Saturday, July 30, 2011

Ukuleles- Caring for Your Ukulele

By Scott E. Hutton


As all musicians know, instruments demand typical care and maintenance. Weather and other environmental factors affect the condition of a Ukulele. Because they are produced of wood humidity impacts the condition with the instrument as it loses or absorbs moisture.

Too dry and the wood might crack or shrivel. Too moist and the wood could swell or warp. For this reason, the instrument requirements cleaned and inspected frequently. Often this indicates keeping them in a case having a humidifier or taking them out to dry. Modifications in weather can also have an effect on tuning and trigger the neck to warp.

Cleaning and caring for your instrument could be the same as caring for a guitar. Clean and care for your Ukulele regularly. The same brand of polishes, cleaners and fret board oils utilized for guitars can also be utilised to clean a uke. The body and the fret board are made of differing supplies and need distinct sort of cleaners. Never ever use exactly the same 1 on both surfaces. Cleaning and polishing protects the instrument against the sweat and salt produced by the player's skin. Sweat can deteriorate the wood finish and corrode the fret wires. It also collects on the wood surface causing it to hold on to dirt and dust.

Take care when cleaning about dings, blemishes, cracks or dents. If cleaning fluid gets into them, it could trigger the wood to swell and make those blemishes worse. If the ukulele shows some small scratches or surface marks, you'll be able to use a clear nail polish to seal them. This method needs the use of a little brush along with a steady hand. Wax is great to utilize for sealing cracks inside the wood. You can use a guitar wax as it's going to also maintain moisture out. One strategy to avoid scratches when cleaning will be the use of a microfiber towel.

By no means use ammonia based cleaners on your instrument. These sorts of cleaners aren't created for wood and dry the surface out causing it to warp or crack. Ammonia will also deteriorate strings and dull the ukulele's finish. Household cleaning goods like furniture oils are not good cleaning goods at the same time. They leave a residue that attracts dirt and dust permitting it to collect on the instrument. Never ever use straight lemon oil to clean the fret board as it's a solvent. Even so, you'll find fret board oils that contain lemon oil, but not at a high sufficient concentration to hurt the instrument.




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