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November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Just a quick question...what is your practice regarding regular maintenance on your guitar? My Adamas has never been to a luthier. I bought it off the Internet (drop shipped direct from Ovation), did what minimal setup I thought it needed myself, and that's that.
I read from time to time about people taking guitars in to get restrung and generally "looked over". Is that something I should be doing?
Just curious...
Jeff |
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January 2006
Posts: 25
Location: La Quinta, Ca. | As long as the guitar is comfortable to play there's no need to have it looked over.
For optimal care, any good guitar with wood parts should be kept in its case when not in use and at a stable temperature and humidity at around 45%. |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Actually, I think the ovations and adamas are bit more robust and will do well at between 40%-60% humidity. That 45% is just for your talyors.
Regular maintenance would be cleaning the gunk off the fretboard when it accumulates. Wiping the sweat off after playing. Putting on mineral oil when the fret board gets dry. Changing strings when they die. On the oiled necks putting on some butchers wax. I guess, for regular maintenance that would be it. |
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Location: Warren,Pa. | Truss rod adjustment maybe twice a year? |
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Location: south east Michigan | Adjust the truss rod twice a year????
I've never had to touch that nut on ANY of my Ovations...ever. |
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Location: NJ | Neither have I . . . |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I find lightly wiping around my holes with a damp cloth and then reaching up inside with a feather duster and a few shots of forced air twice a years keeps my insides clean as a whistle... |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | ...a practice I learned from our very own Witko |
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Location: Cicero, NY | Nope. Not touchin' it and you can't make me. |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Can't blame you, Weas... Just pretend it was a blank spot on your screen... |
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Posts: 4817
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I change strings when they break or I've got a paying gig. Spit and wipe the neck once in a while. The top and back never get dusty 'cos I play it regularly. The climate here is tropical rainforest.
(though this guit did live with me in Yellowknife and Edmonton for a year once when we were both mcu younger.)
Seems pretty indestructable to me. |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | you be living in a coastal temperate rainforest...and a lovely one at that... |
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Posts: 4817
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | There's palm trees growing wild about 90 miles from here....... ;) |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I need something to get the visual that Jeff painted out of my head. |
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Location: Cicero, NY | Same here, Mark. The mass kool-aid get together will be held promptly at 8. |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | What?...
...You guys use a vacuum cleaner? |
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November 2005
Posts: 111
Location: Southern California | T.M.I., Jeffrey, T.M.I.! :eek:
(Is it possible to wash one's brain out with soap? This is an image that needs to get gone...) |
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Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | Just when I start thinking that I could talk my wife into letting me meet up with you guys...Kind of like the guy whose wife (now ex-wife) thought that the Harley thing in South Dakota was just about motorcycles. I bet she found the pictures. |
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Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | How about a picture of Jeff performing 'maintenance' for the next OFC calendar? Perhaps have a kit assembled for purchase via the OFC store, and a few other select websites. :rolleyes:
Back to the thread, don't you think that there are several variables controlling what an owner does in caring for the guitar? E.g., my tech only sees my guitars when I run into a problem beyond my ability to correct and that is rare with Ovations. In fact, if I can't fix it on an Ovation it is usually either a serious electronic problem or something requiring being sent to Kim.
But some owners don't know how to adjust a truss rod or do it with confidence, and some new owners don't even know how to change strings.
What is the average cost of having a guitar 'looked over' by a pro shop tech? |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I'll get on those photos for the Calendar ASAP, Paul.
I've that most shops will give the guitar a once over, do a set-up with a new set of strings for under 50 bucks. If you have a relationship with the shope and just have questions about a guitar and want them to look it over, they will not charge |
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Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | I may be the dumb exception to "do it yourselfers" everywhere, but I've played Ovations now for about 33 years and have never adjusted the truss rod on any of them. I've had my 1537 and with the expection of having a new jack installed last year, have never had to do anything to it.
Dumb luck? |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I've never had a any of my Ovation's profressionaly set-up either. I have had some other guitar's done, however. |
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Location: Cicero, NY | You obviously have too much fun doing it yourself... |
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October 2005
Posts: 5327
Location: Cicero, NY | Before coming to this site, I never knew truss rod adjustments were as common an adjustment as they seem to be. Tho I'll admit to getting curious and tampering with a $75 POS years ago, I've never even considered taking tools to my O. Just never seemed necessary. |
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Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | My main performance guitar is a Custom Legend that stays in my church office, where it is cool and dry. I adjust the truss rod a couple of times a year. |
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Maintenance practices
