To have a good guitar sound, daily maintenance and maintenance of your guitar is also one of the keys. This time I will introduce you to the last part of the daily maintenance of Martin guitar.
- Adjust comfort
As time goes by, the comfort of your guitar may drop because the strings are slowly rising from the height of the fingerboard. The distance between this string and the fingerboard is often called “Action.” This is crucial for the flexibility and comfort of the instrument. In the same way, if the strings are too close to the fingerboard, the noise will be generated when the strings are in contact with the strings.
The distance between the strings and the fingerboard can be adjusted by technical means. But care must be taken by trained professionals. Do not adjust it yourself or handle it without training.
Although the straightness of the bidirectional adjustable steel bar built into the neck is adjusted, the distance between the strings and the fingerboard is affected. However, the built-in two-way adjustable steel bar is not designed to adjust the string height. Its function is to release or tighten the tension of the neck. If the neck’s straightness and pull values are already within a reasonable range, there is no need to adjust. This work must also be adjusted by professionals.
- Neck and panel
The occurrence of neck bending is often misunderstood and is considered to be the worst thing happening on a guitar, but it is not. A slightly forward-looking bend can also avoid contact noise between the strings and the silk in certain musical performances. By adjusting the built-in two-way adjustable bar, you can revert to a specific degree of straightness. This work is not done by the user of the guitar. Please consult a professional.
In some cases, the neck is also slightly bent back. Because the panel part will rise and fall with the change of temperature and humidity, the neck is more fixed on the panel, and will rise and fall with the natural change of the panel. If the distance between the strings and the fingerboard is too high, then adjustments or repairs are required.
Pulling the panel near the chord is slightly inevitable and is a normal and reasonable phenomenon. When your Martin guitar is made, the wood in this area of the panel is designed and processed to have a certain degree of curvature. After a period of use, there will be a slight increase due to the tension of the strings or the increase in humidity. If you use a string that is higher than the original string tension, it will cause damage to the panel. If the panel portion is more bulging, then the puller plate portion needs to be adjusted by a professional. The distance between the strings and the fingerboard can be reduced, and the comfort of playing can be restored.
- Travel considerations
The guitar must be the instrument that is most carried by the player during the trip, so it is a matter of time before you travel with your own guitar. Martin’s musical instrument, for the first time with the footsteps of human beings, embarked on the North and South Arctic exams; Also went to space, NASA space station. When you travel with your luggage and guitar, don’t treat your guitar like regular luggage, it needs your protection.
If you are driving, don’t leave your guitar in the trunk. It is safer to place in the seat because it is neither too hot nor too ventilated. In most of the trunks of the vehicle, the airtightness and temperature are not controlled. Too cold and overheating can cause cracking and wood bending; There are glue-connected parts in the process of making your guitar. Overheating can cause the glue to open. This happens at most in the bridge section.
The way of traveling by plane is very popular because of its economy and convenience. But you also need to pay attention to the safety of your guitar during the flight. The airline does not knowingly damage your guitar. But you can’t ask for a conveyor belt and a transport device to distinguish: what is the difference between a guitar and a normal baggage. Airlines may feel that the guitar is somewhat fragile and may be damaged during shipment, so you may be asked to sign a “Transport Damage Disclaimer”. If you can avoid it, try not to agree and sign such a document. Even a hard guitar case does not guarantee absolute safety. If the transportation method used by the transporter or commercial transport device is not appropriate, it will still hurt your guitar.
You can ask the service staff to bring your guitar into the work area for safekeeping. After the plane landed, go to a special area to pick it up. However, not all airlines can offer this service. Baggage brought into the cabin will be limited in size and must meet the size requirements of the storage compartment in the upper luggage compartment or under the seat.
If you exceed the specified size limit, you must ship it. Tune your strings, fill the gaps in the guitar case with a soft textile, and try to keep the guitar and the case free of space, which will increase the safety factor of the guitar when it is checked. The Martin guitar hardshell case protects your guitar. However, even the quality of the guitar suitcase can not avoid the negligence and unexpected situation of transportation.
- About the strap
Your Martin guitar has a super thin layer of the world’s finest professional musical instrument paint. Some synthetic fiber textures will react with the paint surface, causing adverse effects on the paint surface. This condition occurs occasionally in the use of some leather straps. The straps of vinyl and artificial leather use chemicals and softeners in the production process, which can attack the paint surface and cause damage. The best way to do this is to take the strap off the guitar and store it separately after you have used the guitar strap. The sofa surface, chair surface, and other objects made of vinyl products also try to avoid guitar contact.
