Your guitar care ritual?

Gritstone

   Thanks all!! As I say been away from my guitar for a few years and getting back into and it, never owned anything of significant value beyond sentimental. Got sucked into all the marketing for these products.

 I'll continue as I have been doing which is little beyond basic cleaning. Maybe treat it to a pro setup rather than my amateur tweaking.

thegummy

Since I've just done this over the last half hour or so I'll detail my bass "ritual":

1. Took the existing strings off and wiped the neck and body with a damp cloth (trace of washing liquid).
2. Put new strings on and tuned it up.
3. Checked the neck relief and it was too straight so unscrewed the bloody neck in order to access the truss rod adjustment, screwed it all back together (slightly frustrating with the vintage bridge saddles that flip over etc.) and checked again. Unscrewed the neck and back another three bloody times til it was right.
4. Tuned up and checked the action, adjusted as necessary.
5. Checked intonation and adjusted as necessary.
6. Adjusted pickup heights.
7. Done!

Best thing about it is that since it's flatwound strings, the ritual will actually just be tuning and maybe occasionally wiping the strings (though rarely in reality). Hopefully last years, I'd only change the strings if one breaks or if the tuning gets bad which can apparently happen with very old flatwounds.

Litterick

merciful-evans said:

Litterick said:

I wash my hands before playing, and wipe the fretboard and strings with a soft cloth before putting the guitar back in its case. When I change the strings (not that often), I clean everything with diluted vinegar.

I shower first. Then dust the fingerboard with anti fungal powder for 20 minutes and remove using compressed air before returning it to its case. I never play my guitars. This only serves to wear them out.

BTW, I assume you use best Modena balsamic vinegar? 

One of the dentists  on The Other Place claimed to make his own olive oil and lemon juice mixture, to clean all the guitars hanging on the walls of his man cave; not a job that can be trusted to the Filipina.