Article by Oli Clark
Electro acoustic guitar, electric guitar or acoustic guitar - it matters not what sort you may have, you still will need to provide some running fixes once in a while. Although I cannot imagine many of the first delta blues musicians possessing anything aside from the ancient acoustic guitar and then the shirt on their back, nowadays it's really a totally different tale and there are some things which the time aware and cautious guitar players need to have for their tool set so that the playability is preserved and notably any repair uses the minimum time.
So if you do not have endless time to deal with, or fancy keeping it authentic just like those early innovators of the acoustic guitar playing cause I would personally state you most likely ought to be carrying, or have the following things nearby to keep your dependable guitar in good condition: To start, you have to be having some guitar strings in the gauge you favour but for the guitars you will be playing. If you decide to have an acoustic take the suitable gauge guitar strings so if you're playing an electric or electro acoustic guitar some suited different guitar strings are going to be necessary.
Next, you'll want to be thinking about a decent multi-tool similar to a Swiss army blade which includes slot as well as Phillips head screwdrivers, pliers, angled cutters (suitable for urgent wire stripping) and a file for your fingernails!! For the price of them it may also be worth putting in a set of real diagonal cutters for trimming off changed strings. They work a little more easily than the ones on the multi-tool. As you will know it is sometimes surprising just how strong strings can be and these will make light work of cutting the string after replacing.
For the ¼" nuts on jacks and pedals I keep a small socket and manual driver as I find they loosen periodically.
A small towel is useful for fast cleaning of equipment. Particularly sweat and dirt that quickly accumulates and damages too.
Spare picks that you can keep in an old tobacco tin along with rogue screws, bolts and washers that just seem to turn up without any seeming point of origin.
An item which is often overlooked is spare 9v batteries. They are used in pedals and in the preamp on acoustic guitars and will exhaust at the most inopportune moments.
I would say that these are the most important items to have accessible should you be either at your house, practicing or gigging. In the event you fancy a little bit of overkill then you may also select these.
Tuning lubrication is ideal for rubbing on brand new strings when you change them. It prevents them from breaking while you're putting them on and also you could have some sort of string cleaner such as Fast Fret which does extend the useful life of a string and prevents rust setting in.
Allen Keys in various (but appropriate) sizes if the multi-tool does not have them are useful. They're particularly great for anything round the pick-up area.
If you wish to get your guitar restrung in quick time and you've provided your roadie the night off look at getting a battery driven string winder. Ensure you have spare batteries for it though, or else it'll be quite useless.
So, a lot of things to keep in mind if you wish to be sure your electro acoustic guitaris in fantastic overall condition, but don't ignore the carrier to keep everything in!!
About the Author
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