Hydrating acoustic guitars

[dango]

Ok so I have my Gibson Jubilee 12 string acoustic re-hydrating & it seems to be going fine. I have a couple questions. Once it is done Should I use guitar polish to keep in the moisture & wont the polish add to the moisture content ?

 

fret oil is probably a good idea. should I wait for the guitar to "cure" in its new or so called back to normal condition ? before putting on new strings ? It just seems early to put strings on right away (will the tension tweak it again ?)

 

Also, does any one have a recommendation on string gauge for an older 12 string (no heavy gauge). I have elixir strings on my new Taylor GS-mini & it sounds great.

 

any input will be nice.

[Hogeye]

Ok so I have my Gibson Jubilee 12 string acoustic re-hydrating & it seems to be going fine. I have a couple questions. Once it is done Should I use guitar polish to keep in the moisture & wont the polish add to the moisture content ?

 

fret oil is probably a good idea. should I wait for the guitar to "cure" in its new or so called back to normal condition ? before putting on new strings ? It just seems early to put strings on right away (will the tension tweak it again ?)

 

Also, does any one have a recommendation on string gauge for an older 12 string (no heavy gauge). I have elixir strings on my new Taylor GS-mini & it sounds great.

 

any input will be nice.

Not to worry on the polish thing. Lacquer will not let moisture thru it. The polish sits on top of the lacquer and it protects the lacquer. You will need a high quality humidifier to keep the humidity in the wax won't do it. The wood gains and sheds humidity from the raw surface inside the guitar. Good luck with your project and polish away but beware of waxy build up.

 

Good luck with your project.

[dango]

Well, things looked as though they were better but when I put a straight edge on the sound board its age is showing up. I guess ill do what I can & call it good. It is a good sounding guitar & cost me $225 15 years ago.

My expectations were a little high.

[TommyK]

As the inside of guitars are not normally finished, anything you do to the top will have no effect as far as keeping moisture in. Polishing is good for keeping the finish in nice looking condition.

 

I have hard of a few guitars which were finished on the inside. These guitars were homed in extremely dry (Arizona like) or extremely wet (Louisiana, Hawaii) locales. Was this a good idea? Don't know. The owners obviously thought so.

 

If you keep the fret board oiled up (once a year) humidity shouldn't be an issue as it is already moisturized by the oil.

 

Usually once a year fret board clean up and oiling is enough. If, however, your body chemistry and guitar use really grunge up the board, clean-up and oiling should be done when you can't stand the feel of the board.

[Hogeye]

Just to give everyone something to think about. Back in the early 90's Gibson had a General Manager that was all about saving money. He thought that if you sprayed the top on the inside it would reduce warranty problems. Gibson actually did that for a year or two. I'm thinking '92 or '93 here. Yes it did do something. It made the guitars less responsive and they will never age properly. They quit doing it under pressure for the dealers and customers. Just another great idea from a guy that was a bean counter and knew nothing about guitars. It may work for others but it certainly didn't work for Gibson. Hope you find this as a bit if interesting trivia.

 

Lots of good stuff on the forum lately.