Quarterly Newsletter: Third Quarter 2009

What’s New:

• You can now see some of our guitars at Acoustic Vibes Music, 2070 E. Southern Ave., Tempe, Arizona 85282. You will be able to view them at Acoustic Vibes website within the next week or so, http://www.acousticvibesmusic.com
• We will be adding a new area to the Newsletter called Feature Article. We will be putting a copy of the articles up on our website, so that you will be able to reread them when ever you want. We will be adding a new article each quarter along with the newsletter. If you have any suggestions of subjects you might like to see covered (Guitar related subjects only please), please email us with your idea at phoenixguitarco@gmail.com

In The News:

• If you haven’t already gotten your copy of the October 2009 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine, then we highly recommend it. They have a great article about us, the Phoenix Guitar Company, in it. It is on news stands now.

• As most of you know by now, we were at the 2009 Healdsburg Guitar Festival this past August. We had a great time, and we would like to thank LMI for once again hosting a great show. We got to meet a lot of wonderful folks, and had a great response to all of the instruments we brought with us. For those of you who were unable to attend this year, we hope you will be able to go when it comes around again in 2011. We are hoping to put some pictures of the show up on our website soon.
  
• Once again we would like to thank Pete Pancrazi coming up to Healdsburg in order to play our mini concert. Check out a YouTube of Pete playing our “Phoenix” archtop there at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j46mLj-bUxo

  Pete also had a concert and seminar. Several people who were able to attend his seminar stopped by our table telling us it was the best seminar they had ever been too. Way to go Pete. Check out Pete’s website www.petepancrazi.com.

Feature article:
Basic care for your guitar

     The guitar is an amazing instrument. It can be used just as effectively in a group setting as well as a stand alone instrument. Many of us have learned enough chords to make something that resembles music while others have reached varying degrees of musical mastery of the instrument. The one thing that most guitar players have in common is that though we are willing to put many hours into the playing of the guitar, we put very little time or thought into taking care of it.

     One of the most important things about caring for a guitar is to keep it humidified. Since most guitars are built in environments which had a humidity somewhere between 40 and 50%, you should try to keep the guitar somewhere within that same range.  This does not require any major investment in whole house humidification units.

     The most basic method of keeping a guitar humidified is by putting a damp sponge in a small container that has some small holes in the lid, up in the headstock area of the guitar case. There are also a number of various products that you can purchase which either go up in the headstock area of the case, or somewhere in the sound hole of the guitar. While some of the available methods work better than others, any of these options are acceptable as long as:

• You keep the guitar in the case when it is not in use
• You keep the humidifier moist at all times.

     Another thing to do when caring for your guitar is to keep it clean. A guitar with a lacquer or polyurethane (catalyzed lacquer) finish can very easily be kept clean. In order to do this all you need is a soft clean cloth (an old t-shirt will work just fine as long as there is no screen printing on it) and some water. “Lightly “dampen the cloth and wipe away any dirt and grime on the body of the instrument. You can also use a guitar polish of your choosing, but be sure to spray it sparingly on the cloth before wiping the guitar. It is never a good idea to spray directly on the guitar, especially an older guitar, since any chip or ding in the finish can allow this moisture to get under the finish and potentially cause some big problems down the road. Once your guitar is clean, you can easily keep it that way by wiping it down with a clean soft cloth after you are done playing. 

     Guitars with a French polish finish are much more difficult to clean. The best way to keep them clean is to not let them get dirty to begin with.  Many people play a French polished guitar while wearing long sleeves and long pants, so their bodies don’t come into contact with the finish.  Body oils (sweat, etc.) will attack this finish and eventually make it look very bad.  In addition, you should have a very soft, clean lint free cloth. You will not use anything on the cloth–no water, No guitar polish, nothing but the cloth. When you are done playing the guitar, you should gently wipe it off before returning it to its case.

     Moist cloths are all fine and dandy for keeping the body of the guitar clean, but not a very good choice for the fingerboard. The best thing for your fingerboard is to wipe it down after each use with a soft clean cloth. When you change the strings on your guitar, you should do a more thorough wiping down paying attention to the build up of gunk around the frets. It is a good practice to periodically re-oil the fingerboard. You can purchase fingerboards oil, Dr. Duck’s Ax Wax, use boiled linseed oil, or mineral oil for this.  Never use furniture polish, lemon oil, orange oil, etc. Also, never use a lot of oil. A small dab of oil goes a very long way. Rub the oil on the fingerboard then use a clean soft cloth to buff off the fingerboard afterwards. You should not need to oil the fingerboard very often, maybe once a year or so.

     For guitars with unfinished bridges, and unfinished wooden pick guards/finger rests, you will want to occasionally oil these as well. A good rule of thumb is, if you needed to oil the fingerboard, then you should rub a little oil on these areas as well. You should never use a lot of oil, and you should not oil too often. Oiling too often can cause a build up of oil which could seep all the way through the fingerboard and potentially cause the glue under the fingerboard to deteriorate allowing the fingerboard to lift away from the neck.

     We can prevent a lot of potential problems with our guitars if we only take a few moments to looking after them. A little bit of cleaning will keep the guitar looking great and give you the chance to see any small problems early. A little bit of humidification will greatly reduce the chances of unnecessary cracking of the guitar and all the stress and cost of getting a crack repaired.

Guitar making class news!!!
Weekend warrior classes:

• There are still slots available in the October 2009 weekend warrior class,  which will be starting on October 10th. 

If you would like to have your name added to the guitar class waiting list please call 480-664-6315, or send email to phoenixguitarco@gmail.com, or stop by our shop which is located in the Scottsdale Airpark at 7302 E. Helm Dr. # 2005, Scottsdale AZ, 85260. Weekend warrior classes are held twice a year, October through February and March through June.

One on one / One on two classes:

The one on one/one on two classes are currently not a regularly scheduled event. We do have a waiting list for those who are interested in this type of class, and the dates of a particular session are worked out with each student individually at this time. Keep an eye on the newsletter and/or the website for any changes in the way these classes will be scheduled in the future. Also, for those of you who would like to build an archtop guitar, this is only available as a one on one/one on two class. If you are interested in getting on the waiting list for any of our guitar making classes, please call 480-664-6315, send email to phoenixguitarco@gmail.com, or stop by our shop which is located in the Scottsdale Airpark at 7302 E. Helm Dr. # 2005, Scottsdale AZ, 85260.