A new guitar will move a little in the first few weeks or months of it's life. If your guitar was at the dealer's for a while before you bought it, the dealer may have already adjusted the neck and action. If you special ordered your guitar or bought it right away after it came into the store, just take it home and play it. In this case you can count on it changing some and you will want to take it back to the dealer to have it adjusted when you notice that the action has risen or that the neck has excessive relief. If you feel confident making these adjustments yourself, or would prefer to do your own diagnostics, it is fairly simple to perform these adjustments.

1. You will need a small metal ruler that measures accurately right out to the end. In other words the graduations should start at the end. It must be graduated at least down to 1/32". I prefer to use the 1/32" scale because the 1/64" scale has so many lines it is hard to differentiate. I read the scale as 3 1/2"/ 32" instead of 7/64". General makes a handy 6" ruler about 1/2" wide that works great and is available at most hardware stores for about $3.00.

2. You will need an average business card, or a set of feeler gauges from an auto parts store.

3. You will need a 1/4" drive ratchet, a 3/8" x 1/4" dr. deep socket and a 3" extension, or a 4 inch extension and a shallow socket. This setup is also available from any hardware or auto parts store.

4. A capo. First take the capo and set it over the first fret such that you are not causing the strings to ramp up, in other words set the capo lightly on top of the fret. Then depress the low E string till it touches at the 12th fret with your right hand. Take the business card or a .012" feelers gauge and slide it between the 6th fret and the low E string. There should be just enough room for you to slide the card between, if the angle is just right, without pushing the string up. This is a delicate procedure.

If the card or feeler gauge goes in with lots of room to spare, the truss rod needs to be turned clockwise to straighten the neck. If the feeler gauge or card won't slide in without pushing the string around, then the neck is possibly a little too straight. Some like to play with a straighter neck with the action just a little high at the 12th fret. This is fine but if you prefer this, there still should be some daylight at the 6th fret with the low E contacting the 1st and 12th frets. If it is touching at the 6th fret, the action will have to be higher than it should be in order to prevent buzzing. Generally, you will want between .008"- .015" of relief in the neck at the 6th fret. It is normal to have slightly more or less relief in the neck at the treble E compared to the bass E string.

To adjust the truss rod, spread the D and G strings and insert the ratchet down between the strings. Slide the socket forward to the mahogany head block and then tip and pull it up towards the top of the block till the socket drops into the access hole. Push it forward while turning the extension till you feel the socket engage the truss rod nut. Then, to straighten the neck, turn the rod clockwise. To add relief, counter clockwise.

On many of our truss rods there will be a neutral area between the clockwise and counterclockwise where you will feel very little resistance to turning the rod. This is normal and the amount will vary a little depending on which generation rod you have. Generally, you will want to finish the adjustment in the clockwise position on the clockwise side of the neutral area. This will ensure that the truss rod adjustment will hold. We do this for the same reason that you always down tune and then finish tuning by bringing the string up to pitch. Doing so takes up the lash in the threads so that the pressure is held firmly against the threads.

It is possible that you will have to leave the truss rod engaged in the counter clockwise direction on an extremely stiff neck in order to keep the amount of relief you need in the neck. If this is the case you will probably eventually be able to reverse this after the strings have pulled against the neck for an extended period of time. You will find that the relief in the neck will increase if this becomes necessary. Just repeat the adjustment procedure.

You may find that you will have to make slight adjustments of the truss rod with seasonal or humidity changes. It is important to realize that the truss rod is not the primary action adjustment. Its' purpose is to maintain the proper relief in the neck for your playing style. Action adjustments being made as a result of the top coming up from string pull or humidity changes should be made at the saddle.

After determining that the neck is adjusted correctly, you can make action adjustments at the saddle or the nut. The nut will slowly wear over time so if you decide to have it slotted lower, be aware you may end up paying for someone to cut you a new nut down the line. As a rule of thumb, if you fret each string between the 2nd and 3rd fret there should be approximately .005" clearance between the bottom of the string and the top of the 1st fret. If there is any movement at all when you press the string down onto the 1st fret it will generally be a good nut height. If there is much more than .005" clearance then the nut slot is higher than it needs to be. After assuring that the neck is adjusted correctly, you can measure your action at the 12th fret. Use your steel ruler. We consider low action to be 3/32" at the Bass E and 2/32" at the treble E. Medium would be 7/64" at the Bass E and 5/64" at the Treble E. If you have high action, before lowering the saddle, you should be sure that your guitar is not grossly over-humidified. If the action is very low and the top has dropped, humidify the guitar before putting a higher saddle in it.

In areas where the humidity varies a lot from summer to winter or where you are touring and going from dry to humid areas or vice versa you may want to have several saddles cut to give you the ability to quickly adjust the guitar to the varying conditions. Of course it is better to insulate the guitar from long exposure to greatly varying humidity conditions, and as discussed before, the easiest way to do this is to keep the guitar in the case and control the case environment as much as possible. Enjoy!

