So you’re an aspiring musician or a newbie guitarist who just picked up your very first guitar and want to know more about how to take care of your instrument and hopefully have it with you on your music career longer. You’ve probably learned in one of your early years in school about how sound travels in vibrations: and as sound travels through space, the temperature and how the molecules of the air play a big role in the quality of sound as well as the state of your instrument.
How temperature affects guitars
Temperature plays a big role in not only keeping your guitar safe and pristine for longer, it also affects how your instrument will sound over time. Both the Cold and the Heat can have a significant effect on your guitar, mainly on the quality of its sound over time and the longevity of your instrument. So whether you’re a budding musician playing gigs in different towns and cities, or just a hobbyist who enjoys playing the guitar and collecting them, it’s definitely important for you to know how temperature affects your instrument.
Guitars consist of majoritively two components: wood and metal. These two materials coincidentally are also very susceptible to changes along with the environment they are placed in. Taking into consideration the composition of your instrument, temperature and the weather plays a huge roll in the deterioration of your instrument over time as both the heat and cold can affect the structure and sound of guitars. But how exactly does the heat and the cold affect your guitars you may ask? It has something to do with the instrument itself where in different occasions the guitar will warp.
What happens to guitars in the cold?
When kept in low temperatures, guitars, especially those made out of wood, tend to shrink and warp out of their original shape. This not only affects the sound of the guitar but also it’s appearance and overall quality. The cold usually causes the wood fibers to contract, bending the guitar out of its original shape and affecting its sound. The contraction also causes your guitar to go out of tune more often even when being unused, this is because of the increase in the tension of the strings. Cold temperatures also cause metal strings and components of guitars to shrink and condensation to produce rust, which affects the overall sound of your guitar.
What happens to guitars when it’s hot?
High temperatures on the other hand will cause your guitar to expand, greatly affecting its ability to withstand tension. When placed in environments of higher temperature, wood tends to swell which can also cause cracks and chips on the finish of the guitar when it swells and when it goes back to its original shape. When paired with high humidity paired by the hot temperature this can impact your guitar both structurally and tonally making your guitar sound somewhat “sluggish” even.
How to care for your guitar
Though it might seem impossible to keep your guitars safe and around for longer especially if you live in an area where the weather changes constantly it’s not entirely the case. You just have to make sure to choose a proper case for your guitar where the temperature can be more controlled while keeping it safe from physical damages as well. It is also important to avoid exposing your guitar to extreme cold or heat and to acclimate your instrument when being transported from one place to another especially of varying temperatures.