat set up (2)

Usually, I would re-condition the rosewood fretboard of a new guitar on its first re-string. This is what I have been using- wood conditioner from the hardware store & it's not a guitar product. Usually, guitar-related manufacturers would alleviate product desirability by adding scent to the formula & this would more often than not increase the acidity to the content (eg: lemon or other citrus ingredients). Acidic fluid, when applied frequently to fretboards, would soften the wood & it becomes less resistant to scratches or dents. It might eventually weaken the neck strength altogether.

I'm easily bothered by nut choke (& how it affects tuning) so I make it a point to address this by lubricating the slots. I'm using commercial vaseline (bought this one at Mustaffa Center) & again, it's not a guitar related product. Use a pointed implement to apply the vaseline into the slots, in this case, a satay stick does the job. 

No vaseline in the house? Vicks Vapo Rub works as well.

If you are particular about what goes into those slots & would want a safe bet, look for slot lubricants in the stores such as this GHS product. The reason why I stopped using them- they cost more & don't necessarily work better. Some guitar techs would tell you just rub pencil lead into the slots, that's the least costly way to do it but that stains the lighter coloured nut & might prove to be a point of contention during re-sale situations.

Vaseline it

The next time you suffer trying to remove stubborn bridge pins from your acoustic guitar, coat the shaft with a little bit of vaseline before re-inserting them back where they belong.

Restring: What I do...

After much playing, my Ibanez RGA121 gets a restring. The numbered items are:

1. Beemis Wood Conditioner
2. GHS strings, .009 set
3. Vaseline

 I insist on removing all strings each & every time I restring my instruments. The nut slots get lubricated first. As you can see, I snipped a little bit off the the fresh set of strings to use as vaseline applicator.

The advantage of string absence is of course, easy access to the fretboard. It's not dirty so no cleaning was done, however, some parts of the fretboard was reconditioned. How often do we re-moisturize/ re-condition our fretboards? We do this as & when we see dryness, regardless of how many times it should be done. In other parts of the world, because the climate there isn't as humid as it is here, people would caution you against doing this too often (twice a year is enough, they say...) as it might soften the fretboard wood & weaken your neck. Well, this isn't the case here, so now you know. Let the moisturizing fluid settle for some time (say 10min or so) & wipe off the excess.

The headstock also got a cleaning treatment, a little dusting off & subsequent wipe down with regular guitar polishing fluid.

Next, the strings come on & the guitar tuned. I make it a point to stretch my strings & re-tune them as many times as it takes. Once the strings do not go out of tune, that's when I stop. This is especially necessary for guitars with a dual-action whammy bridge, we always complain our guitars go out of tune after each whammy action but that's because no stretching was done when the strings are fresh- they aren't 'acclimatized' to their tensioned selves, so to speak.

Before this guitar gets played further/ kept, I give the strings a protective coating. In this case, it's DR's String Life, liquid polymer fluid.

What does it do? It's an overcoat which serves to prolong freshness. Do note it does NOT prevent deterioration, it merely delays it.

I slip an unused string envelope between the strings & the fretboard so that the coating fluid do not come into contact with the fretboard & causes drying. Leave the finished process be for about 5min or so & the guitar is ready for play/ storage. This is the end of my re-stringing procedure, it's usually followed by a chocolate break.

Maintenance assistants

These are the implements I employ when guitars are due for user maintenance:

1. Planet Waves Headstand: That tripod object you see above, is a neck supporter, useful for guitars with angled headstock when I lay it down for re-stringing.
2. Wire cutter: I feel that whatever string cutter there are in the market are simply too flimsy for effective results. The standard wire cutter here snips excess string length very easily.
3. Vaseline: To lubricate the nut slots. Graphite works equally well but it stains light coloured headstock/ fretboard hence my preference for jelly.
4. Tremlok: This contraption is a wedge for Floyd-type, dual action, whammy bridges. It's inserted under the bridge end to prevent it from collapsing into the cavity during string removal. Bought it way back in 1991 together with my first guitar, have not seen it in the market for years, might be discontinued altogether.

Elmo doesn't help with anything...