After you have played your guitar it is wise to take a soft polishing cloth and clean off the instrument. Pay special attention to areas where you may have accumulations of sweat such as the area where your arm rests on the guitar. Sweat will etch the lacquer and will cause permanent hazing of the finish, which can only be repaired by a talented technician. Once a month or so you can use a polish, wax, or a commercial guitar cleaner to remove any buildup that was left after the clean cloth.

We recommend Santa Cruz Fine Instrument Wax to protect the gloss lacquer finish of your guitar. Instructions for use and for ordering are available on this site in the Accessories section. Green liquid Turtle wax is an acceptable alternative that is readily available at hardware and auto supply stores. It will clean and protect your guitar safely. Be careful not to get any Turtle Wax inside the sound hole, cracks in the lacquer, or edges along the fingerboard extension or around the bridge. It will dry leaving a white line that can be nearly impossible to remove.

There are other commercial specialty cleaners and polishes on the market that may be benign to the finish and work well, however, as we have no knowledge of their formulas we cannot lend our recommendation to any particular brand.

For oiling fingerboards and bridges, we recommend Dr. Duck's Axe Wax. It is safe for use on finishes so it is acceptable to have it touch the finish when applying it to the ebony parts. Lemon oil is a popular alternative that can produce good results, however, some commercial brands may contain elements that will harm your finish. Make sure to keep it off the lacquer to avoid etching or softening of your finish
If your neck has a satin finish it was applied to make the neck faster by reducing drag. Don't use wax, polish or oils on these necks, as it will diminish this benefit.

Use a scratch free cloth dampened with warm water to clean the neck followed by a dry cloth. Avoid any wax or polish in areas that have cracked or worn finish. Avoid any wax or polish that contains silicone. Silicone resists lacquer adhesion and complicates any finish repair in the future.

To restore the satin finish on a neck we recommend the use of micromesh sanding medium in 2400 grit and then 3200 grit. Only a professional who is familiar with this technique should undertake this procedure. We will not take responsibility for any damage caused by performing this technique incorrectly. Feel free to have your technician call us if they are unfamiliar with this procedure. Instructions for Wax use and for ordering are available on the Accessories page.

Temperature and Humidity
The most important factor in protecting a solid wood acoustic guitar is to understand the effect of temperature and humidity on it. The best way for you to be able to protect your guitar from damage is to understand what factors affect it and how best to control these factors.

Many of us who grew up in dry, cold climates believed that dry, cracking lips in the winter were just a part of life. Later, as I began working with wood and instruments, I discovered that when I took the precautions necessary to stabilize the woods I was working with, my skin was healthier too. In general, the conditions which humans find most comfortable are the best for a solid wood instrument. Having realized this then, instead of defining a humidification regiment that could never properly address all situations, we recommend that you buy a digital hygrometer and sensitize yourself to the conditions required to protect your acoustic guitar. Once you have purchased a hygrometer, it is imperative to understand what you are measuring.

A hygrometer measures the amount of Relative Humidity, or RH, in the air. RH is the amount of moisture in the air relative to the amount of moisture the air can hold before it reaches the saturation point. As the temperature of the air rises, so does its ability to hold additional water.

In the winter, when people are artificially heating their homes and studios, three things happen:

1. As the temperature increases without an additional source of moisture in the house, the RH drops.

2. The air you are starting with before you heat it is very cold, meaning that it is carrying very little moisture even when the RH is very high, such as in a snowstorm. Because cold air has a very low saturation level, it will carry very little moisture. Even if the RH is high when it is cold, by the time that air is warmed up to 75 degrees, the RH will be extremely low. The saturation point of air at higher temperatures is so much higher that the RH will be very low, unless significant moisture is added to that air.

3. The actual mechanics of heating, especially when using wood or electric methods of heating, further dries out the air. The result is that if you live in a dry area such as the notorious Rocky Mountains, or in any area where it gets very cold, you will have to be careful to protect your guitar from low humidity damage.

Dealing with Low Humidity Conditions
If you generally keep your guitar inside your house and prefer to keep it out of the case, you should have a room humidified to 47%, and a hygrometer monitoring the RH of the room. Many reasonable room humidifiers are available from between $50 to $200, and remember, it will make you and your family more comfortable too.

If you don't have a humidified room, or are traveling or gigging a lot, you will need to humidify and monitor the RH of the guitar in the case. The case insulates a guitar from rapid changes in humidity and temperature and from physical damage anyway, so even in a humidified room, it is best to have the guitar in the case whenever possible.

Install the hygrometer on the body side of the outside of the accessory compartment of your case. Then humidify by placing the humidifier in the accessory compartment. This way, the hygrometer will only read what moisture is available to the instrument, not what is coming out of the humidifier. There are many good brands available, but keep in mind we don't recommend putting any of them in the guitar. Put the humidifiers in the accessory compartment and use 2, if necessary, to get the reading up on the hygrometer, which will be right next to the heel of the neck on the guitar. This way there can be no chance of leaking, which will destroy the instrument. If you can't get the reading up having the humidifiers in the accessory compartment, try putting one in under the headstock as well.

One final point: If you live in a hot but dry area, you might consider using a swamp cooler instead of air-conditioning. This will result in adding humidity to your environment.

Low humidity, below about 40%, can cause cracking in both the wood and the lacquer. The top will drop, lowering action to the degree that the strings will buzz, sometimes to the degree that it becomes unplayable. Lacquer checks will develop along the purflings, bindings and at glue seams. The fingerboard will shrink, leaving the fret ends protruding beyond the edge of the binding. This makes the instrument uncomfortable to play. Usually the first symptom to develop will be a slight dropping of the top and lower action, followed by the possibility that a hairline crack may develop along the bridge pin holes. This is an excellent early warning symptom. It is easy to fix and it lets you know that you are headed for trouble if the humidity problems continue.

High Humidity Conditions
If high humidity is your problem, it will be harder to deal with, but it is also is a safer condition. Air conditioning will really help you keep the humidity at a reasonable level. As the temperature lowers, so does the saturation point of the air. Water will condense, and the RH will decrease. Do not use a swamp cooler in an already hot, humid area, as it will almost certainly spell out problems for your guitar by causing high humidity conditions.

High humidity, 65% and above, causes the top to rise, making action high or unplayable. It can cause lacquer to check, and impressions of the braces may appear on the top. Puckers may also appear where the top is glued to the internal structure of the guitar, such as at bridges, braces, head blocks and tail blocks. It also restricts movement of the top, resulting in a guitar that may sound tight or restricted.

Avoid Rapid Changes
Rapidly changing humidity is the most damaging condition you can expose your guitar to. Having a guitar go from an environment of 85% humidity to 35% immediately could easily cause severe damage to an instrument. If the same instrument were kept in its case, moved into a drier but humidified environment of say, 65% for 2weeks, then 45% for a few weeks and finally 35%, any damage sustained would likely be far less severe. Your guitar's case is your best tool for insulating your guitar from extreme conditions and rapid changes in conditions. Keep it in its case whenever possible.

Stabilization
The most critical time for an acoustic guitar in terms of humidity is the first 3-5 years. If it has been well controlled and stabilized during that time, then it is far less likely to ever have problems. This is why most vintage instruments are less likely to respond to humidity changes than a new guitar.

At SCGC, we go to great lengths to assure that we are building with completely dry tone woods. We run our tone woods through a specially designed dehumidification kiln. By slowly increasing temperature in small increments while blowing air dehumidified to 40% RH over the wood, we are able to dry the wood gently over a 2-3 week period. During this process, the top wood can shrink as much as 3/8" or more. This gives you an idea of how much wood moves as it responds to humidity changes. With the bound moisture gone, the wood stabilizes a great deal and the problems associated with humidity changes are minimized. This does not mean that the guitar will not move or respond to humidity, but it does mean that you have the best chance possible of keeping your guitar safe by understanding and responding to the factors affecting it.

Restoring Moisture
Once a guitar has been dried out, the humidity needs to be restored. To do this often, humidifiers such as a Dampit must be put into the guitar and the sound hole must be sealed off. Be very careful in doing this; all of the excess moisture must be wrung out and the guitar should be put in the case for about 3 days and then rechecked. It will help to also have a humidifier under the headstock to make moisture available to the bridge and fingerboard, both of which should be oiled. Expect this to take about 2 weeks before the action is restored and the guitar can be assumed to be re-humidified.

You may find that not all of the symptoms are completely resolved. Some problems, such as sharp fret ends, may need further professional attention, but this is a relatively inexpensive procedure that can be done by any competent repairman. In the case that you are unable to properly restore the humidity, please call us and we can talk you through the procedure or help you to resolve the problem. In extreme cases we can authorize you to send us the guitar.

Temperature Damage
High temperatures, generally above 100 degrees, cause glue joint failure and softening of the lacquer, making it susceptible to damage.

Low temperatures, generally below freezing, cause lacquer to craze and check. One very important point to remember: rapid changes cause far worse damage than the exposure to extremes if the changes take place slowly, giving the instrument plenty of time to acclimate. When, for instance, an instrument has been transported or shipped in the winter, it may well have been exposed to extreme cold. It is best to wait overnight before opening the box. I have seen guitars arrive at a destination, get checked for damage, find none, and then the next day found the lacquer checked and crazed. In these cases the guitar was very cold to the touch when examined. This wouldn't have happened if the instrument hadn't been subjected to thermal shock. If it had been left insulated in its case and the box for at least 12 hours, it could have been opened without damaging results.